Zermatt

Julbo, manufacturer of goggles, glasses and helmets, invited us to legendary Zermatt to present the new "Cyclon - Pair of Kings" goggle with a photochromic lens that covers categories 0 to 4. Sam Anthamatten "King of Freeride" and Antti Ollila "King of Freestyle" co-developed them and I was allowed to test them for you. In the following, I talk in detail about my three-day trip, the goggles, their manufacturer and the two athletes behind them.

With the current temperatures, a bit of cooling would be very welcome. On the one hand, you can cool off in a swimming lake or ice cream parlor, but on the other hand, snow is also cold and one or two lifts are still running or will be running again soon. If we have overlooked a ski area with summer operation, please add it in the comments. If you don't need lift assistance, there are of course many more opportunities for a few summer turns.

When it comes to snow, there are and have been various trends. All of them have brought progress and have given way to new trends. Meanwhile, one of them has been stuck in its own gears for years. A plea to finally take a common path out of this one.

It's not often that international weather reports dominate the evening news. If it does, there is usually not much else happening, or the weather has a massive impact on many people's everyday lives, for example in the form of extreme temperatures, as recently seen in the eastern USA and Australia, or masses of snow, as is currently the case in the Western Alps.

The International Snow Science Workshop (ISSW) takes place every two years, alternating between the USA, Canada and Europe. The last ISSW was held in Breckenridge, Colorado, in October 2016. The ISSW is the largest scientific conference on snow and avalanches and offers snow researchers from various disciplines the opportunity to get together. Over the next few weeks, we will be taking a closer look at the findings presented there. We start with some news on the topics of model chains, fracture mechanics and avalanche detection.

PowderGuide user Philip Crivelli won the WhiteSession competition organized by PG partner Julbo last winter and spent ten days on the slopes with Sam Anthamatten and Vivian Bruchez. Phillip had already ticked off one or two steep faces beforehand - now, in the company of the two pros, he tackled two more. We asked Phillip how he got on: a conversation about steep slopes and skiing at eye level.

The Matterhorn. A mountain steeped in history. The symbol of Switzerland. For me personally, it is probably one of the most beautiful mountains in the Alps. It is definitely the most famous mountain, because it even comes in chocolate form! For years, the Horu, as the locals call it, has exerted a strong attraction on me. Skiing down the east face of the Matterhorn has long been on my ski to-do list. For various reasons, it had never worked out so far...

The Schwarztor is not one of the great classics in Zermatt for nothing. After a short but impressive ascent, you reach the Schwarztor, which provides a passage northwards between Breithorn and Pollux to the Schwarzgletscher and the descent on the same. This is certainly not the most challenging descent in the area, but the landscape experience and, above all, the ratio of ascent to descent altitude meters are among the best.

On February 26, 2015, the Swiss ski resort of Zermatt hosted another edition of the Skiers Cup between teams from Europe and America under powder snow and blue skies. The 5th Skiers Cup offered good conditions for the freeski team competition between Europe and America. The European team managed to win back the Skiers Cup trophy in the form of a ski boot. The overall score is now 3:2 in favor of the Europeans.

After four successful competitions in Chile and Switzerland, the Skiers Cup returned to Zermatt in 2014. In the fifth edition of the intercontinental freeski duel, Team America is now led by Seth Morrison following the death of JP Auclair. The two teams are currently tied at 2:2. The fifth Swatch Skiers Cup will take place from February 21 to 27, 2015.

After every Patrouille des Glaciers, I had decided that this would be my last participation in this extreme ski touring race. But once again, I couldn't resist the request from my friends Marc White and Daniel Huguet to join them on the next Patrouille des Glacier.

Team Americas was declared the winner of the 2014 Swatch Skiers Cup. JP Auclair's crew was leading 9:7 after the backcountry slopestyle. The decision was to be made at the Big Mountain on 09.01.2014, but after strong winds and high temperatures worsened the conditions, the competition unfortunately had to be canceled. The result of the first day was taken as the final result.