To align with the theme of the event, the Freeride World Tour Qualifiers commissioned the fine folks at Last Chair Customs for their crafty upcycled services to make the trophies from repurposed materials as well as a chairlift for the ShredX stage and a gondola for the evening mixer’s bar.

The Summer Shredfest event organizers implemented the STOKE Sustainability Management System Template to create their own comprehensive set of policies and procedures for their sustainability initiatives and goals from their inaugural event in 2017 to 2018 and beyond. The SMS is the sustainability equivalent of a floor plan, operational programme, delegate management system, and banquet event order all rolled into one. It guides all management practices, staff training, policies and procedures, goals and implementation strategies. This is their go-to document and your guarantee for an epic event that enables you to #STOKEresponsibly. [Photo: Kevin Kinzley]

Summer Shredfest prides itself on supporting their host community of Red Lodge in every aspect of the event. This year, athletes and attendees were instructed to bring any skis or ski pole donations to the local Silver Run Ski Club, all outerwear or clothes to the local Boys and Girls Club, and helmet donations for the RYDE Foundation (11 helmets were collected). Shredfest organizers and ShredX speakers met with the local high school’s Green Team to have a ‘Coffee Mentor Session’ where students asked speakers about their careers, the industry, and how to address sustainability challenges at the school and their town. Furthermore, a volunteer day was scheduled with the Beartooth Recreational Trails Association and Spoke Wrench (local bike shop) to improve the mountain bike park at Coal Miner’s Park (a historical heritage site), but weather moved the event from Sunday to Saturday and then it was unfortunately canceled due to rain.

Besides hosting the ShredX at the historic Roman Theater through the local grant program, running the contest at the Beartooth Basin Ski Area, and socializing with evening mixers at the Kevin Kinzley Gallery, Shredfest featured a “Made MT” event to highlight outdoor businesses (Jelt, Willie Gear, Outa Wear, Alta Physical Fitness) and Outlaw Brewing from Montana. Most notably, Jelt offers recycled plastic belts made by women at a Billings prison (1% for the planet member). Management worked with Full Circle Biofuels and Beartooth Basin to overcome hurdles to start using biodiesel in their generator to power the ski area’s lifts—an industry first.

Red Lodge is an incredible destination to host Summer Shredfest and is well known for its direct access to the historic Beartooth Highway. To honor this scenic highway north of Yellowstone, $3 wine donations at both evening events were donated to the Beartooth All American Road which aims to preserve the heritage of the route. For getting around town, 25% discounted bike rentals from the Spoke Wrench bike shop were offered to anyone with a lift ticket as part of the local high school’s Green Team’s bike share program. A 12-person shuttle van from Beartooth Mountain Guides was scheduled for Saturday after the awards ceremony apres ski party to drive athletes back to camp, but Saturday’s event was canceled due to snow and rain which shut down the highway. EV drivers had access to charging stations in town, which were highlighted on the event’s webpage.

Summer Shredfest attracts skiers and snowboarders from around the country for a unique event in one of only a few summertime skiing destinations in America (let alone a contest). To make sure visitors and locals share nothing but positive vibes, Shredfest requested local environmental and cultural heritage interpretation and code of conduct be provided by the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness Foundation and Revitalize Old Roosevelt respectively during athlete registration. Attendees were also encouraged to attend the Bison museum and take the self-guided walking tour of Red Lodge from Carbon County History Museum during the weather delays.

Summer Shredfest attracts skiers and snowboarders from around the country for a unique event in one of only a few summertime skiing destinations in America (let alone a contest). To make sure visitors and locals share nothing but positive vibes, Shredfest requested local environmental and cultural heritage interpretation and code of conduct be provided by the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness Foundation and Revitalize Old Roosevelt respectively during athlete registration. Attendees were also encouraged to attend the Bison museum and take the self-guided walking tour of Red Lodge from Carbon County History Museum during the weather delays.

Summertime shredding is rad. Climate change is not. Shredfest reduced emissions as much as possible with renewable energy, biodiesel, and alternative transportation. B20 Biodiesel (20% biodiesel; 80% diesel) from Full Circle Biofuels in Bozeman is being used for the whole season at Beartooth Basin Ski Area and they hope to transition to a B80 blend as they conduct more testing for compatibility with the generator and weather conditions. The lifecycle emissions reductions from biodiesel is 76.4% according to the USDA. STOKE Certified assisted Shredfest with calculating the carbon footprint of the event (4 tons including staff travel) and for $5 attendees offset their travel emissions through the Bonneville Environmental Foundation to support a waste heat capture project in Culbertson, Montana. Waste heat capture is a clean energy source that produces net zero emissions for the natural gas compressors it powers, thus creating a closed loop. We like closed loops—they’re cool like backflips. [Photo: Kevin Kinzley]

Besides recycling, all food waste was to be collected for the Red Lodge Area Food Partnership Council for composting at local farms, but there was no food waste due to schedule changes with the weather. Event staff and volunteers from the local high school’s Green Team handled waste management, recording diversion by weight on a scale provided by the Food Partnership Council and entering into the STOKE waste management tool. Any excess hot dogs from Sego Skis for the apres ski party were to be safely stored, chilled, and donated to the Boys and Girls Club, but that portion of the event was canceled due to weather. Free reusable drinking cups were donated by Mizu for athletes and attendees to use for water during the day and apres ski beverages at night. Sego Skis had recyclable #6 plastic cups just in case for the awards ceremony on the mountain, but they would charge $1/cup and funds would be donated to the Yellowstone Wildlife Sanctuary, but this event was also canceled due to weather. All of these efforts resulted in a 60% waste diversion between the evening mixers and ShredX talks.

The PA system at Beartooth Basin was powered by a solar panel, battery, and inverter package courtesy of Sundance Solar—a local solar contractor—to replace the gas generator they used last year for the Freeride World Tour Qualifiers. All of the evening events in Red Lodge were powered by 100% renewable energy through NorthWestern Energy’s E+ Green program, which sources clean power from projects in the Rocky Mountain West similar to a Renewable Energy Certificate (REC). Even the event’s lodging partner, the Yodeler Motel had rooftop solar solar panels and energy efficient boilers. [Photo: Kevin Kinzley]

Sitting at the foot of the Beartooth Mountain Range and one of the northern gates to Yellowstone National Park, Shredfest recognized the need to have an emphasis on biodiversity conservation. Beyond the aforementioned tundra code of conduct from the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness Foundation, the local Yellowstone Wildlife Sanctuary was featured at the first night’s event for education about local wildlife and received 10% of all gallery sales and tips at Kinzley Photography during the mixers to go towards their wolf and migratory bird habitat construction projects.