Freeride

How a hood was found in France and later lost again in Iceland. In the next few lines, you'll find out whether sport can also be political and what all this has to do with our Gear of the Week.

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.

If you come to New Zealand to go freeriding, don't miss out on visiting one of the "mini" ski resorts and club ski fields. With few lifts, but usually great terrain, you can get back to basics. It's not uncommon for these almost family-like resorts to make you think that this is exactly how you could imagine your own small, private ski resort behind the house. Ohau and Temple Basin are two good places to soak up the Kiwi ski spirit and hopefully take a bit of it home with you to the European ski resorts.

Queenstown is located on the South Island of New Zealand, in the middle of the Southern Lakes District. The backdrop of clear lakes in front of snow-covered mountains is breathtaking and the sporting opportunities are diverse. This is no longer an insider tip and Queenstown and the region are therefore very touristy. This has advantages and disadvantages. In any case, the mountains around Queenstown offer freeriders many options and with the Remarkables, one of New Zealand's best commercial ski resorts is practically on the doorstep.

Perhaps the most famous mass start freeride race in the Alps looks back on an impressive 27-year tradition. On April 3, 2015, 832 freeriders plunged down the normally 2000-metre descent from the glacier (Dome de La-Lauze) at over 3500 m to La Grave. Due to the poor snow conditions, the 2015 race had to be started on a shortened route so that the descent "only" covered 1500 vertical meters.

When it comes to freeriding in the Salzburger Sportwelt, many riders focus on the highest resort of Zauchensee. However, the ski area that connects Flachau with its neighboring villages of Wagrain and St. Johann im Pongau is also home to a variety of interesting smaller spots, for which you generally don't even have to make any climbs worth mentioning.

When the snow line drops to 1500 meters above sea level in the leading year, this is a challenging tour with good prospects of late powder turns.

What you shouldn't actually do in a test report I'll do anyway: by simply quoting the manufacturer to introduce the test: "Whitedot's flagship powder ski is a versatile and reliable friend in the mountains." Apart from the fact that I expect a little more from friends in terms of interpersonal values, a thick (128 mm center width), reliable (even in rough and demanding conditions), profound (especially there it shows its strengths) and fun (in all respects) friendship has developed over time.

With the iSKI X app, Intermaps has launched something specifically for freeriders this season alongside the normal iSKI app. Not only can you find out about the current weather and snow conditions in the ski resorts, you can also use the safety features.

Black Diamond's Aspect, Convert and Megawatt ski lines now each have a carbon construction as a lightweight version in the range, which is aimed not only at freeriders, but above all at touring skiers who are looking for downhill-oriented, wide touring skis for powder tours.

Florian Ramsauer reports for PowderGuide on his participation in the Salewa Climb to Ski Camp, an unquestionably unconventional ski touring, freeriding and ski mountaineering camp. Together with professional athletes from the organizer and alpine outfitter Salewa and local mountain guides, the group spent four days roaming the outstanding terrain around the Dolomite village of San Martino di Castrozza in fresh snow and perfect weather.

A ski for all conditions and everyone? With the Q-Lab, Salomon is launching a ski on the market that is supposed to be a mixture of racing and freeride ski. A true all-rounder. Can the ski fulfill the expectations?