Lorenzo Rieg

The Barryvox S follows on from Mammut's popular and widely used Barryvox Pulse. The device has been newly developed and is not only very easy and intuitive to use, but also offers an improved range and is also very compact. As befits a professional device, the Barryvox S is highly configurable and has numerous special functions.

Merino wool underwear has become an integral part of skiing and outdoor sports. The advantages are too great, such as the comfortable feel, the avoidance of perspiration odor and the good temperature regulation. In addition, although the good pieces are generally more expensive than the various synthetic fiber pieces, they are also more environmentally friendly and sustainable. Of course, this also applies to the garments from our partner company Devold from Norway, which has been processing wool there for over 150 years.

For me, an avalanche shovel must fulfill two essential criteria. Firstly, I want a large and torsion-resistant shovel blade made of metal and secondly, an extendable style with a D-handle. Especially nowadays, when people like to save weight even on safety equipment, such models are no longer so easy to find, which is why I used the same shovel for about 10 years up to and including last season.

The onion system for outdoor clothing is the undisputed standard nowadays: probably every freerider and ski tourer combines different layers of clothing depending on the activity and weather conditions.

I can still remember the first time I saw an outdoor headlamp, even if it was quite a while ago. You don't get any younger... Although the models back then were still really big and heavy and not too bright, I immediately thought to myself: "really practical thing". After all, it not only keeps your hands free, but also automatically illuminates your field of vision.

With the Voltair series, the Canadians from Arc'teryx entered the booming market for avalanche airbag backpacks last season. The "small" Voltair tested here with a capacity of 20 l is not only characterized by the battery-operated airbag system, but also offers freeriders numerous other advantages.

After Fritschi, the traditional manufacturer of ski touring bindings from Switzerland, was able to gain a foothold in the pin binding market in recent years with the Vipec models, the new Tecton now presents a logical further development of the concept that is definitely worth seeing.

If you are going skiing for a longer period of time and no longer transport your ski equipment in your (own) car, a ski bag is essential. At the very latest, if you want to take your skis with you on the plane, you need a sturdy one. A good ski bag is not just for protecting your skis from damage.

Like its equally famous neighbor, Piz Palü, Piz Bernina is well known to almost everyone. As the easternmost 4000-metre peak in the Alps and situated in spectacular surroundings, it is often visited via various routes, with the most interesting skiing starting from the Diavolezza lifts.

As an elementary piece of safety equipment, the probe is (hopefully!) stowed in every freerider's or ski tourer's backpack and always ready to go. Actually, there is not much to such a probe and practically all models available on the market are likely to work reliably. For me, a "good" Sonder is therefore characterized more by a combination of the right little things.

After a number of new ideas have been implemented in the world of ski touring bindings in recent years, it is hardly surprising that Dynafit has also revised the "standard" binding and added a few new features.

For this season, Dynafit has given the extremely successful TLT series a major overhaul and has added a few more innovations to the TLT7 compared to the TLT6. This not only further reduces the already very low weight, but also further improves the great ascent performance. We have tested how the shoe performs in more freeride-heavy use.