Lorenzo Rieg

With the expiry of Dynafit's patent in 2012, the monopoly in the pin binding market is also history. This not only led to a certain boom, but also to numerous new developments from various manufacturers. While some models differ only in detail from the original Dynafits, others have been significantly further developed.

The fact that Courmayeur has a lot to offer freeriders has become increasingly well known in the north of the Alps in recent years (it took long enough). However, Rudy Buccella's guide, which was published in 2012, is relatively unknown. Reason enough to present it in a PowderGuide review.

With the "Black Edition", Fritschi has brought out a revised version of the Vipec for this season, which, like its predecessor, combines maximum safety with high ease of use, light weight and great downhill performance. We have already tested the binding.

Thanks to the successful Quest series, Salomon has long been an established name in the field of strongly downhill-oriented boots with a walking function. For the current season, the MNT Lab and the MNT Explore are the first two "real" ski touring boots. These already visually striking boots promise excellent downhill performance in addition to low weight and good ascent properties. We took a closer look at the "smaller" model, the MNT Explore.

The Schwarztor is not one of the great classics in Zermatt for nothing. After a short but impressive ascent, you reach the Schwarztor, which provides a passage northwards between Breithorn and Pollux to the Schwarzgletscher and the descent on the same. This is certainly not the most challenging descent in the area, but the landscape experience and, above all, the ratio of ascent to descent altitude meters are among the best.

Typical approach shoes are one of those things. Although I understand their purpose and occasionally use them for hiking, they are usually a bit "too much" for me for use on real approaches, especially when ski touring. Sooner or later, the boot often ends up on or in the already heavy backpack and may be carried there for days on end, plus you have heavy, crampon-proof "shoes" with you anyway with ski touring boots.

With the Laser Speed Light, Petzl combines the lightness of aluminum with the strength and "bite" of steel in an ice screw. The result is quite impressive, as light weight is practically not at the expense of performance...

With the Patrol 32, EVOC has a typical top-load backpack for extended adventures in the backcountry in its range. As robust and fully equipped as usual, it is a loyal companion not only in the ski area, but also on extended ski tours where you need to carry a lot of extra equipment.

Last weekend, the "King of Dolomites" photo contest was held for the third time in San Martino di Castrozza. Once again, 14 professional and over 100 amateur teams had the opportunity to put their riding and photography skills to the test and capture the best moments around the impressive Pala Group.

The Joel (or Joelspitze) may not even be 2,000 m high, but it is still a popular tour (especially from the valley). And not for nothing, as it offers many downhill variants with manageable difficulty. What's more, the ascent from the lifts is only a short hop ...

Ski tours are undoubtedly very much in vogue and more and more freeriders, who are less interested in winning the summit than in an interesting descent, are taking on shorter ascents from the lifts or even full-blown ski tours to get to the coveted untracked powder snow.

Downhill performance like an alpine binding, combined with almost all the ascent qualities of a pin binding and all this at a weight of well under 2 kg per pair? Sounds too good to be true? No, it sounds like the Beast 16 from Dynafit ...