After some snow at the weekend, winter is visually recognizable again in the Northern Alps, although the base still leaves a lot to be desired. Some measuring stations are scratching the record minimum for the time of year. At least it's snowing in the south this week and maybe next week too!

Powder is like food. You want to enjoy it and preferably the best quality, of course. But that's where the parallels end, because you can never get enough of powder, whereas with food, if you don't indulge in decadence, as in ancient Rome, you will be full at some point.

Val Thorens has once again delivered. We were supposed to go up the legendary Cime Caron, but Mother Nature had other plans. Too little snow, too much risk. So we moved to the Pointe de Thorens (3,266 m). Sounds like plan B, but it felt more like a jackpot: steep faces, technical sections, fresh powder and a French crowd that was so loud that you could hear some of the riders before the start. Between slope inspection in the fog and bright blue skies at the contest, there was that typical FWT magic: improvised, chaotic, but in the end legendary for exactly that reason. The second stop of the Freeride World Tour 2026 was not a fair weather event, but real freeriding with all its ups and downs.

From January 18th to 20th, the new models for the 2027 season were presented in Zillertal. All the big names in snowboarding were there. A huge test area, inspiring talks with the manufacturers, an incredible number of visitors and exciting panel discussions make a visit to the "1st Try" store the perfect start to the event season.

"Under the magnifying glass" is a series of articles by Lydia and Linus. We are both at the SLF in Davos this winter, where we are studying snow from a scientific perspective. As we regularly take a close look at the snow in our surroundings - both during our field work and at weekends - we'll be taking you with us from time to time this winter. We will explain our snow profiles to you, what the individual observations mean and what snow science topics arise from the current profiles. Today: How the orientation of a slope - i.e. its exposure - influences the development of the snowpack and why north-facing slopes often offer particularly good snow, but also the most dangerous conditions.

This winter, my beetle-crushers could have come to more use during the Nordketten forest fire to help step it out than on ski toures. This lack of touring opportunity gave me enough time to get to grips with my own equipment. In doing so, I came across a few topics that had been on my mind in previous winters.

With the Fornix BC, POC has a helmet in its range that offers pretty much all the safety features for ski helmets and is also very light. This of course makes it ideal for touring. We have tested how it performs in practice for you.

If I had to choose a must-have piece of equipment that you need for practically all mountain sports, I would probably choose a thin insulating jacket. The new hybrid version of the Mammut Rime Light is just such a jacket, and I really like it!