Helvetic Backcountry

Splitboard tours are great experiences. Compared to the ascent with snowshoes, it is as easy as a feather and you don't have to make any compromises on the descent. However, the requirements differ significantly from ski tours, as flat sections are still a lot of fun on the descent and, depending on the conditions and equipment, you may have a little more trouble on the ascent than on skis. Overall, however, technical development has made a huge leap in recent years and splitboarding has become a serious alternative to ski touring.

Although the current weather, like the current snow conditions, hardly suggests it: in just a few weeks it will be that time again. Christmas is just around the corner again and it's probably not only large parts of the PowderGuide editorial team that are looking for Christmas presents. Reason enough for us to offer our readers a little inspiration!

To write a touring atlas like the "Helvetic Backcountry Tourenatlas", you have to spend a lot of time on the mountain. The guys from Helvetic Backcountry do this with the splitboard. And they've been doing it for 7 years. They have summarized how they have fared during this time in a Viedo.

Santa Claus is already rumbling up the stairs; the very last time to put a nice book under the tree for yourself or your loved ones. If you can't think of anything at all ... then take a look at our advertising corner for good old and good new books. Here are the (Christmas) recommendations from the PG editorial team. Guaranteed to be suitable for winter and Christmas!

In the beginning there was the splitboard, or something like that. In any case, the board, which can be split into two parts, was used for snowboarding tours before today's alpine snowshoes. In this experience report, I try to summarize why splitboards have been on the rise again for a few years now and where the biggest differences to touring with snowshoes lie.

Our adventures in the mountains actually start at Zurich main station. A train journey takes us to a mountain village, an ascent to a mountain peak. Weightless turns in the powder make beads of sweat disappear. A day out snowboarding with friends. That's what we love.