Skitouren

Dalbello continues to develop the three-piece convertible ski boot design in the direction of ascent performance and presents a touring boot for the 16/17 season that should score points with both its downhill and ascent properties. We have been using the boot since spring 2016 and want to compare it with the normal Lupo and Krypton as well as with similar boots in its class.

The second article in the Anno dazumal series was also written by Henry Hoek. In the first part of Ten Winters with Skis in the Mountains from 1910, Hoek tells us more about his first attempts "with the narrow boards that give us such a healthy feeling of happiness" in the Black Forest and why they were "anything but encouraging and enjoyable".

New trends in ski touring: even piste tourers are increasingly venturing into the great outdoors. Surveys show that for most, the experience of nature off the beaten track is the main priority.

Have you ever helplessly scraped ice out from under the spring bar on the toe piece of a Tech binding? Do other bindings make hairpin turns look much easier? No idea what the difference between brittle and non-brittle drift snow, which may be vital for survival, actually means? SnowFlurry helps.

When it comes to skiing, the Norwegian company "Stereoskis" not only focuses on winter, but also produces high-quality (alpine) skis and water skis. This is how the basic idea of Stereoskis "Never stop skiing" came about. Since we at PowderGuide are known to have less to do with skiing on the water, but prefer to ski in the snow, we were given the opportunity to test an (alpine) ski from Stereoskis.

The Austrian Alpine Club combines the various facets of its training program under the umbrella term "Safe on the Mountain" (SAB). In addition to the SAB courses on various mountain sports disciplines for section members, there are the so-called SAB booklets, in which the relevant teaching content can be found. In addition to the already well-known booklets on ski touring, via ferrata, sport climbing and mountain biking, there is now Hochtouren - Sicher unterwegs im vergletscherten Hochgebirge.

Six friends with an ambitious goal: they want to be the first to ski the highest mountain in Azerbaijan - but with endless bureaucracy, lots of fresh snow and a mountain guide with no ski equipment, it doesn't seem like an easy task...

The Procline Carbon Lite from Arc'teryx is a boot for ski mountaineers who are looking for a combination of a mountaineering boot for rock and ice, but also a ski touring boot for fast ascents with good downhill performance. Arc'teryx achieves this with the revolutionary 360° Rotating Cuff, which offers unrivaled functionality for climbing and skiing. The unrivaled vertical and lateral mobility of the ankle supports fast and safe ascents in all types of terrain, not only with skis and skins, but also when walking on foot and climbing.

Aaron Rice (Instagram: @airandrice) from Utah broke the world record for vertical meters climbed on touring skis this year and is well on his way to achieving his goal of 2.5 million vertical feet (= 762,000 vertical meters). What sounds incredible to the downhill-oriented ski tourer is also hard to grasp for the uphill-oriented. So the question arises: who is the crazy type and how many vertical meters can you theoretically cover in a calendar year?

Anyone who frequently undertakes steep descents, goes on typical ski mountaineering tours or is simply out and about in the firn in spring will also regularly need crampons when skiing. This makes it all the more surprising that there are hardly any crampons that are really well adapted to ski boots. From a bridge that is too short to straps that are also too short and cumbersome to put on, everything happens. With many ski boots, normal automatic crampons also block the walking mode, which is of course particularly suboptimal.

While some people are still puzzling over where Kyrgyzstan actually is, PG author Steffen can't get enough of this country. Together with friends, a driver and tons of Kyrgyz schnapps, he set off on a special kind of ski trip.

Tecnica presents an interesting new boot for the freetouring segment for the 2016/17 season. The Zero G Guide Pro is a solid four-buckle boot that scores points with its surprisingly low weight and wide range of use. We tested the boot extensively in the southern hemisphere winter.