Patrick Wehowsky

THE FOURTH PHASE is the third major film by and with Travis Rice - after "that's it that's all" from 2008 and "the art of flight" from 2011 - which have contributed greatly to Travis Rice's general, cross-industry fame.

The descent from the Kleiner Kaserer is a lift-assisted variation of a ski tour with the same name starting at Wipptal.

From Friday, February 19 to Sunday, February 21, the Alpine Splitfest took place for the third time in Kandersteg. As the festival has grown significantly in the last two years, the organizers were forced to move the festival to a new location this time.

Powderguns - split and in one piece - in all shapes and colors are the hot shit, but the biggest gun still does pogo, and has for 32 years! The experimentation department of the designers/manufacturers obviously had a merciless 'powder shortage' this year.

Given the normality with which people from all over Europe enjoy winter sports in the Alps today, it is always surprising that this movement only began around 100 years ago. In a very interesting two-part documentary, Katharina Schickling presents the eventful history of skiing in Bavaria, which is representative of the dramatically changed approach to the winter mountains.

A paradigm shift in snowboard design?! Anyone with a passing knowledge of scientific theory will be familiar with Thomas Kuhn's groundbreaking study on the development of new scientific disciplines - which has also become commonplace in everyday language under the heading "paradigm shift". These changes in doctrine do not necessarily come from the big institutions/players, but from lateral thinkers who consistently pursue their own theory. This is also the case with Furberg Snowboards - a so-called "early adopter" of a new design concept on the part of snowboard manufacturers.

Three days at the end of the season at the Amberger Hütte in May paired with the opportunity to test pretty much everything that is currently available on the splitboard market, that sounded quite tempting when the offer fluttered into the house in April...

The splitboard trend, which was already apparent at ISPO 2014, is continuing in winter 2015/16. Every brand, no matter how small, now has at least one splitboard in its product portfolio. Product differentiation continues to make inroads among established brands - more or less in line with Porter's business management textbook and the competition matrix it contains. Roughly speaking, the motto is more and for all groups and budgets.

Our author was struck by the Salomon Freeski episode "War Story"... The astonishingly insensitive mixing of old footage from the Dolomite front of the First World War with quite successful ski videos of the same area provokes a polemical reply.

There are several useful apps for outdoor activities, and the weather app from MeteoSwiss is definitely one of them.

Splitboards are now available in every conceivable shape and color. We put one of the most innovative new splitboards - the Ultrasplit from K2 - through its paces this season; with positive results, that much can be revealed in advance.

The PowderGuide crew was out and about for you at ISPO 2014 and took a look at the material for the coming season. Part 4 of our ISPO special is dedicated to developments in what is probably the only growth area in the snowboard world: splitboards and the associated binding systems.