Skitouren

I packed my thick backpack, the giant ice hockey bag and the two-metre-long ski bag onto the Flixbus, hugged my flatmates once again and the big bus sets off. From above, I could see my friends trying in vain to make out which of the darkened windows I had sat down behind. So that was it for Heidelberg, off to the mountains!

After the tour is before the snack: sun on your face, endless views, and then the question of where to actually sit down. You can turn your skis around, of course. It's more comfortable, warmer and much more relaxed with a small, foldable seat pad that fits into any ski touring backpack. An inconspicuous item with surprisingly great comfort and more benefits than you might think.

The weeks leading up to our adventure were characterized by snow, snow and more snow. That's why we all agreed on the goal of our trip: we wanted to be as safe as possible while having as much fun as possible!

The Rophaien is not particularly high, but as the first hill on the lake it offers an impressive view down into the blue and a racy north side with a not-so-trivial ascent and a magnificent descent.

It's that time again, the end of the year is approaching and it's time for fireworks. As the year draws to a close and the first firecrackers go off in the valley, it's worth taking a look up there. Innsbruck has been celebrating its mountain New Year's Eve on the Nordkette since 1994.

It's clear that we all use poles when splitboarding and that it's unfamiliar at first when switching from snowboarding. We learned how to use them on the descent from Tobi last season. However, there are also the foldable poles not mentioned in his article, which are used more for hiking. But how do the folding poles compare to the telescopic poles when splitboarding?

It was dark and the moon was shining brightly as a VW bus drove slowly around the corner at 5 p.m. in the afternoon. People were sitting outside, quietly engrossed in conversation, when a thick flake slowly fell out of the sky.

In January 2024, the time had come - a flight to another continent. Endless expanses, valley after valley. Not so different at first glance: mountains, trees, snow. But where are the villages? An eight-hour drive and just three real villages. And then: Nelson on Kootenay Lake. A little gem, full of love - and even more snow.

They are rarely missing even in freeride backpacks and are almost standard equipment these days; for ski touring backpacks, this has always been true anyway: a pair of climbing skins! This makes it all the more important to have a skin with the right properties. The product range is now so wide that this is no problem. In the improved guide line, Contour relies on lighter, more robust materials and improved gliding and adhesive properties. Now you can win your own pair of the revised guide skins!

Winter has already left its first traces in the mountains, so the first runs have already been collected. But we can hardly wait for the coming winter either. After introducing the new "Snow-/Splitboard" category last season and launching the new "Splittie of the Week" series, we are looking forward to a new season with exciting content!

The Xenic plus 12 is for those who want to keep all their options open on the uphill and blossom on the downhill. In its category, the Xenic plus 12 impresses with outstanding downhill performance and a complete package of safety technologies.

When looking for suitable destinations for a ski touring vacation, Peru is unlikely to come to your mind. But the Cordillera Blanca, not far from the equator, is home to the largest tropical glaciers in the world. Our goal: to climb and ski down some of the impressive five and six thousand meter peaks "by fair means" - i.e. without guides and porters. In the second part of our adventure report, we continue through long ascents, with heavy backpacks, in thin mountain air - past imposing glaciers, in the midst of complete solitude and untouched nature. A continuation of Part I, characterized by disappearing tents, endless ascents and challenging conditions.