Freeride

I was eagerly awaiting the semester break. Not only because you have a bit more time then, but above all because it meant: off to Austria again!

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.

It is not only freeriding and ski touring that has been rapidly gaining popularity in recent years, but also the desire for as much safety as possible when practicing these sports. The range of avalanche airbag backpacks is therefore increasing significantly ...

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 ...

Amazing Snowfalls in the Piemonte in Italy, with about 1,5 -2 meters of "Freshies" within only 4 days (!) made the competition, just about 12 hrs after the last snowflakes came down, with stunning blue skys absolutely "perfecto"!!! The Artesina Freeride Festival 2015 went down on Sunday, February 8th and it was a blast for our rider-reporter Nico Göz. Nico decided to write the report in English so that the organizers and the other riders could understand a bit of it.

Whether it's a ski tour in the lonely backcountry or powder rounds in the ski area. Whether together with friends in a hut or alone at the summit. Whether you're wearing a T-shirt in bright sunshine or a down jacket in a snowstorm: a small snack can't save your day on the mountain, but it certainly makes it better. That's why this time in our "Gear of the Week" section we're focusing on small snacks to take with you. Attention! This article contains product placement ;)

Can anyone remember today's avalanche report? Was it hazard pattern 3: rain - below 2,000 meters; or was it hazard pattern 4, cold to warm / warm to cold - on all slopes; plus hazard pattern 1: weak layer close to the ground above 2,300 meters, especially on the northern main ridge of the Alps; in addition, cold, loose fresh snow that had fallen under the influence of strong winds.

The third part of our coverage of ISPO 2015 deals with the new products in the freeride and touring ski sector. As in previous years, a slow evolution continues to take place in the ski sector. We didn't see a revolution in ski design at the trade fair, but we didn't expect one either.

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 ...

With its Aspect, Convert and Megawatt carbon construction ski lines, Black Diamond now has a series in its range that is aimed not only at freeriders, but above all at ski tourers who are looking for downhill-oriented, wide touring skis for powder tours.

The descent from the Zamangspitze is aggressively advertised and marketed today, but it is still a highlight in the Montafon.

Since mid-December, the Swiss sporting goods manufacturer with US roots has been publishing a new freeride-related story every ten days on its "Moments of Freeride" blog.