ISPO

As every year, we report on the most important ISPO highlights from the PowderGuide partners. The second part is about women's one-piece suits, an avalanche backpack from a backpack specialist, extremely light insulation jackets, equally light ski touring bindings and carbon skis and even more safety equipment. Some of the products will be presented as tests early next season. Have fun browsing!

Our partners have worked hard again this year to launch new products, innovations and real hits for the 2020/2021 season. They have been working on designs, colors, functions and materials. One very clear trend is to keep the ecological footprint as small as possible. We find this very pleasing and hope that it is not just a short-term trend, but will remain firmly anchored in the production chain in the future.

In terms of snowboarding, ISPO is stagnating at a low level as far as the number of stands is concerned. It hasn't actually become completely insignificant, but young brands are often at ISPO once, but then give it a miss and only go to the industry meetings such as rock on snow or Shops 1st Try. That's why we were at the Shops 1st Try in Alpbachtal again this year in addition to ISPO, to capture as much news as possible in the splitboard and snowboard sector for you.

There are a few new developments in the ski sector that should be of interest to PowderGuide readers. In addition to a few new touring models, most companies have tidied up their freeride portfolios. Roughly summarized, most of the new top models come in medium widths around 105mm, with Titanal for lift-assisted skiing, as well as without Titanal and in similar, lighter versions as touring models.

As in previous years, sustainability was an important topic in the clothing segment. Almost every manufacturer has now realized this. There were no major technical highlights, but there were still one or two interesting products. Generally speaking, it can be said that things are becoming a little more colorful again, albeit with more classic colors.

BCA and ARVA will each be launching a new avalanche transceiver next season, although these are more likely to be overhauled versions of familiar models than fundamentally new inventions. The various airbag systems remain unchanged and are merely packaged in new colors. The only completely new feature appears to be a microwave scanner that records "snow profiles".

As in previous years, it is also noticeable in 2020 that many manufacturers, especially large ones, are staying away from ISPO. On the one hand, this has resulted in a certain shrinking of the trade fair as a whole, but on the other hand it has also created more space for smaller manufacturers.

As every year, PowderGuide is once again reporting on the highlight products from our partners for the coming winter 2019/20 with a slight delay! Some of the products have already been mentioned in the other Ispo-News, but we will go into more detail here and reveal what will soon be available in more detailed test reports. Enjoy reading and find out more.

"ISPO is not dead, yet," I wrote last year. This is still true, but the patient is already in intensive care. More and more brands are starting to present their products outside of ISPO, which was also discussed here last year. The snowboard industry was once again a pioneer, as this trend now also seems to have arrived in the ski sector, as our ski article makes clear.

There were also some new products in the clothing sector. However, as was the case last year, these were rather small, but we don't want to withhold a few technical highlights from you. There are few changes in terms of design, with the color tones mostly kept rather dark. Bright colors are also a rarity this year.

Just like last year, the ski brands represented at the trade fair are becoming fewer and fewer. After the absence of the major Amer Sports brands Atomic and Salomon (and therefore also Armada) since last year, Black Crows, for example, is now also missing.

In the field of avalanche safety, ISPO 2019 was rather restrained in terms of major innovations. Some manufacturers revised existing products, changed minor details or added individual models to the existing product range. Spectacular innovations were largely absent (again this year).