Lorenzo Rieg

Winter 2011, which at least in the Northern Alps never really got going, is over, is history, or rather: simply ticked off.
PowderGuide.com is taking a summer break from May 1 to October 31, 2011.

A great tour, with a relatively short ascent from the lifts in the Kühtai ski resort; with a long, challenging, often untracked descent to Haggen. Despite the short ascent, this is a freeride tour that should not be underestimated, with great views over the northern Stubai Alps.

The revised version of the G3 Onyx for its second season is still the only real new development and innovation in the tech binding concept that has been tried and tested for decades. The basic features have been retained, but the ease of use has been significantly improved.

The well-known coat brand Colltex from Switzerland has launched the ct40, a coat with a new type of adhesive. This is expected to ensure easy handling and good adhesive properties at all temperatures. The ct40 is available in 100, 110, 120 and 130 mm widths and up to 195 cm in length.

This quite easy and mostly very lonely crossing offers many meters of descent with a relatively short ascent as well as a great Kalkkögel panorama. Although the Senderstal seems to be made for ski touring, tours are rarely undertaken. The reason for this is the long ascent via the toboggan run to the Kemater Alm and the aversion of Tyrolean ski tourers to lifts and the aversion of most freeriders to ascents.

The new Tyrol Ski Touring Guide by the two authors Axel Jentzsch-Rabl and Johann Zagajsek presents around 400 ski tours on 384 pages, mainly in the Tyrolean lowlands, the eastern part of North Tyrol.

Autumn is an unfavorable time for ski tourers. Although some glacier ski areas in Tyrol open their lifts as early as September, skiing off the groomed pistes is usually out of the question due to a lack of snow and the risk of crevasses falling. As a result, the start of this year's ski touring season was mainly characterized by the search. The search for enough snow under the boards.

The most beautiful mountains in the world. This claim is often used to describe the imposing limestone cliffs in the South Tyrolean Alps. It's not just hordes of Italian summer tourists who make a pilgrimage to this unique region during Ferragosto. In freeride circles, too, the Dolomites with their steep rock cuts have already secured a place in the hearts of couloir fans. The 2008/2009 winter season, with its exceptional amounts of snow, also attracted a group of German couloir fans. You can read about their experiences in the following report.

"Boots are made for walking" goes a well-known American country song. But not all ski boots are suitable for touring with them. In the PowderGuide market overview, you can read which boots currently available meet freeride requirements.

Off-piste skiing is booming. For many, the real adventure begins where marked pistes and lifts end. However, hiking on foot is difficult to manage without suitable equipment. Touring bindings with a walking function offer the adventurous a comfortable way to discover the vastness of the mountain world on their own. As everywhere else, different systems have developed, each with their own advantages and disadvantages. In order not to lose the overview in the jungle of materials, we present the most important bindings here and tell you which system is suitable for which purpose.