Sebastian Siep

Three-layer jackets for skiing are nothing special in themselves. Numerous brands offer them in all colours and functionalities - often at high prices. The spectrum ranges from lightweight, pure rain jackets to solid, robust mountaineering versions. Due to their welded construction consisting of many individual parts, they are certainly complex to develop and are advertised as uncompromising high-performance products with almost infinite durability. Add an eye-catching design and the jacket is considered a premium product. The evaluation is then usually based on the most rational criteria possible: Weight, number of pockets, water column, pack size or the size of the hood and whether the helmet still fits underneath.

The ski that is suitable as a "one-ski quiver". Whether this is really the case and what the ultra-sharp edge is all about was tested in detail this winter.

It is easy to imagine that there is a lot of work behind the introduction and further development of a ski touring binding. But here you can find out exactly how the process of feedback from various users, athletes and guides works and what added value this offers for the development process.

The most important piece of equipment when skiing, even before the safety half, is the complicated part that enables your legs and feet to connect to the gliding plates. Although all of the skier's movements are transferred to the skis via this connection and this influences the quality of the skiing, too little attention is usually paid to the exact fit for your feet.

On the last weekend of April, the PowderGuide team met up with friends, partners and long-time companions in Engelberg to celebrate the end of the season in style.

PowderGuide partner Atomic has provided us with the new Maverick freeride ski for testing. This is the short test of the Maverick 115 Cti, the flagship model, which has already been tested on the Freeride World Tour.

A very light and convincingly well-fitting backpack made of robust material, which is rather spartanly equipped. The EL2 system encourages practising, as it is easy to use and the backpack can be folded up and loaded again effortlessly after deployment. With a well thought-out packing strategy, the pack volume offers sufficient space for all one-day adventures.

Whether it's a powder suit, a flightsuit for flying through the snow, a jumpsuit or a one-piece. We're talking about a ski suit.

The Val d'Arpette in the Lower Valais is well known for small and large freeride tours in the northern sector. Nevertheless, even weeks after the last snowfall, you can still find powder on the predominantly north-facing slopes and gullies, which is probably rarely fully skied out.

A small ski manufacturer in Sweden. In view of the many craft ski manufacturers that have sprung up recently, that alone doesn't sound very special. However, NORSE's developments have received very promising feedback in the die-hard internet forums. What makes NORSE's skis so special is the very complete development approach. Once I had familiarised myself with the core technology used, I was keen to test the ski.

The pin technology, which was once only of interest to very experienced tourers and above all racing bunnies, has now become an integral part of the touring boot market.

The small, North American equipment manufacturer CAST has brought its system to serial maturity. PG skiers Tobi and Sebastian have been using the previous Cast - S&I system for some time and favour its attributes over conventional touring bindings. Having had the new CAST system on their equipment bucket list for a while, they have now been able to test it extensively.