Lorenzo Rieg

Visible from afar, the Weißseespitze rises above the Kaunertal glacier ski area. The north face is often climbed in early summer and is also extremely popular with ice climbers.

Last winter's newcomer has now become a standard boot. No wonder, as the lightest four-buckle boot is not only a lightweight boot with excellent walking function, its downhill performance is also not to be sneezed at and the boot is downright affordable compared to the competition. We have tested how the orange ski touring wonder performs in tough continuous use.

The American brand Black Diamond has long been known for climbing skins as well as climbing equipment of all kinds. The tried and tested Ascension skin has been equipped with a new tip tensioner for this season and the material has been changed so that it is around 10% lighter than last year's model.

This tour is very popular both from the valley and from the gondola station, especially when the snow conditions are good, there are usually tracks and numerous other skiers on the way. However, the terrain is usually quite wide during the descent and offers plenty of space for new tracks!

Easy freeride variant to a very popular ski tour summit in the Kitzbühel Alps with several downhill options.

The Stubai Alps are a versatile and popular ski touring area due to their size, diversity and convenient location. You can find the right ski tour for practically all conditions and all seasons. While the Brenner mountains, the Sellrain and the area around the Axamer Lizum are popular and proven destinations in early and high winter, the tours on the main ridge become interesting in spring. Even at the end of May, you can often still find perfect conditions in the highest areas of the Stubai Alps.

The new Panico ski touring guide "Tux and Zillertal Alps" by Markus Stadler presents numerous ski tours from the Tux and Zillertal Alps. The tours presented are as different as the two mountain ranges themselves. They range from leisurely ski tours close to the slopes in Hochfügen to classic day tours in the Tux Alps, a popular region for ski tourers, to high alpine climbs, some lasting several days, to the glacier giants of the Zillertal Alps.

The Gilfert is not only one of the prime ski tours in the Tux Alps, but is also not far from the popular freeride spot of Hochfügen. As everything is quickly covered in tracks in the ski area, there are often only short ascents with skins. The nearby Gilfert, although much frequented, usually still offers space for fresh tracks in one of the numerous downhill variants.

Tour from the lifts of the Stubai glacier ski area which, after a fairly short ascent, offers a long, varied descent over sun-protected and therefore often powdery slopes.

The Veda jacket and Vasaki pants are the latest men's models in Salewa's freeski mountaineering line. As a hardshell, they form the first barrier against the elements such as wind, moisture and other unpleasantness that you encounter in the mountains. The membrane used is Powertex, which is not only waterproof and breathable, but also very stretchy. Both the jacket and trousers have a super-thin layer of fleece on the inside. This is not a real lining, the fleece is attached directly to the 3-layer material and is really very thin (approx. 1 mm). Nevertheless, this makes the jacket and trousers slightly warmer than pure shell clothing. I have been using the jacket and trousers combination for just under a month for skiing and touring.

One of the major material trends in the freeride sector in recent years has been the increasing popularity of freeride ski boots. If you want to get away from rutted ski variants or have had enough of wobbly ski touring descents in soft touring boots, you can choose from an ever-growing selection of freeride ski boots suitable for touring. So that you don't lose track in the product jungle, we have once again presented and categorized all the freeride boot models available to us for the 2011/2012 season in this market overview.

PowderGuide presents another new editorial feature: every week we will present a particularly recommendable freeride tour. Whether it's a classic ski tour with a particularly great descent, a freeride variant with a pleasant approach or a crisp steep descent – every week, experienced freeriders and tourers will provide you with a TouringTip that will whet your appetite for freeriding and touring. The tour descriptions will provide you with the most important information you need to follow: difficulty, topographical map, duration, altitude and much more. In addition to a detailed route description, you can also look forward to beautiful nature and downhill pictures.
We start with a Tyrolean ski touring classic, the Zuckerhütl. Despite poor snow conditions, this tour can even be undertaken at the moment (4.12.11).