Lorenzo Rieg

For some years now, ATK has had pin bindings with a high Z-value and very low weight in its programme, which are aimed at ambitious ski tourers. This season we were able to test the ATK Raider 13 Evo, which also offers an adjustable DIN setting on the toe piece.

With the Scott Superguide LT 95, Scott is endeavouring to produce a ski that uses as few resources as possible. This is why not only the base and edges are made from at least partially recycled material, but also certified wood for the core and bio-based material for the topsheet.

With the Freeguide Touring, Scott has a new ski touring boot in its programme. The shell of the Freeguide Touring is identical to the Freeguide Carbon, but is softer and slightly lighter due to the use of Pebax material, and the boot is also cheaper than the carbon version.

Since it was founded almost 15 years ago, the Picture brand, which goes by the full name of Picture Organic Clothing, has stood for sustainable winter sports clothing. On the one hand, sustainable, often bio-based materials are used wherever possible and harmful substances are avoided. On the other hand, Picture also uses innovative approaches such as a lifetime guarantee on the typical "wear parts" of clothing such as zips, buttons and seams.

Sustainability is an important and topical issue that we at PowderGuide also address time and again with our partners. Scott is quite active in this area and strives to produce its own products as sustainably as possible, but also pays attention to things like working conditions at suppliers and producers along its own supply chains. We spoke to Andre Goodman, Scott's sustainability manager, about this topic.

With the Vanguard, La Sportiva is launching a long-awaited boot onto the market that utilises an innovative design. While the trend in ski touring boots is moving towards the "overlap" design familiar from alpine boots, La Sportiva has optimised the more classic "convertible" design with the Vanguard. We tested how the boot performs uphill and downhill.

Faction is now well established as a pure freeski brand, but is still an (almost) unknown agent in the touring ski sector. With the Agent series, Faction now has an interesting touring ski line in its programme, although it is perhaps worth noting that the models marked with an "X", i.e. Agent 1.0X, Agent 2.0X and so on, are basically the same skis.

ISPO, an interesting but also very exhausting trade fair, has been postponed from January to autumn. However, at PowderGuide we still do our best to provide you with information about the material for the coming season. However, the information is largely based on information we received from manufacturers - after all, we weren't able to scrutinise the new products ourselves at ISPO.

Aconcagua fleece jackets from Mammut have been around for a really long time. At least I imagine I owned one about 15 years ago. Of course, the models change over time and there is currently a whole range of Aconcagua jackets and trousers. What they all have in common is the high-quality Polartec® Power Stretch material and their existence as a mid-layer.

With the A.LIGHT, ABS has launched a completely redesigned backpack system onto the market. The release system with the two balloons, the familiar cartridge and release unit remains the same, but the backpack concept has been completely revised. There are currently two zip-ons in different sizes for the base unit, which contains the airbags, release unit and cartridge. We tested the backpack with the larger TOUR attachment.

While the winter of 2021/2022 somehow doesn't really want to get going, even at the end of January, the new 160-page Downdays book arrives. This time without a year in the title, but simply titled "Volume 3", it is once again a loose collection of interviews and stories that are roughly divided into three sections.

Ortovox is launching an innovation onto the market with the Diract Voice. In search mode, the avalanche transceiver provides spoken instructions to help you find buried victims as quickly as possible.