Montagne Verte
If you're planning a trip by train to Morzine or Avoriaz, Montagne Verte can offer massive savings
One of the biggest barriers for people travelling to the Alps by train is the added expense. While we at SnowCarbon firmly believe that the ease and experience are worth the money, we understand that train tickets can be expensive on top of a more expensive holiday.
Fortunately, there are fantastic ways to cut costs. We’ve written about the more general ones in our guides on how to book the lowest train fares and finding cheap secondhand gear. However, some are more specific.
If you haven’t heard of Montagne Verte or the AlpinExpress pass, don’t worry. We’ve put together this guide to tell you all you need to know about a great initiative and how it can help you budget for your ski holiday.
What is Montagne Verte?
Montagne Verte is a not-for-profit green initiative, founded in 2019 in Morzine. Its mission is to improve sustainability in the ski industry, centring on Morzine, but more recently expanding into neighbouring resorts.
The organisation is made up of local French and English volunteers and relies heavily on donations and dedicated members. They also have a small charity shop in Morzine, selling upcycled and secondhand ski gear.
How can they help me reduce costs?
Photo: Montagne Verte
In February 2022, Montagne Verte launched the AlpinExpress Pass, covering Morzine, Avoriaz, and other Portes du Soleil resorts. Recognising, like us, that travel to and from ski resorts is the biggest source of emissions in the ski industry, they wanted to reward skiers who travel to the Alps in the most sustainable way possible—by train.
While the AlpinExpress Pass is not a discount on train tickets, it is a discount on other expensive parts of your ski holiday, including taxi transfers, restaurant bills, accommodation, and lift passes.
Think of it a bit like Groupon or other discount apps: given you’ll have to pay an initial up-front cost anyway (in this case, getting to and from the resort), you might as well get the best deals elsewhere. When it comes to 10% off Portes du Soleil lift passes, those offers are definitely worth it.
How do I get my AlpinExpress Pass?
The process for getting an AlpinExpress Pass is remarkably simple. All you need is proof of purchase of your train tickets to the Portes du Soleil area.
Using Montagne Verte’s online form, attach this proof in PDF form and fill out the names of those travelling and the dates of travel. That’s it!
If all goes smoothly, in a day or so, you should receive your AlpinExpress Pass. As requests are handled manually, don’t be surprised if there’s a slight delay. However, if you haven’t heard back after 48 hours, Montagne Verte advises you to email them at alpinexpress@montagneverte.org.
What can I get discounts on?
The list of Montagne Verte’s partners is tremendous, and changes by the season. Put together, they can save you enough to deduct the added cost of train travel, and then some.
We won’t list them all here, but you can have a look at Montagne Verte’s website to see what’s currently on offer.
Is there anything else I should know?
Photo: Samuel McMahon
As a green initiative with several ongoing projects, Montagne Verte is worth checking out in detail. We’re big fans of their online Eco Guides covering a range of sustainability topics, including how to forage, make your own household products and cosmetics, and minimise food waste.
Montagne Verte also has some fantastic suggestions for further reading and sustainable suppliers in their Green Pages, a hand-curated directory of “eco-friendly solutions to everyday problems”.