Overview

Founded in 1995 by certified Mountain Guide Tom Wolfe, Sawback Alpine Adventures has been leading avid skiers to some of the world’s most remote ski destinations. Over the years, the company has expanded its offerings to include more than 20 ski adventures annually, along with guided climbing expeditions on rock, alpine, and ice terrain throughout both summer and winter seasons.

As a company rooted in the outdoors, Sawback strives to protect their environment and the wildlife and people living there. Sawback has prioritized sustainability through all aspects of their business by: 

• Powering their office with wind sources
• Collaborating with local mountain guides and lodge employees on ways to be sustainable in the backcountry, shopping and eating as locally as possible
• Supporting local conservation initiatives with Bow Valley Engage
• Leading human-powered expeditions to minimize emissions

They also explore different ways of making their expeditions more climate friendly - their upcoming Sail + Ski trip to Svalbard has the potential to be totally carbon neutral, with transportation being windpowered.

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Challenge

While Sawback’s own operational emissions remained light, they wanted to address the emissions their guides and guests generate while traveling to the expeditions, often requiring long-haul flights. These travel-related emissions have been a longstanding concern, and discovering and partnering CNaught felt like a fitting response. 

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Why Sawback Chose CNaught

During Sawback’s search for a carbon offsetting solution, CNaught stood out for several reasons:

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• Thoughtful and Transparent Approach: The team appreciated CNaught’s approach to science-based portfolio construction and valued the fact that they could trust that CNaught’s projects were high-integrity
• Expertise: CNaught’s team helped Sawback estimate emissions, particularly for complex expedition logistics.
• Easy to Use Product Experience: CNaught and Sawback worked together to build a custom travel app that customers could use to calculate the total emissions of their travel to and from the expeditions, and offset that immediately with CNaught’s high-quality carbon credit portfolios.

“As a business that exists solely in nature, we are witnessing firsthand the impacts of climate change—warmer temperatures, shrinking snowpacks, and shifting seasons. We care about being stewards of this planet and the special place we live, and want to make sure we’re living and running our business as ethically as possible. Partnering with CNaught to offer high-quality carbon credits to offset our clients’ travel to and from our expeditions, was straightforward, and feels like a step in the right direction.”

- Deborah Lantz Hiking Guide, RN, Sustainability Lead, Sawback Alpine Adventures

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‍Results

‍Sawback started offering CNaught’s travel app solution for their Ski and Sail adventures and the response from guides and staff was positive - also having felt the weight of the carbon footprint associated with adventure travel.

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Following the success of the initial implementation, Sawback is planning to offer the carbon offset option for all expeditions going forward. Through their partnership with CNaught, Sawback is not only protecting the landscapes that define their business but also setting a standard for ethical adventure tourism. 

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‍Reach out to our team to learn about how you can meet your own climate goals.