Lorenzo Rieg

Sustainability is also playing an increasingly important role in the outdoor and ski touring sector. Our partner La Sportiva is trying to make a contribution here by using materials that are as sustainable as possible. We tested the Kopak Hoody with an innovative and natural filling.

Julbo takes an innovative approach to helmets and goggles. For example, several high-quality ski goggles with self-tinting lenses have been produced for a while now. For the current season, they are being combined with a helmet that is specially adapted for use with ski goggles and is therefore designed not only to provide an optimum fit, but also to ventilate the goggles to reliably prevent fogging.

The Ultimate Windstopper jacket is a true classic in the Mammut collection. This jacket has been around for as long as I can remember - now in its fifth version. I like to wear this versatile jacket on ski tours, but it can also be used for hiking, climbing and other outdoor activities.

The Boundary Line Mapped Jacket from Black Diamond is a ski jacket with lightweight insulation made from Lavalan wool fibres, which is processed using the body mapping process in the areas that tend to need more insulation. This makes it particularly suitable for colder ski days.

With the Xenic, Fritschi is launching a new, particularly lightweight pin binding onto the market. Despite its low weight of just 280g (per unit without stopper), the Xenic scores highly in terms of ease of use and numerous safety features, as you would expect from Fritschi.

La Sportiva is strengthening its range of ski touring boots for the current season with a very lightweight model that bridges the gap between ski touring boots and normal, ascent-orientated boots. We have already tested the new Skorpius extensively.

Every winter sports enthusiast really likes merino underwear. So of course I also took a closer look at the Yotei Powder Hood from our partner Mons Royale and would like to present it to you here in a Gear of the Week.

First of all, I have to admit that I hardly ever wear a back protector anymore. In the past (a really long time ago), it was part of my standard equipment and I was practically never out and about without my protector - back then it was a very heavy hard-shell version.

It is fair to say that there has been a merino boom that has swept through the outdoor industry like a whirlwind in recent years. There is hardly a well-known outdoor manufacturer that doesn't have a few products made from this miracle wool in its range and many now rely exclusively on merino underwear and accessories, such as our partners from Mons Royale.

As in previous years, it is also noticeable in 2020 that many manufacturers, especially large ones, are staying away from ISPO. On the one hand, this has resulted in a certain shrinking of the trade fair as a whole, but on the other hand it has also created more space for smaller manufacturers.

With the new Evo 5, the safety specialists from Arva in France are launching a new avalanche transceiver on the market for the current season that packs all the essential features into an extremely small and lightweight housing.

With the Mindbender series, K2 has skis in its programme that basically work in all conditions or at least in a wide range of snow conditions and types of use. Of course, it also depends on the width and construction whether the skis have their centre of gravity in powder or rather on the piste, but we tested whether the skis really work everywhere using the Mindbender 99 TI as an example.