Squaw becomes first ski resort to discontinue sale of plastic water bottles

Squaw Valley Alpine Meadows on Thursday announced the implementation of Drink Mtn Tap, a program focused on reducing single-use water bottle usage.

The resort will discontinue the sale of bottled water, offer visitors reusable water bottles for purchase at the same price point as disposable bottles, and install 20 new water refill stations across both Squaw Valley and Alpine Meadows.

This initiative aims to inspire guests to rethink their daily habits by choosing reusable products over single-use items, while reducing the total amount of plastic waste generated by the resort each year. No other domestic ski resort has undertaken an initiative of this kind, but the hope is that other ski resorts will follow suit to propagate the message to winter enthusiasts to take care the environment and mountains they enjoy for recreation.

The Squaw Valley and Alpine Meadows refillable bottles have a slim, flexible design to fit easily in a jacket pocket for on-the-slopes hydration, and feature scenic photographs of each respective mountain, reminding users of the magnificent natural beauty that they are helping to protect.

“Drink Mountain Tap will not only remove 28,000 bottles from our annual waste stream, but it will provide a cost savings to our guests who can use refill a sustainable container with free water that comes straight from the mountains,” says Andy Wirth, president and CEO of Squaw Valley Ski Holdings, LLC, the parent company of Squaw Valley Alpine Meadows.

In ten years, this will add up to nearly 300,000 plastic bottles and over eight metric tons of CO2 emissions saved from the production of plastic bottles.

In keeping with the goals of the program, Squaw Valley Alpine Meadows has partnered with Mizu, a California-based company founded by former pro snowboarder Jussi Oksanen, committed to “Protecting Where We Play.” Mizu donated five of the Mizu Water Bar refill stations to the Drink Mtn Tap program.

—Squaw Valley | Alpine Meadows