Timo Macvan

The dream of many young athletes was to come true. To be able to leave their tracks in the (still) untouched nature of Alaska and join the small group of Freeride World Tour riders who have already had this privilege. Never-ending white slopes, bright sunshine in freezing temperatures and the best freeriders in the world. This calls for fun, action and thrills as well as crunchtime in the first part of the final events of a special kind.

Bergstolz's big ski test has been taking place every winter for years now - at the end of March 2025, we found the best freeride conditions in Hochfügen, Zillertal. At the end of the season, Ms. Holle meant good once again. Dozens of skiers tested freeride skis from over 25 brands in four different categories. We took a closer look at a few models from the large selection and summarized our impressions in this article.

174 centimeters of matt black. Not a gimmick, but a clear statement: The Gun! The Supermatic Carbon is mounted on it. Strap in, engage, step on the gas. Together, this setup looks as if it has been cast from a single mold. It's stiff, direct and damn determined. A board that doesn't just handle speed, but actively demands it. And a binding that ensures that every movement arrives exactly where it should.

"All good things come in threes" is often said, but it is not always true. This time, "exceptions prove the rule" would probably be more accurate. Due to the snow conditions, no Freeride World Tour contest can take place in Fieberbrunn either.

After the last powder turn come the real bosses of freeriders: cold feet, icy parking lots, muddy hut floors. This is exactly where these bivouac boots come into play - without drama, but with a message. They are warm enough for snowstorm vibes and so comfortable that you only put them on "briefly" and then don't take them off for hours - or even accidentally wear them to work.

The Freeride Worldtour confuses Kühtai with the Caucasus. Lots of helping hands, a good atmosphere in the sunshine, spring temperatures and a freeride community that, after a little foretaste, is first disappointed and then happy. A community that shows why it is so nice to be part of it.

The new Freeride World Tour season is already in full swing. An exciting start to the 2026 season, in which the best freeriders in the world will be chosen on one and two boards. PowderGuide will once again be reporting live and up close from the tour this year. This year, we have already had the opportunity to interview one of the absolute high-flyers of recent years and get her in front of the lens. It's about the path away from the pressure to perform in the alpine system, mental low points on the Freeride World Tour and the search for true freedom on the mountain. Lena talks openly about her journey from racing to freeriding. It's about learning from mistakes, process-oriented thinking instead of fixating on results, responsibility in risky sports and why she now skis lines by feel and not by points.

The HEAD KORE Ti collection promises uncompromising off-piste fun. Whether on the piste, in perfect powder snow or when the going gets rougher. In the wide KORE series with six different middle widths from 88 to 118 mm for men and four versions for women (87 to 104 mm), everyone will find the right companion for perfect days on the mountain. Whether as an all-mountain version, versatile freeride all-rounder or big mountain machine. The sporty and reliable DNA runs like a perfect thread through the KORE series.

Val Thorens has once again delivered. We were supposed to go up the legendary Cime Caron, but Mother Nature had other plans. Too little snow, too much risk. So we moved to the Pointe de Thorens (3,266 m). Sounds like plan B, but it felt more like a jackpot: steep faces, technical sections, fresh powder and a French crowd that was so loud that you could hear some of the riders before the start. Between slope inspection in the fog and bright blue skies at the contest, there was that typical FWT magic: improvised, chaotic, but in the end legendary for exactly that reason. The second stop of the Freeride World Tour 2026 was not a fair weather event, but real freeriding with all its ups and downs.

Blue skies, fresh snow and 3,000 fans who turned the slope into a cauldron. The start of the Freeride World Tour by Peak Performance 2026 could hardly have gone better. At the Baqueira Beret Pro by Movistar, the legendary Tuc de Bacivèr celebrated its comeback as a venue for the first time since 2023. And the slope immediately showed why it enjoys cult status among freeriders. Despite the challenging snow cover after fresh snow and wind, everything came together on the day of the contest. The riders heard the noise of the crowd right at the start, let it push them - and delivered bold lines, big airs and genuine world-class freeriding.

The Prime Tour of the Freeride Film Festival (FFF) celebrated its end on Thursday with a sold-out auditorium (750 people) at the Gartenbaukino in Vienna. But the FFF has only just picked up speed. Included in the line-up are six fascinating, exciting and thematically diverse freeride films, which are categorized and rounded off by the on-screen moderation of Harry Putz and Lena Öller. The festival is also bringing its legendary raffle to some cinemas, with great prizes to be won.

This year, the Freeride Film Festival will once again start its Prime Tour in Innsbruck at the beginning of November and run in over 200 cinemas across Europe until mid-January. But this year is a special year, because PowderGuide is part of the Prime Tour for the first time. We await you in Innsbruck with our classic, the snow height tip game, and a few more surprises.