Skitouren

Sometimes you find your destiny in a roundabout way. Or at least to your fortune. These detours sometimes take such absurd turns, such unpredictable coincidences, that you almost believe in something like fate. I mean, is there really such a thing as a common thread?

What could be better than travelling in the mountains with the whole family? Even in winter, this is possible with a converted bike trailer! To anticipate an outcry: We are not going on a normal ski tour here, but rather ski touring in very moderate terrain, i.e. on prepared winter or unprepared summer trails. Whether this is acceptable for everyone is up to you.

This year's winter left a lot to be desired at the beginning, but shortly afterwards Ullr took pity on us and gifted us with snowfall beyond good and evil from the end of December. The perfect time to test a big mountain freeride ski that is even suitable for ski touring in larger amounts of fresh snow. The Boundary Pro 107 by Black Diamond is said to be perfect for precisely this type of use.

Level 2 with and from risk'n'fun focuses on the baseline topics "perceive - judge - decide", group-dynamic soft skills, avalanche and accident management as well as cartography and tour planning.

If you don't have air support or a skido and want to ski in the Alaska Range, you have to be satisfied with a very limited selection of possible destinations. Especially if it is to be a day tour, at best without touching complicated glaciers.

What kind of jackets do you actually use when you're ski touring or mountaineering? A hardshell jacket is often too warm on the ascent and only a first layer is often too cold. Let's see what the answer from LaSportiva is!

The Großer Bösenstein is a very popular touring destination and not without reason, as it offers not only a great view but also an interesting descent with a manageable altitude in the ascent. The toll road to the Edelrautehütte makes the 1700 m high starting point easily accessible.

The Spectre 2.0 proves that La Sportiva not only makes good climbing boots, but also scores points in the ski touring boot segment! The enhanced ski touring boot is convincingly tailored to the needs of downhill-oriented ski tourers.

Seen from the valley, the Tschaggunser Mittagspitze is a striking peak, but apart from the last few meters from the ski depot to the summit, it is an easy ski tour. The last few meters to the summit require absolute surefootedness, but you will be rewarded with an impressive view!

At 2341 m above sea level, the Alvier is one of the higher peaks in the St.Gallen Rhine Valley. The summit is easily accessible from (almost) all sides. As it has no larger neighbors in the immediate vicinity, you can enjoy a fantastic view from the summit. Including the castle in Vaduz.

Günter Schmudlach is the inventor, founder and programmer of the Swiss online portal Skitourenguru.ch. The avalanche report assesses the risk of countless ski touring routes in Switzerland and soon in the entire Alpine region on a daily basis. A highly innovative project, in our opinion. We spoke to Günter about Skitourenguru in general, his motivation and his vision for the future.

Fritz Barthel, father of the pin binding, and Eric Hjorleifson, freeride legend and material freak, enjoy working together on ski boots and bindings and have brought a joint project to series maturity with the Hoji Boot. Hoji's involvement gives hope for uncompromising big mountain performance, while Barthel's focus was on handling and ascent. Dynafit promises an egg-laying, revolutionary wool-milk sow.