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The Ski Issue Georgia Cat Skiing Hidden Dolomites Scotland Bike & Ski Adventure Avalanche Safety Skills + The Best Gear for Winter

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Explore › The Ski Issue 2026/27

Welcome to Explore

Contents

Last season’s exceptional snowfall reminded us exactly why we love skiing and, like you, I’m already counting down the days until I can clip in for that first run.

04. 70 Years of Ski Ellis Brigham celebrates seven decades at the heart of skiing.

54. The Joy of Plan C Hunting spring snow by bike in the Cairngorms.

08. Jim Morrison The legendary steep skier on his Everest descent and new film.

60. The Upside The latest ski touring kit for earning your turns.

14. The Human Factor Expert insight into decisionmaking in avalanche terrain.

62. Game Changer The new Salomon S/Pro Alpha C BOA boot in the spotlight.

17. Snow Patrol Avalanche safety gear for adventures beyond the ropes.

64. Drive Time From piste to powder, ski boots built to perform.

18. Hidden Dolomites Our pick of the region’s best under-the-radar ski resorts.

68. The BRITS Five intriguing takeaways from The BRITS 2026.

26. Carve Collective This winter’s best frontside weapons for resort ripping.

69. Frequent Flyers Get creative with this winter’s freshest freestyle skis.

30. Peak Style Look good, ski hard in this season’s best skiwear.

70. Why You Need A whole new perspective with Oakley’s Flow Scape.

38. Backcountry Friends Escaping the crowds in search of Georgia’s finest powder.

72. Peak Vision Helmets and goggles to keep you covered on the mountain.

46. Stash Seekers The season’s standout freeride skis for hunting fresh tracks.

74. After Hours Life beyond the shop floor with the Ellis Brigham crew.

This winter is extra special as we celebrate 70 years in the UK ski scene - seven decades of chasing snow, sharing our passion and helping generations of skiers get out there. In this refreshed edition of Explore, we meet steep-skiing legend Jim Morrison, chase powder in Georgia, roll with changeable plans in Scotland and preview the latest clothing and kit. And because great snow can come at a cost, we get expert avalanche insight from Henry’s Avalanche Talks to help us make better decisions in the backcountry. Seventy seasons in, the excitement lives on. See you out there. Mark Brigham

With thanks to Descente

For more inspirational content and ideas, follow us on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok. We’d love to hear about your adventures - share them with us using the tag #ellisbrigham

50. Origin Story Mountain Hardwear brings its technical DNA into freeride.

Proud to Support

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Brand Focus › Ellis Brigham

From leather boots to BOA, wooden skis to carbon fibre, Ellis Brigham has helped shape British skiing for seven remarkable decades.

(L) Ellis skiing on the dry slope early 1960s (R) Ellis aged 25 in Germany 1960s

70 Years of Ski When Ellis Brigham first began importing ski equipment in 1956, skiing in Britain was very much in its infancy. Holidays to the Alps were the preserve of a fortunate few, specialist clothing barely existed and the latest equipment arrived in wooden crates from mainland Europe. Seventy years on, the sport has been transformed. Skis are lighter, stronger and more versatile than ever. Boots are custom fitted to individual feet. Avalanche airbags, Mips helmets and BOA closures have redefined safety and performance, while skiing itself has evolved far beyond groomed pistes to embrace touring, freeride and backcountry adventures. Through every innovation, trend and technological breakthrough, Ellis Brigham has shared the journey. This is the story of how skiing has changed over seven remarkable decades.

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Slope style, Sixties-style.

Howard Head inspects one of his first skis (© HEAD).

One of Salomon’s earliest ski bindings (© Salomon).

1956-1969

1970s

The Beginning

The Holiday Boom

We opened our doors to skiers at a time when the sport was still a niche pursuit in Britain. Early customers purchased Kneissl wooden skis, leather ski boots with sturdy black calf uppers and ‘Ski Sticks’ costing 35 shillings.

The 1970s changed skiing forever. Affordable package holidays suddenly made the Alps accessible to far more British families and demand for ski equipment grew just as quickly. Ellis Brigham expanded its range with brands including Rossignol, Nordica and Salomon, while colourful European ski fashion arrived from Italy, Austria and beyond.

Performance clothing was almost non-existent. Most skiers relied on adapted military surplus or thick woollen layers. “The clothing was still ex-army gear, but there were already a few fledgling brands producing proper ski fashion” – Ellis Brigham By the 1960s, skiing had entered a period of rapid innovation. Wooden skis gradually gave way to fibreglass and metal constructions, making them lighter, stronger and easier to control. Brands that remain household names today - Head, Blizzard, Nordica, Tecnica and Salomon were already beginning to shape the future of the sport.

Back home, the company helped thousands take their first turns by opening what became Britain’s second-largest indoor nylon ski slope in Manchester. “For just £15 you could enrol on a four-week ski course and be ready to go when you reached the mountains” – Ellis Brigham For many skiers, the adventure began long before they ever boarded a plane. 5

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Brand Focus › Ellis Brigham

White Book 1 - Winter 1987/88 headbands and zinc oxide obligatory.

The ski boot line-up that helped define the 1980s.

The front cover of Ellis Brigham’s ski magazine from 1976.

1980-1990s The Technology Revolution By the 1980s, skiing had become a mainstream winter sport and equipment was evolving at an astonishing pace. Rear-entry ski boots became one of the defining innovations of the decade – the iconic Salomon SX series leading the charge – promising easier entry and all-day comfort, while ever-lighter materials improved performance across the board. The 1990s brought perhaps the biggest revolution of all: parabolic (shaped) skis. Gone were the days of wrestling long, straight skis through every turn. A more pronounced sidecut made carving easier and more intuitive, transforming the way people skied. Suddenly, everything felt more fluid, more forgiving and, ultimately, more fun, opening the door to a whole new generation of skiers.

outerwear lighter, warmer and more comfortable, while advances in boot fitting brought new levels of precision and comfort. As the equipment became more technical, so did the service. Expert advice, personalised boot fitting and helping every skier find the right setup became just as important as what sat on the shelves. “Ski fashion in the ’80s and ’90s couldn’t have been more different. We went from bright one-piece suits, padded shoulders and power dressing – not forgetting the day-glo zinc sunblock – to understated style and stealth GORE-TEX performance.” – Dave Whitlow, Fashion Director

Meanwhile, waterproof, breathable fabrics transformed mountain clothing, making technical 6

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Salomon launches the Force 9 in the early ’90s - its first monocoque ski.

High Italian fashion, 1970s-style Engadin jumpsuit and fitted jacket.

2000-Today The Modern Mountain The last two decades have seen skiing become more versatile than ever before. Advances in materials have produced lighter skis, stronger constructions and boots that combine downhill performance with uphill efficiency. Touring and freeride have moved from niche disciplines into the mainstream, while avalanche safety equipment has become more advanced and significantly more accessible. But perhaps the biggest change has been in the sport itself. Skiing has become more inclusive, more adventurous and more diverse. Families, racers, tourers, powder hunters and first-timers have all found their place on the mountain, with equipment evolving to suit every style of skier.

before. Mips helmets improve protection, photochromic lenses adapt to changing light and BOA ski boot closure systems offer a more precise fit. For Ellis Brigham, the philosophy has remained remarkably consistent: combining the very best equipment with decades of expertise, a genuine passion for skiing and a commitment to helping every skier get the most out of every day on the mountain. “As skiing continues to evolve, so too does Ellis Brigham – still inspired by the same love of skiing that has shaped the business since 1956.” - Steve Wells, Ski Hardware Buyer

Technology now influences almost every part of the skiing experience. Custom boot fitting, heat moulding and innovative designs deliver greater comfort than ever 7

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Interview › Jim Morrison

Everest: The Other Side A dramatic new film tells the story of one man’s mission to ski the greatest line on the planet. Tristan Kennedy spoke to Jim Morrison about the story behind his incredible descent. 8

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Interview › Jim Morrison

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Ever since the Indian mathematician Radhanath Sikdar first identified it as the highest point on Earth in 1852, the peak of Mount Everest has exerted an almost gravitational pull on mountaineers. It’s not the most challenging climb. It ’s certainly not the most groundbreaking. But even in the modern era of fixed lines, summit day queues and Sherpa-assisted ascents for anyone willing to pay, there’s something compelling about the idea of tackling the world’s tallest mountain.

“I had to transition from being a climber to: ‘I’m gonna put my skis on and I’m gonna ski off this.’ And “I mean, I’ve looked at it my whole life,” says The things got really serious for me...”

North Face athlete and ski mountaineer Jim Morrison when I meet him on a rainy day in a café near his home in Tahoe, California. “I grew up in a town called Walnut Creek near San Francisco, and we had a small mountaineering shop. The owner had these big photos throughout the store and lots of stories. We would just go there and talk to him about mountains.” Among these stories Jim would have heard was the incredible tale of Yuichiro Miura, the first person to ski on the mountain, whose 2,000m descent from the South Col was the subject of an Oscar-winning 1975 documentary, The Man Who Skied Down Everest. By the time Morrison grew up, becoming an accomplished big mountain skier in his own right, countless more stories had been written on Everest. The issue, at least for people like him with serious mountain chops, was whether there were any significant challenges left. Did the mountain have any new stories to tell? It’s a question answered in emphatic style by Morrison’s new documentary Everest: The Other Side, which is scheduled for cinema release on 30 October 2026. Directed by his friend Jimmy Chin and fellow Oscar-winning filmmaker Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, the duo behind Free Solo, the film tells the story of Morrison’s quest to climb the direct north face via the Hornbein Couloir, one of the most challenging routes to the summit, and then to ski back down it - a descent of 3,650m, on narrow, icy slopes with gradients of up to 60 degrees, starting from 8,848.86m above sea level: the highest point on Earth. Reinhold Messner once described the line that Morrison followed as “the most beautiful route on Everest.” In 2024, Outside magazine dubbed it “the greatest line never skied.” But the Hornbein route was fraught with risks. “When Tom Hornbein and Willi Unsoeld climbed it in 1963, they referred to it as ‘Hornbein’s Avalanche gully,’” Morrison tells me, with a chuckle. Since then, only nine other climbers had ever

successfully scaled the couloir, and while there had been three previous attempts to ski down it, in 1996, 2002 and 2003, none of those expeditions had really come close. It’s not much of a spoiler to say that Morrison’s quest was ultimately successful: when he skied the line on October 15th last year, it made headlines around the world. But where those articles focused on the achievement itself, the forthcoming film goes a whole lot deeper examining not just the physical and logistical challenges, but what was going on beneath the surface. Morrison’s route to the mountain was marked by almost unimaginable tragedy. “I’ve suffered some pretty serious loss in my life,” he told me the first time we met, in 2019, “I lost my wife and my children in a plane crash in 2011.” Katie Morrison was a recreational pilot, and had been flying with their two young kids, Hannah, five, and Wyatt, six, when their small Cessna went down. In the aftermath, Morrison said, “I think the mountains kind of rescued me.” To help cope with the grief, “I continued to spend more and more time getting outdoors,” he explained, where he found that the tunnel-vision needed to ski ever-more challenging routes safely helped him stay focused on the present. Along the way, he fell in love with Hilaree Nelson, a fellow North Face athlete and ski mountaineer, who shared a similar passion for pushing the boundaries of the sport. Together, the pair completed the most challenging line of either of their careers up to that point: skiing the Lhotse Couloir from the summit of the world’s fourth-highest mountain in 2018. 11

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Interview › Jim Morrison

Tristan Kennedy Tristan is a British journalist based in the Dolomites, specialising in adventure travel and environmental stories.

The Hornbein route down Everest’s north face, Morrison tells me in Tahoe, was as much Nelson’s dream as it was his. “Hilaree and I had been talking about this since we skied Lhotse,” he says. Nelson features prominently in the film, talking about the goal, and journeying with Morrison to meet the elderly Tom Hornbein at his home in 2021. The original plan was for the pair to attempt the couloir later that year, “but Covid prevented us, China was shut,” Morrison explains. And then, the following season, tragedy struck again. “We lost Hilaree in an avalanche in the fall of ‘22,” Morrison says, his voice heavy with emotion. With the Tibetan side of Everest still closed because of travel restrictions in China, Morrison and Nelson had decided to ski Manaslu, the world’s eighth-highest mountain, in Nepal. They reached the summit on September 26th, but as she skied down, Nelson was caught in a slide that carried her 1,800m down the mountain. “After that, I really didn’t want to ever ski again or climb a mountain again or be in an unsafe situation of any kind ever again,” Morrison says. “But day by day, I started to just keep moving forward in life. I found myself looking at making ski turns again, and eventually I said,

‘I still want to do this, I want to finish this goal,’ because it meant a lot to us and I wanted to do it in her honour.” As Everest: The Other Side shows, however, the journey from this decision to the eventual successful descent was far from straightforward. Morrison and his team were forced to abandon attempts in 2023 and 2024 because of permit problems, weather and injuries to the crew (thankfully, none of them fatal). By summit day on the third attempt, Morrison had spent around six months in total on the mountain, waiting for the stars to align. “I invested my life in this. This is like I’m at the Olympic event of my life and my starting gun had finally gone off, after years of just trying to get into the race,” Morrison says. Focused entirely on the ski descent, Morrison climbed with oxygen, using fixed ropes. On this third and final attempt, everything ran like clockwork. No fewer than 12 members of the team, including Morrison and Jimmy Chin, made it to the summit - an incredible feat given that only five people had ever climbed the direct north face route before. “It was a surreal moment that I’ll never forget,” Morrison says. “Hour by hour, making it higher on our

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summit day, making it through the crux of the Hornbein, getting up to a place where I was like, ‘okay, we got this.’” The feeling of triumph was, of course, mixed up with the memory of everything he’d lost. “I had planned to spread some of Hilaree’s ashes,” he says. “I poured these ashes out into the wind, and the wind blew all the ashes off, out over the Kangshung Face. And then they all turned around, came back and landed in this scoop of snow that was just barely down the south side.” While he felt the catharsis of the moment deeply, Morrison couldn’t really stop and dwell on its meaning. “I had to transition from being a climber to, like, ‘I’m gonna put my skis on and I’m gonna ski off this.’ And things got really serious for me.” He knew from the climb up that the conditions would be challenging. A windstorm had stripped much of the snow off the face meaning the avalanche risk was reduced, but he was basically skiing lumpy ice. “When I was getting ready on summit day I looked through a telescope and I was like, ‘I’m gonna have to rappel the whole thing. I’m not gonna be able to ski it.’” he says. In the end, the descent took four hours and five minutes. Four hours and five minutes of the most intense concentration imaginable. Four hours and five minutes

of struggling for every breath because of the altitude. Four hours and five minutes of working hard just to dig your edges in, and knowing that a single slip could send you tumbling down into oblivion. “I remember making a turn next to this arête and looking down into this… I don’t know what you would call it, just like a void,” he says. When he finally made it to the bottom, the feeling was indescribable. “I had just a crazy emotional release at the base of the whole face. Just above my Camp one, there’s a flat glacier, and when I skied across the bergschrund [onto it] I was screaming, and crying and talking to Hilaree, and having just…” he tails off. “At one point, I was like, ‘I don’t know how I’m still standing.’ [I was] just in this state of disbelief at this euphoric moment.” It had taken years of his life. He’d invested everything. But Morrison had made it. He’d written his own story on Mount Everest, drawing a straight line down the middle of the world’s largest blank page - and in the process, created a film that will inspire future generations of kids just like him. Everest: The Other Side is scheduled for release in cinemas and IMAX on 30 October 2026, with a Disney+ release to follow. 13

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Skills › Avalanche Safety

Knowing isn’t Enough

Henry Schniewind Henry Schniewind founded Henry’s Avalanche Talk (HAT) in the early 2000s to educate skiers on off-piste risk management.

Following a winter that saw avalanche fatalities rise sharply across Europe, Henry Schniewind of Henry’s Avalanche Talk (HAT) asks what we can learn from it - and why staying safer off-piste isn’t just about what you know, but how you put that knowledge into practice.

You drop into the perfect powder pitch, make a dozen life-affirming turns and ski out at the bottom grinning. Nothing moves. Nothing goes wrong. It feels like proof that you made the right call. But was it? One of the uncomfortable truths about skiing in avalanche terrain is that a bad decision doesn’t always have a bad outcome. You can make the wrong call and get away with it - sometimes repeatedly - until good outcomes start to feel like good decision-making. While we can never fully control the outcome mountains are inherently dangerous places - there is one hugely important factor we do have power over: the quality of the decisions we make. Roughly 90–95 per cent of recreational avalanche accidents are triggered by the victim or someone in their group. Our safety is, to a significant extent, in our own hands. The nothing happens trap Avalanche terrain is a high-consequence, low-feedback environment. Make a poor decision and you may receive no indication at all that it was a risky one. Other people’s tracks can be reassuring, but they only show that others skied without triggering an avalanche - not that it’s stable. 14

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That’s particularly problematic when conditions change. Last winter in the French Alps and neighbouring regions, skiers were dealing with an unusually unstable snowpack, even in terrain they may have known well. Our behaviours don’t always adapt as quickly as conditions do. Familiar terrain and an insatiable powder hunger can encourage us to continue, even when the information is telling us otherwise. A method built around what matters I’ve developed the Henry’s Avalanche Talk method over almost four decades, drawing on around 3,500 professional off-piste guiding days, close to 1,000 talks and training sessions, research and continual feedback from teaching and guiding. At its heart is a simple principle: when the consequences matter most, we shouldn’t rely on intuition alone. Most of us can estimate a metre reasonably well. But when we’re building shelves above a bed, we use a tape measure. We may remember most of the shopping, yet we still write a list.

When consequences matter, we stop approximating and actually measure. The HAT Framework breaks accident reduction down into three areas: Where You Go – Decision Making: Check slope angles, the avalanche danger level and bulletin, recent dry-slab activity and steeper terrain above. Crucially, consider whether to enter avalanche terrain at all. How You Go – Risk Reduction: Look for terrain traps such as cliffs, gullies, trees and streams. Use appropriate spacing to reduce the number of people exposed and additional load on the snowpack, and choose genuinely safer stopping places. What You Do – Crisis Management: Carry essential rescue equipment, know how to use it and remain aware of the human factors affecting the group. One technical point is essential: consequential slab avalanches release on steep terrain - approximately 30 degrees or steeper. As a simple reference, that’s roughly the steepness many skiers associate with a black run. 15

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Skills › Avalanche Safety

Rescue equipment isn’t permission A transceiver, shovel and probe are often described collectively as “safety equipment”. More accurately, they’re rescue equipment - essential, non-negotiable tools designed to help when an avalanche has already occurred. A transceiver can help your ski buddies locate you, while a shovel and probe are essential for getting you out quickly. Time is critical: survival chances drop dramatically after around 15 minutes of burial. Rescue equipment is the final layer of defence, not permission to take greater risks. The human factor Understanding snowpack, terrain and the avalanche forecast is only part of the equation. There’s another hugely important - and considerably less predictable - factor: us. One common trap is the “expert halo” - our tendency to defer to whoever appears most experienced or knowledgeable. Once that hierarchy is established, others may become reluctant to question a decision or speak up when something doesn’t feel right. That’s why open communication matters, even in professionally led groups. It’s the same “co-pilot”

Henry’s Avalanche Talk - Backcountry Smarter Henry’s Avalanche Talk provides live talks, webinars, avalanche rescue training and on -snow courses for off-piste skiers and ski tourers. Its Backcountry Smarter programme, run in association with ORTOVOX and Ellis Brigham, includes Essentials and In-Depth talks at Ellis Brigham stores (27 October and 17 November), online learning and rescue training in the UK, alongside on-snow courses in Val d’Isère and Tignes.

principle used in aviation, where pilots are trained to question, verify and speak up. “It’s a rule for us pilots, but all of us should use it in avalanche terrain too,” says former fighter pilot Anthony ‘AB’ Bourke. In the mountains, that means working together to observe slope gradient, warning signs, exposure and safer travel zones. Expertise doesn’t eliminate blind spots. On any given day, any of us may fail to see the obvious. Put it into practice Avalanche education matters. Training isn’t simply about acquiring more knowledge; it’s about developing a framework that helps us turn what we know into better decisions. What protects us isn’t what we once learnt, but what we remember, discuss and apply on the mountain each day. That might mean turning around, changing the objective or choosing lower-angle terrain. These aren’t timid choices or signs of a lack of ambition. Far from it. They’re what good decision-making looks like. We can’t remove risk from off-piste skiing entirely. Better avalanche education isn’t about taking the adventure out of skiing. It’s about giving us the knowledge and judgement to keep having them - and making sure that when conditions change, our decisions change with them.

Snow Patrol

Henry’s method for safer off-piste can be accessed via The HAT Pocket Guides and companion videos.

Avalanche rescue gear for adventures beyond the ropes. ››

Check @HenrysAvalancheTalk on YouTube and henrysavalanchetalk.com for courses and guides.

Luke Scrine, Equipment buyer

Shop the Range

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Pieps

Set MINI IPS

Ortovox

Haute Route 40

£190

Three backcountry essentials, one neat package. The Pieps Set Mini IPS combines Pieps’ most compact interference-protected transceiver with the lightweight T640 telescopic shovel and Alu 260cm aluminium probe - a solid safety setup whether you’re just starting out or have years of touring under your belt.

The largest pack in the Haute Route range, this 40-litre workhorse is ideal for multi-day mountain missions. Eight compartments, including a dedicated avalanche safety gear pocket, keep kit organised, while the O-Flex-2 back system enables efficient load distribution.

Ortovox

£310

Avabag LiTRIC Tour 30

Ortovox

Pro Light

Focus Pro

£1050

£80

£450

The Avabag LiTRIC Tour 30 pairs a 30-litre touring pack with Ortovox’s electronic 150-litre airbag system. Modular zip-ons switch up capacity, while a 30-minute charge delivers 60 hours’ runtime and two deployments per charge.

At just 440g, the Pro Light is one of the lightest shovels around featuring a high-quality T6 aluminium blade for efficient snow shifting, a reversible T-grip for left or right-handed use and rapid-locking telescopic shaft for speedy deployment.

New this winter, the Focus Pro is Ortovox’s most advanced transceiver yet, with voice navigation, a huge 80-90m search strip width, sophisticated multi-burial handling and automatic switch-back to transmit mode.

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Big List › Dolomites

Think you know the Dolomites? Think again. From peaceful villages with panoramic vistas to foodie hideaways and crowd-free pistes, these six lesser-known resorts prove there’s more to the region than its headline-grabbing Olympic host.

Hidden Corners 18

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of the Dolomites 19

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Madonna di Campiglio For Sophisticated Italian Style

If you like your ski holidays to combine exceptional skiing with a touch of la dolce vita, Madonna di Campiglio delivers in spades. Long regarded as one of Italy's premier ski destinations, the resort blends elegant alpine architecture, boutique shopping and superb restaurants with access to one of the country's largest ski areas. Despite its polished reputation, it has retained a distinctly Italian character and relaxed atmosphere that ensures it never feels overly exclusive. Linked with Pinzolo and Folgarida-Marilleva, Madonna offers around 150km of varied pistes. Confident intermediates will love the long, impeccably groomed reds, while advanced skiers can tackle famous World Cup runs including the formidable Canalone Miramonti. Framed by the spectacular Brenta Dolomites, the scenery is every bit as memorable as the skiing, particularly late in the day when the jagged limestone peaks glow pink in the setting sun - it's easy to see why generations of Italians keep coming back.

Passo San Pellegrino For Quiet Slopes and Great Value

Crowds are simple to escape in the Dolomites if you know where to look. Passo San Pellegrino is one of those places. Linked with nearby Falcade, this highaltitude ski area offers highly reliable snow, meticulously prepared pistes and a modern lift network that keeps queues refreshingly short. For ultimate convenience, stay directly on the high mountain pass in a ski-in/ski-out hotel to access the snowline instantly. Alternatively, base yourself down in Falcade valley village for a livelier atmosphere with local restaurants and quick gondola access.

Winter nights, mountain lights Madonna di Campiglio in full glow.

There’s plenty for every ability of skier, from long cruisers and gentle beginner slopes to steep blacks and lift-accessed freeride terrain on Col Margherita. Off the mountain, life revolves around hanging out in welcoming rifugi, getting stuck into long lunches and soaking up spectacular views rather than full-on après - making it the perfect choice for skiers who want to max out every day on the mountain. 21

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Big List › Dolomites

Austria 05 Switzerland

Livigno

Bormio

Antholz-Anterselva

04 Cortina d’Ampezzo

03 Slovenia

Trento

France

Milano

Verona

Venezia

Croatia

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San Martino di Castrozza For Big Mountain Scenery

Some resorts impress with their skiing. San Martino di Castrozza impresses before you've even unpacked your ski gear. Dominated by the epic Pale di San Martino massif, it’s the kind of place that has you reaching for your camera before your skis - yet somehow it still flies under the radar compared with the Dolomites’ bigger names. The ski area offers around 60km of pistes split across several sectors, with confidence-building blues and reds making it particularly good for intermediates. Beyond the pistes, there’s plenty of epic freeride terrain to explore and brilliant ski touring when conditions allow. Back in the village, the atmosphere is relaxed, with traditional hotels, friendly bars and none of the bling or hustle often found in the larger resorts. If your perfect Dolomites ski trip is as much about immersing yourself in the mountains as it is skiing them, San Martino di Castrozza is pretty hard to beat.

Sexten For Iconic Scenery and South Tyrolean Charm

Few places showcase the Dolomites quite like Sexten. Sitting beneath the iconic Tre Cime di Lavaredo close to the Austrian border, this peaceful South Tyrolean village combines one of the Alps' most spectacular backdrops with a low-key, unhurried atmosphere. You’re far more likely to hear German or Italian than English as you wander through the streets, making Sexten a great choice for anyone looking to properly escape the typical ski crowd. The village forms part of the 3 Zinnen Dolomites ski area, where 115km of varied pistes offer everything from gentle cruisers and confidence-building blues to tree-lined reds and the infamous Holzriese black run. Between runs, cosy huts serve South Tyrolean favourites (hello, dumplings!), while spa hotels await back in the village. It’s also the hometown of tennis superstar Jannik Sinner, who used to zip around these slopes as one of Italy’s top junior skiers before swapping his skis for a racquet.

Not a bad backdrop for a day on skis: the unmistakable Tre Cime di Lavaredo.

Deep snow and dramatic limestone peaks - the Dolomites at their best.

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San Vigilio di Marebbe For a Taste of Ladin Culture

Life moves at a gentler pace in San Vigilio di Marebbe. This picturesque Ladin village sits at the foot of Kronplatz, where state-of-the-art lifts and immaculate pistes contrast with family-run hotels, fabulous restaurants and quiet streets back in the village. It feels properly local too - the kind of place where you get the sense that locals still outnumber tourists. The skiing centres around Kronplatz’s broad, impeccably groomed pistes, served by a slick, ultra-modern lift system. Wide cruisers and long, tree-lined runs make Kronplatz an intermediate skier’s dream, while beyond the lifts, the Fanes-Sennes-Prags Nature Park offers superb ski touring, snowshoeing and winter walking for those looking to earn their aperitivo. But it’s back in San Vigilio that the resort really comes into its own. With amazing food, welcoming local bars and a proudly Ladin identity, it feels like a genuine mountain village that just happens to have world-class skiing on its doorstep.

Ortisei For the Complete Dolomites Experience

Nestled in the heart of Val Gardena, this historic alpine town pairs world-class skiing with the distinctive AustrianItalian character that makes South Tyrol so special. Colourful Tyrolean buildings sit alongside stylish boutiques and family-run hotels, while cafés spill onto lively pedestrianised streets long after the lifts close. Ortisei is also famous for its centuries-old woodcarving tradition, which is still practised throughout the valley today. The skiing here is equally as impressive.The Seceda cable car whisks skiers up to one of the Dolomites’ most spectacular viewpoints, from where the famous 10km La Longia descent winds all the way back to the village. In the opposite direction, lifts climb directly onto the vast open plateau of Alpe di Siusi, while easy links via nearby Selva open up the legendary Sellaronda circuit. Wide cruisers dominate throughout, while food lovers will relish the stunning mountain rifugi serving South Tyrolean classics and refined restaurants back in town.

Twilight falls over the picture-perfect streets of Ortisei, in the heart of Val Gardena.

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Gear › Piste Skis

Carve Collective Steve Wells, Ski Buyer

Nordica Dobermann Multipista DC 80 TI FDT + TPX 12 FDT bindings Carve with confidence. The Dobermann Multipista DC 80 delivers race-bred edge grip in a more easy-going package. Precise and grippy in the morning, the wider platform keeps it calm and composed when the pistes get a little lumpy later in the day. £780

Shop the Range

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Salomon Addikt Pro 76 + MI12 GW bindings

Blizzard

Black Pearl 84

£790

Adrenaline, all day long. Building on the grin-inducing character of the original Addikt Pro 66, the Addikt Pro 76 adds width and tip rocker to smooth out chopped up pistes. It loves to be driven hard and has the creds to keep carving long after the corduroy has disappeared.

Nordica Belle DC 72 + TP2LT 11 FDT GW bindings

£600

Grace meets grit. The Belle DC 72 pairs crisp, precise handling with Nordica’s Double Core construction for a smooth, composed feel. It’s little wonder this has become one of the most decorated women’s piste skis of recent years.

£595

Frontside favourite. The Black Pearl 84 brings the legendary Black Pearl feel to a more piste-focused package. Nimble, intuitive and beautifully composed on edge, it still has enough width to nip off for the odd detour into softer snow when the opportunity arises.

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Gear › Piste Skis Völkl Peregrine 72 Master + Comp 16 GW Master bindings

Salomon S/Max No.10 + M10 GW bindings

Head Worldcup Rebels e-Race Pro + Freeflex 14 GW bindings

£1150

£550

£940

Master of the arc. The Peregrine 72 Master blends genuine World Cup construction with Völkl’s innovative 3D Radius Sidecut, letting you switch effortlessly from tight, technical turns to high-speed GS arcs. A piste ski for carving purists.

Smooth operator. The S/Max No.10 delivers effortless edge-to-edge performance with a lively, responsive feel that rewards clean carving without demanding race-level commitment. Perfect for skiers who love linking turns from first chair to last.

The best of both worlds. The Worldcup Rebels e-Race Pro combines World Cup precision with an allmountain 14.8m radius, making it equally happy ripping tight slalom turns or laying out long, high-speed arcs on pristine corduroy.

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DPS Pisteworks 79 + X-Step Plate 412 bindings Premium performance. Developed with Olympic champion Ted Ligety, the Pisteworks 79 delivers razor-sharp edge hold and silky-smooth carving without the demands of a full race ski. Refined, responsive and beautifully balanced, it makes every turn feel effortlessly perfect. £1800

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Gear › Skiwear

The New Season’s Skiwear On Location In Les 3 Vallées Johny Cook Dave Whitlow, Ski Clothing Buyer

Peak Style 01

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01. Descente Classic Insulated Jacket £699 (L) Janie Down Jacket £599 (R)

02. Goldbergh Sansu Faux FurJacket £769 03. Goldbergh Porter Jacket £579 Pippa Stretch Pants £479 04. Descente Short Down Jacket £699 Bonded Stretch Pants £369

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Gear › Skiwear

01. Picture Zoya Jacket £279 Exa Pants £210 02. Salomon Brilliant Jacket £400 Brilliant Pants £270 03. The North Face Cold Spell Down Jacket £400 Powstar Pants £280

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01. Descente Josh Jacket £599 02. Descente First Jacket £569 Smooth Pants £359 03. Descente Swiss Jacket £769 Smooth Pants £359

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Gear › Skiwear

01. Schöffel Safuna Jacket £500 Mountet Pants £350

02. The North Face Chakal Jacket £360 Blizzardary Cargo Pants £180 03. Picture Merassen GTX Jacket £469 Avening Bib Pants £275 04. Salomon Absolute 3L Jacket £380

Shop the Range

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The team stayed at the luxurious Chalet Lightbowne, Méribel with TG Ski. Visit tgski.com to explore their superb range of luxury chalets in Méribel and Morzine. And a special thanks to the Three Valleys for hosting us on the slopes. les3valleys.com

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Adventure › Georgia Cat Skiing

Friends On A Powder Day 38

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Ten years ago, Ingo Schlutius went looking for somewhere skiers could slow down and leave the powder-day arms race behind. He found it in the Georgian village of Bakhmaro. Mike Richards went on a mission to find out just what makes this hidden corner of the Lesser Caucasus so irresistible.

Our ski guide Irakli kick turns his skis back towards the group and shouts across the expanse of the untracked face. “Ingrid! Come to me, Ingrid!” All week, Ingrid, a fifty-something skier from Germany, has slotted herself into the middle of the pack on each descent, happy to follow the tracks and lines of others. “I was a little surprised to be called forward,” she tells me later. Dropping onto Irakli’s track, she traverses the crest of the face, passing fluted ridgelines and gullies bathed in midwinter sunlight. After a brief conversation, Irakli theatrically invites her to be the first to ‘paint’ the blank white canvas below.

Mike Richards

Just ten turns, but ten glorious, untouched powder turns that encapsulate our week cat skiing with Powder Project in Bakhmaro, close to Georgia’s Black Sea coast. She pushes off, ski tips into the fall line. Four turns in the sunshine, momentum building as she reaches the crest of a convex rollover before dropping into the steep walls of the gully. Confidence. Relaxation. Huge plumes of powder hang in her wake, blindingly white against the gunmetal grey. Pure, unbridled joy.

The Year Of The Cat A little over a decade ago, German economist Ingo Schlutius was searching for a new challenge and a new chapter in his life. Working as a ski instructor in Austria’s Arlberg region, he had grown frustrated by off-piste powder skiing becoming almost a competitive sport. He wanted somewhere undiscovered; somewhere skiers could slow down, savour and immerse themselves in the powder experience. On a backcountry trip to Siberia, a guide suggested he investigate the Lesser Caucasus on Georgia’s Black Sea coast. After extensive scouting, summer visits, investment and crowdfunding, Ingo established Powder Project in the remote village of Bakhmaro. Until then, Bakhmaro had been a summer destination. Once the snow melted, Georgians came for the therapeutic mix of mountain air and pine sap, traditionally believed to help respiratory ailments. In winter, the road disappeared beneath the snow and the village emptied. That first season, Powder Project’s team and guests were its only inhabitants. Ingo initially considered building lifts and creating a ski resort, but soon realised cat skiing offered something better: access to the terrain and snow without losing the sense of community he wanted to build around it. 39

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Adventure › Georgia Cat Skiing Friends On A Powder Day At the heart of Ingo’s approach is a simple idea: powder is better shared.

The kitchen and dining room are the focal point of each lodge. Breakfast may be functional, but dinner is about conversation, stories, laughter and friendships. At Stars Lodge, meals arrive family-style at two enormous tables, sturdy enough to support the procession of dishes and drinks that make up a Georgian feast, or supra. “The guest is a saint and a gift from God,” tour guide Guro Alaphishvili tells me. In Georgia, hospitality is a matter of pride: first you feed the eyes, then the stomach. And feed us they do. Khachapuri - Georgia’s gloriously indulgent cheese-filled bread - alongside khinkali dumplings, grilled meats, stews, vegetables and salads. Then there’s Georgian wine, backed by a winemaking tradition stretching back thousands of years, and chacha, the local grape brandy that has a habit of extending evenings.

Starting with one lodge and one snowcat, his guides and drivers explored and mapped the surrounding mountains, establishing routes in the trees for storm days and the high alpine for bluebird ones.

The group waits for the go ahead before dropping in for the final run of the trip

He calls it ‘Friends on a Powder Day’: bringing small groups of like-minded skiers and snowboarders from around the world together to share the cat, the mountain and, back at the lodge, the table.

The communal ethos Ingo set out to create on the mountain fits naturally with a culture built around sharing food, drink and stories. But Bakhmaro has changed. Powder Pressure

He built it and they came. More tellingly, they came back. Ten years later, Powder Project has three lodges and many of the people gathered for its anniversary celebrations have been part of the story for years.

“The terrain, lying between roughly 2,000m and 2,800m, receives an annual Dirk and Tina were among Powder Project’s first snowfall of eight to ten metres.” Of the 11 skiers in my group, eight are return guests.

customers a decade ago. Ingrid and Wolfgang are on their fourth visit. Canadian friends Daniel, Jimmy, Joff and Richard have been taking an annual ski trip together for 26 years, travelling to resorts and cat skiing operations across North America and Europe. They first came to Bakhmaro last winter. They liked it so much they came straight back. 40

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Powder Project is no longer alone in the mountains it pioneered. The terrain, lying between roughly 2,000m and 2,800m,receives an annual snowfall of eight to ten metres. Word has spread and other cat skiing operators have moved in. There can now be up to 20 cats carrying guests into the mountains each day, with talk of more next season. On a couple of mornings between storms, it feels like we’re on the commute to find the best snow, racing across the white plateau like a scene from Mad Max. The air is heavy with diesel and anticipation; an Oklahoma land rush for the best turns. It’s pretty far removed from the powder experience Ingo originally envisioned. He’s disappointed, but pragmatic. More operators mean more jobs and income for local people. His focus now is on preserving what makes Powder Project different. Two fully electric snowcats are part of the answer, putting the operation on the road towards an entirely electric fleet. So too is Project X, a new private area

designed to take advanced skiers and snowboarders into steeper, more remote terrain, away from the growing traffic around Bakhmaro. Ten years after escaping the powder-day competition of the Alps, Ingo is having to find new ways to stay ahead of it here. When It All Comes Together Thankfully, snowfall isn’t something he has to worry about as Bakhmaro’s prodigious winters continue to deliver. Our first two days bring blue skies and boot-top powder on north-facing slopes, with lap after lap of effortless turns. But a sudden rise in temperature bakes the fresh snow elsewhere, and by Wednesday high winds, flat light and refrozen surfaces make for the most challenging skiing of the trip. We call it early and head back for Powder Project’s tenth anniversary party where the whole team has gathered for barbecue, dancing, fireworks and cake. As we sit down for dinner later that evening, big flakes start falling outside. 41

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Adventure › Georgia Cat Skiing

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(L) Jimmy Black waits to drop in. (R) Powder paradise.

Adventure › Georgia Cat Skiing

Guide Irakli Tchirakadze assesses the snow stability ahead of the first run of the day

Mike Richards Mike is a ski writer, photographer and instructor who travels the world in search of stories and snow.

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Over the next 36 hours, Bakhmaro receives a whopping 50cm of dry, light powder. Thursday is spent lapping the serenity of the Beech Club, an old-growth forest with perfectly spaced trees that comes alive in low visibility. We don’t see another group all day and the snow gets better by the hour: dust-on-crust becomes knee-deep powder, then blownin mid-thigh turns and face shots. Irakli has read the weather and snow expertly, allowing the group to build confidence as the week progresses. By our final morning the skies have cleared and we’re back in the high alpine. Once Irakli is happy with the snow stability, we drop into longer, steeper lines shielded from the wind, where feather-light powder welcomes us to our knees. Everyone is in the groove. Ingrid gets her ten glorious turns. The rest of us get ours. And suddenly it becomes very easy to understand why eight people in our cat keep coming back. Until Next Time

Bakhmaro: The Details Where is it? Bakhmaro is in western Georgia, around two hours from Kutaisi and five hours from Tbilisi. When to go The main cat-skiing season runs from mid-January to mid-March. Who is it for? Strong upper-intermediate to advanced skiers and snowboarders with off-piste experience and confidence skiing variable snow and trees.

There’s a lovely symmetry to our final evening. The qualities of a great mountain guide - a strong communicator, quick thinker, able to set the rhythm, read the group and create unity rather than competition - are remarkably similar to those of a tamada, the toastmaster who presides over a Georgian supra. Unsurprisingly, Irakli is in charge off the snow too. Our farewell dinner unfolds in speeches, stories, laughter and toasts, with Georgian wine and chacha flowing as freely as we had in the powder earlier that day. The final toast falls, fittingly, to Ingo.

How much? Week-long Powder Project packages start from €3,500 per person, including return transfers from Kutaisi Airport, full-board accommodation, daily cat skiing and guiding. Getting there Direct flights operate from London to Tbilisi, while Kutaisi can be reached from the UK via European hubs. Adding a couple of nights in Tbilisi or Kutaisi before or after is well worth considering.

“Thank you to all our friends who’ve joined us to celebrate. Gaumarjos to the powder friends we have, and the powder friends we’ve made.” The powder brings people to Bakhmaro and the friendships bring them back. Ten years on, perhaps that’s Ingo’s greatest achievement. Not just the snow people find here, but the reason they come back for more. 45

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Gear › Freeride Skis

Stash Seekers Steve Wells, Ski Buyer

Armada

AntiMatter 100

A ski-the-whole-mountain machine. Armada’s all-new AntiMatter 100 replaces the old Declivity with a more playful, surfier ride that still charges like an all-mountain ski. Tailored Titanal keeps it stable at speed, while the modern shape is built for throwing down creative line choices. £650

Shop the Range

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Atomic

Bent 110

DPS

Lotus 112 Yellow

£600

Light, playful and channeling Chris Benchetler’s trademark style, this is a soft-snow ski with creative big-line energy. Generous tip and tail rockers keep it loose and surfy, while camber underfoot provides the edge hold to back it up.

Blizzard

Canvas 108

£650

£1300

No rules, no limits. The Canvas 108 blurs the line between freestyle and freeride, combining a playful twin-tip shape with enough width and stability to stomp cliffs, slay powder and pop off side hits, turning the whole mountain into your creative canvas.

The powder connoisseur. The Lotus 112 is built for skiers who not only dream about deep snow, they ski it. DPS’s signature shaping delivers effortless float and smooth, surfy handling, so you can ski the living daylights out of those rare powder days, then talk about them forever.

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Gear › Freeride Skis Armada

AntiMatter 100 W

Atomic

Maverick 105 CTi

Salomon

QST 100

£650

£700

£570

A quiver-killing beast. Developed with Anne Hjorleifson, this fuses freeride freedom with all-mountain precision. Equal parts playful and powerful, it’s a creative, capable ski designed to rip all over the mountain.

Built to roam. Light enough to tour, yet stable enough to charge, the Maverick 105 CTi is equally at home on dawn patrols, lift-accessed powder days or committing big mountain descents. A fan favourite and deservedly so.

One ski, endless possibilities. The QST 100 is the most playful ski in the QST range, blending a lively poplar core with enough stiffness to hold an edge and charge with confidence. A clean carver with a proper surfy streak.

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Nordica

Unleashed 98

Your new daily driver. The Unleashed 98 blends playful energy with dependable edge hold on firm snow, making it the ideal ski for modern freeriders who need a ski that can adapt to whatever the mountain serves up. £520

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Brand Focus › Mountain Hardwear

Origin Stories: Mountain Hardwear 50

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Born from a desire to do things differently, Mountain Hardwear has spent more than three decades creating technical gear. Now, with its new Warp Factor freeride collection, that original free-thinking spirit is finding fresh expression on snow.

There are probably easier days to launch an outdoor brand than Halloween. But then Mountain Hardwear has never been particularly interested in taking the obvious path.

Warp Factor: More than three decades of mountain innovation

On 31 October 1993, nine outdoor industry veterans - five women and four men - left Sierra Designs and its parent company, Odyssey International, together. It was a bold move, but one driven by a clear belief: at a time when the outdoor industry was changing rapidly, they wanted to create equipment for the mountain rather than the masses - technical kit that performed when it mattered, season after season. Mountain Hardwear was born. The fledgling company didn’t hang around. Its first product, the Chill Factor fleece jacket, appeared in 1993 and the brand quickly began building a reputation for serious equipment designed for serious environments. But perhaps nothing established its mountain credentials quite like its relationship with American mountaineer Ed Viesturs. As Mountain Hardwear’s first sponsored athlete, Viesturs worked with the team to develop an early version of what would become the Absolute Zero down suit, taking it into one of the ultimate testing grounds: Everest. Versions of the suit would subsequently reach the summit of the world’s highest mountain and plenty of other farflung peaks besides. It also established a way of working that remains fundamental to Mountain Hardwear today. Athletes aren’t simply there to wear the logo; they’re part of the development process, putting kit through its paces in environments where the smallest details matter.

Shop the Range

Few embody that relationship better than legendary Chamonix steep skier and mountain guide Vivian Bruchez. A Mountain Hardwear athlete since 2010, Bruchez has opened close to 100 first ski descents around the world and built a career exploring the blurred line between skiing and alpinism. That experience fed directly into the development of The Viv, Mountain Hardwear’s highly technical GORE-TEX Pro jacket and bib, created in collaboration with Bruchez for big mountain missions. While Mountain Hardwear has built its reputation on seriously technical mountain kit, it has always had a more irreverent side. From the decision of its founders to strike out alone to the bold shapes, colours and proportions that have characterised much of its clothing, doing things differently has been part of the brand from the start. Three decades later, that independent streak has been distilled into a company purpose: Seek Wilder Paths. Introduced as part of a refreshed brand identity in 2023, it wasn’t intended as a reinvention so much as a return to the principles Mountain Hardwear was built on curiosity, creativity and a commitment to keep pushing into new territory. It’s an ethos that feels particularly at home in freeride skiing. Mountain Hardwear’s roots may lie deep in climbing and mountaineering, but skiing has long been part of the picture. And while The Viv sat firmly at the technical, ski-mountaineering end of that spectrum, the new Warp Factor freeride collection takes that mountain know-how in a distinctly different direction. 51

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Brand Focus › Mountain Hardwear Rather than simply transplanting traditional alpine shell design onto the ski hill, Warp Factor brings Mountain Hardwear’s technical heritage together with a more progressive style. The result is outerwear designed to deliver genuine mountain protection while feeling softer, quieter and more relaxed than the stiff, crinkly hardshells historically associated with highperformance mountain kit. The collection centres around jackets, anoraks and pants using Mountain Hardwear’s DrySpell waterproofbreathable technology, with relaxed cuts designed to allow plenty of freedom of movement on the mountain. Details such as helmet-compatible hoods, strategically placed pockets, underarm and thigh vents and RECCO technology meet the demands of long days in the mountains, while hard-wearing materials and reinforcement in high-abrasion areas bring that original Mountain Hardwear emphasis on durability firmly into the present. It’s technical kit, certainly, but there’s a playful side too. The looser shapes and freeride-led styling feel a long way from traditional mountaineering uniform - which is precisely the point. Warp Factor is designed for skiers and riders whose mountain days

might encompass everything from storm-day resort laps and sidecountry hits to bootpacks and long ascents in search of untouched snow. For Ellis Brigham, which first launched Mountain Hardwear into the UK 26 years ago, its return feels particularly significant. “Deeply rooted in free-thinking outdoor sports, Mountain Hardwear’s company purpose is to Seek Wilder Paths – from Himalayan peaks and backcountry powder to your local bouldering spots,” says Dave Whitlow, Ellis Brigham’s Fashion Director. “Designed by mountain enthusiasts for mountain enthusiasts, this is great kit that works.” More than 30 years after those nine founders decided to take a chance on doing things their own way, perhaps that’s still the simplest way of explaining Mountain Hardwear. The mountains have changed, the kit has evolved and the paths being followed might look rather different – but the philosophy behind it remains remarkably familiar. Make kit that works. Make it last. Then get out there and use it.

Mountain Hardwear Men’s Warp Factor 3L Jacket

Mountain Hardwear Women’s Warp Factor 3L Pants

£340

£280

Weather the wild stuff. This high-performance three-layer shell pairs DrySpell waterproof protection with serious freeride functionality, so you can keep chasing big lines on the stormiest days with impunity. Features include pit zips, heaps of pockets, powder skirt, helmet-compatible hood and RECCO technology.

Built to take a beating. These burly three-layer freeride pants pair DrySpell weather protection with an articulated fit for easy and unrestricted movement. Thigh vents dump heat fast, Cordura kick patches fend off general abuse and deep-snow gaiters keep the white stuff where it belongs.

Mountain Hardwear Warp Factor 2L Anorak

£260

Freeride with attitude. This laid-back pullover shell pairs two-layer DrySpell protection with a body-mapped lining for all-day comfort from powder laps to park sessions. Meshbacked vents shift heat fast, RECCO tech has your back and a deep horizontal kangaroo pocket handles all kinds of rapid stashing requirements.

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Adventure › Ski Touring Scotland

The Joy of Plan C

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With skis strapped to bikes and steep spring lines on the agenda, Sophie Nicholson heads into the Cairngorms only to discover that sometimes the best Scottish ski days are the ones that don’t follow the plan. Sophie Nicholson Sophie is Editor of Explore Ski and an outdoor adventure writer based in the Scottish Highlands. She doesn’t do well indoors.

“Should we just go to the beach?”It was only half a joke, to be fair. The temperature was already nudging 20 degrees as we stood in the Coylumbridge car park wrestling skis onto bikes and heavy packs onto backs. Across Scotland, people were making the most of the late April heatwave, heading for the coast and firing up barbecues in anticipation of an unexpected weekend of sunshine. We, meanwhile, were preparing to spend the next ten hours chasing the rapidly diminishing remains of winter. At the time, it felt joyously random and more than a little ridiculous. By this point, we’d already spent several weeks moving the goalposts. Plans had evolved, objectives had changed and snow had come and gone faster than Scotland’s involvement at the 2026 World Cup. The truth is, we’d reached the point where the actual objective almost didn’t matter anymore. We were finally heading for the hills with skis on our backs and sunshine in the forecast. Result.

Johny Cook

Moving The Goalposts The original plan had been a late-season bike-to-ski mission into Glen Affric. If conditions allowed, we’d drop into a new-to-me line on Tom a’ Choinnich - a steep east-facing bowl that had captured my imagination weeks earlier and stubbornly refused to let go.

weather forecasts in the hope that conditions would hold but by the time weather, work and availability finally aligned, most of the snow had disappeared. The gamble hadn’t paid off. Plan A had quietly melted away. It was time to turn to the subs bench and invoke Plan B: the old reliable Cairngorms. The next objective was a familiar one - Braeriach via Glen Einich and the Escalator - the famous ribbon of snow that climbs above the Allt Buidheannach burn onto the western edge of the plateau. From there, we’d take a look into the northern corries and see what conditions had to offer. Coire Ruadh and Coire an Lochain were both possibilities. There were other options on the table too, but experience suggested it was best not to get too attached to any of them. We were quietly hopeful yet all too aware that Scottish skiing rarely rewards certainty. The first few kilometres passed in a haze of earlymorning optimism and steadily rising temperatures. We pedalled steadily south with skis rattling against bike frames and enough gear strapped to our backs to look like we were preparing for a multi-day Alpine expedition rather than a reasonably simple day tour in our backyard. The further we rode, the more obvious the contrast between winter and spring became. Heather shimmered in the heat, the warm air more reminiscent of the Mediterranean than the Highlands. Yet high above us, stubborn patches of snow still clung to the mountain.

I had spent an unhealthy amount of time scanning social media, zooming in on fuzzy photos and refreshing 55

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Adventure › Ski Touring Scotland Dragging Winter Uphill

At the lower edge of the snowpack, spring was busy dismantling winter from below. Meltwater thundered unseen beneath the surface, carving tunnels through the snow as the Allt Buidheannach reclaimed its territory. In places, you could peer underneath and see the burn racing through icy caverns beneath your feet. It felt like looking inside a giant slice of cake - layers of snow stacked above a hidden world of rushing water and freezer-cold air. Outside, the heat was relentless. Inside, it was properly Baltic. Eventually the snow became continuous and skis finally went on. After the lengthy bike-then-hike approach, it felt like a small but significant victory. The higher we climbed, the bigger the landscape became. Loch Einich sparkled below us. The summit of Cairn Gorm and the ski area appeared in the distance. Somewhere beyond the horizon, ‘normal’ people were probably tucking into their first pint of the day in a beer garden. Lucky buggers. They were pretty extensive patches, as it turned out - both Coire Ruadh and Coire an Lochain looked in great nick. Stoke and sweat levels continued to build… Eventually we arrived below the Escalator and the familiar Scottish ski touring dance began. Bikes hidden in the heather. Skis strapped to packs. Trainers off, ski boots on. We drank what felt like our own body weight in water, then assessed what lay ahead. From the bottom, the Escalator always appears almost disappointingly unimpressive. A thin white streak of snow running up the hillside that barely looks worth the effort. The kind of feature you assume you’ll reach from the track in no time at all.

When bikes meet skis, adventure is pretty much guaranteed

The snowline had retreated a long way up the hill. What had once been a continuous ribbon from glen floor to plateau now began some distance above us, forcing one final carry across heather and boggy ground before we could finally dig skins out of our packs.

We continued the steady business of dragging winter uphill. The final climb onto the plateau arrived in the usual way: one slow steep kick-turn at a time, then suddenly it was over. The world opened out. We dropped our packs in the sunshine, pulled out sandwiches and sat quietly for a while, listening to birdsong drift across an otherwise silent mountain. Almost bizarrely for this part of the world, there was no wind. No voices. Just endless blue skies, enough snow to keep our dream alive and an entire afternoon stretching out ahead of us. It was time to find out whether Plan B had any life left in it.

Then we spotted another skier. Through the monocular they were almost unrecognisable as a human, little more than a moving dot inching upwards through the snow. Titchy. Ant-like. It was a useful reminder of two things: that the Cairngorms possess a remarkable ability to distort scale and, more importantly, that we still had a very long way to go.

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Just Because You Can…. From our sunny lunch spot, it was only a short traverse across the plateau to our first potential objective. On paper, Coire an Lochain still looked promising. The snow was there. Plenty of it, in fact. Yet the picture was a little more complicated. Despite the heat of the day, much of the corrie remained stubbornly frozen. While the sun was beginning to make its presence felt on some of the westerly aspects, large sections were still firm, fast and unforgiving. We stood for a while peering into the bowl, discussing options and watching the light slowly creep across the snow. This, after all, was why we’d come. A few more degrees of warmth and things might have been very different. But not yet. The previous week’s social media feeds had been dominated by reports of skiers sliding long distances on hard snow, near misses and Mountain Rescue callouts. A combination of firm conditions, steep terrain

and the understandable desire to make the most of a fleeting opportunity had been catching more than a few people out. And therein lies arguably the greatest challenge in Scottish skiing, my friends. Good days are rare and really good days are rarer still. When you’ve spent weeks watching forecasts, carrying skis into the hills and investing huge amounts of time and energy into a single objective, there is always a temptation to persuade yourself that things are just about good enough. To make it count. Standing above the corrie, I felt that temptation deep in my core. I really wanted it. The reality, however, was that neither of us had much interest in dealing with the potential consequences of forcing the issue. Sure, skiing one of the steeper lines would have made for an epic social media post and an even more 57

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Get up to get down: spring ski touring on Braeriach under typically Scottish blue skies

Adventure › Ski Touring Scotland

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impressive story down the pub. But our goal had never really been to ski a particular line. It was simply to have a brilliant day in the mountains. And those two things are not always the same. So we quietly left the corrie alone and pointed our skis towards the summit of Braeriach instead. And, somewhat unexpectedly, that was the moment the day seemed to fall into place. A Mountain That Rewards Lingering The pressure was gone. There was no line left to assess, no snow conditions to analyse and no potentially consequential decisions demanding serious consideration. We simply carried on across the plateau, taking our time and enjoying the rare luxury of having absolutely nowhere else to be.

The Turns We Needed The descent from Braeriach wasn’t continuous. Instead, we linked together patches of soft spring snow before occasionally hopping off to walk short sections where winter had loosened its grip.

Braeriach is a mountain that rewards lingering but conditions rarely allow it. The flattish summit may lack the drama of some of Scotland’s more photogenic peaks, but what it lacks in obvious spectacle it more than makes up for in scale. The plateau seems to stretch endlessly in every direction. Snow patches clung stubbornly to hollows and gullies. The distant hills sat hazy beneath the afternoon sun. We moved slowly, stopping frequently for no other reason than it seemed a shame to rush through a day such as this.

Ordinarily, that might have felt frustrating but on a day like this, it simply felt like part of the adventure. Besides, we weren’t in any hurry.

Eventually, we reached the summit, alone on the UK’s third-highest mountain in conditions that felt almost too good to be true.

For a route that had started life as little more than a contingency plan, it looked flippin’ epic..

By now the light had begun to soften. The harsh brightness of the early afternoon was giving way to something gentler. Long shadows stretched across the plateau and patches of exposed granite glowed pink in the late afternoon sun. We transitioned to downhill mode.

The further we descended, the more obvious it became that we’d accidentally timed things just perfectly. We reached the top of the Escalator as afternoon began to transition into evening. The mountains were bathed in warm golden light and the long ribbon of snow stretched invitingly below us towards Glen Einich.

The heat of the day had transformed the surface into exactly the sort of forgiving spring snow skiers dream about. No survival skiing. No edge-skittering across frozen crust. No anxious thoughts about consequences. Just smooth whoop-tastic turns from top to bottom. We stretched every last turn out for as long as possible, neither of us wanting it to end. McHappy days. As we freewheeled back down Glen Einich, the evening light chased us towards home. The mountains glowed softly behind us, the day’s decisions, objectives and abandoned plans now utterly unimportant. Somewhere between letting go of Plan A, walking away from Plan B and skiing Plan C in the evening sunshine, we’d stumbled upon something truly special. The longer I spend skiing in this country, the more convinced I become that the secret to Scottish skiing is learning to fall in love with Plan C. 59

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Gear › Ski Touring

The Upside

Shop the Range

Luke Scrine, Equipment Buyer

02 09

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Get your backcountry quiver ready from head to toe with these lightweight and technical touring tools... 01

Nordica Unlimited DC

£610

All about the down. Built for adventure-seeking tourers who refuse to compromise on the descent, the Unlimited DC pairs Nordica’s DC XLIGHT construction with a smooth, stable ride. The result is a backcountry all-rounder - a ski that climbs efficiently and rewards every hard-earned turn.

Black Diamond Helio Carbon 95

Scarpa 4-Quattro Pro LE

£850

One boot. No excuses. New this winter, the 4Quattro Pro LE blends a beefy 130 flex with a lightweight Pebax Rnew shell and Scarpa’s Secure Speed Lock 4 mechanism to deliver remarkable touring efficiency and full-throttle freeride performance.

Tecnica Zero G Decoy 130 GW

£685

Built to charge. The new Zero G Decoy 130 GW pairs a lightweight touring chassis with a rare full PU shell, producing a level of damping and power that’s usually reserved for alpine boots. A serious tool for downhill-focused tourers.

Salomon S/Lab Shift Alpha BOA

£780

Go big or go home. The S/Lab Shift Alpha S BOA combines a whopping 140 flex with BOA-linked ExoBelt technology, an integrated Powerplate and a precise 98mm fit. A no-compromise boot for expert freeriders who refuse to dial back the descent.

Scarpa F1 RS W

£650

Fast and light. New this winter, the F1 RS W combines a featherweight overlap shell with BOA closure and Carbon Core technology for impressive climbing efficiency, while its progressive flex inspires confidence on the descent. A high-performance touring boot for ambitious ski mountaineers.

£750

A modern classic. The multi-award-winning Helio Carbon 95 pairs an engineered paulownia core with pre-preg carbon construction to keep weight to just 1400g per ski at 176cm. A rare blend of uphill efficiency and the kind of downhill performance that keeps you coming back for more.

Norrøna Lofoten 3L GTX Jacket

£549

Backcountry icon. This legendary three-layer jacket pairs burly GORE-TEX ePE protection with Norrøna’s ‘loaded minimalism’ philosophy - everything you need, nothing you don’t. A proven partner for big mountain missions, deep two-way pit zips, heaps of pockets and a helmet-compatible hood keep things dialled for adventures beyond the ropes.

Norrøna Lofoten 3L GTX Pants

£499

Mountain workhorses. There’s a reason the Lofoten 3L pants have cult status among ski guides. GORE-TEX ePE keeps the elements out, huge hip-to-knee vents shift heat fast and Vectran-reinforced lower legs shrug off ski-edge abuse. Built to do the backcountry business.

Smith Summit Mips

£225

Go light. Go far. Certified for skiing and mountaineering, this 400g backcountry lid combines Zonal KOROYD and Mips protection with BOA fit, 33 vents and integrated headlamp routing. The collapsible fit system makes it easy to pack for long days beyond the boundary.

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Gear Focus › Salomon Ski Boots

Game Changer: Salomon S/Pro Alpha C BOA

BOA Dial

ExoDrive Technology

Powerlink Feature

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Forget everything you thought you knew about ski boot construction. Salomon’s new S/Pro Alpha C BOA promises more control, increased precision and better power transmission - with less effort.

Steve Wells knew immediately that Salomon was onto something. Ellis Brigham’s Ski Hardware Buyer is accustomed to testing prototypes where progress is measured in tiny increments, but the S/Pro Alpha C BOA felt different from the first turns: “Usually with testing boots, it is small changes and sensations that we feel,” he says. “That was never the case with this boot. From the beginning we knew this was exciting.” The reason? Salomon took the existing S/Pro Alpha - the narrow, precision-focused series within the wider S/Pro family - and radically reworked its construction while retaining the trusted fit of the original. At first glance, the most obvious new addition is the BOA dial sitting high on the cuff. But look deeper and ExoDrive adds a third plastic overlap that draws the cuff across the instep and around the ankle, while PowerLink fundamentally changes how cuff and shell connect. “We believe control comes from the ankle and its perimeter - the heel, malleolus and instep,” explains Paul-Eric Chamay, Alpine Boot Senior Product Line Manager at Salomon. “This is where the boot plays its most important role: allowing the ankle to move while wrapping and securing the foot at the same time.”

It is the new cuff-to-shell connection that represents perhaps the biggest departure from convention. PowerLink replaces the tradtional medial pivot point, connecting cuff and shell much lower down, closer to the chassis. This creates a lever effect, providing a more direct route for transmitting energy from skier to ski . Salomon calls the concept “assisted performance”, with its testing suggesting a skier requires 25% less power to transmit the same amount of energy. For Wells, the real breakthrough is how that translates on snow: “The skier will feel more in control, with comfort improved and performance boosted,” he says. “The ExoDrive construction provides exceptional rear-foot hold, wrapping in a way that other boots cannot match.” That secure hold means less need to crank down buckles in pursuit of control, reducing pressure and tension. A softer plastic also improves vibration damping without sacrificing responsiveness. “Whatever the terrain or conditions, the flex remains progressive and rewarding,” says Wells. Wells spent three years helping develop the boot as part of Salomon’s Blue Circle R&D team, testing and refining successive prototypes. Ellis Brigham later broadened testing to more skiers. “By the time we were testing the final prototypes, everyone was in total agreement, pretty much from the very first turns.” “It’s a big step from Salomon, changing what is a traditional construction,” says Wells. “But the result is special.” Ultimately, that radical rethink comes down to one very simple goal. As Chamay puts it: “Better transmission with less effort. What else do you need when skiing?” 63

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Gear › Ski Boots

Drive Time Mark Watson, Ski Trainer

Salomon S/Pro Alpha C BOA 115 W Rewriting the rulebook. This pink powerhouse combines a cuff BOA with Salomon’s redesigned Exodrive architecture and Powerlink tech to wrap the lower leg more effectively, delivering exceptional heel hold, comfort and feel. A game-changer for strong female skiers seeking a precise, lower-volume fit. £560

Shop the Range

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Atomic

Remedy 110

£480

Race precision meets freeski comfort. The Remedy 110 combines a narrow, low-volume 96mm last and a performance-oriented 110 flex with ShockStopper technology to smooth out vibration on hard snow. Ideal for advanced skiers who prefer to lock things down when they’re charging.

K2 Recon 120 Zonal BOA

Nordica

Promachine3 130 S £690

£550

Power without punishment. K2’s Recon 120 combines a medium -volume 100mm last with dual-zone BOA that wraps the lower leg and foot more evenly for exceptional comfort and precision. The 120 flex will appeal to advanced skiers looking to lean hard into turns without the all-or-nothing stiffness of a race boot.

Power meets precision. This redesigned, race-inspired boot strips away excess weight with Nordica’s bi-material 3Force construction, delivering explosive power transfer and a stiff yet progressive 130 flex. A low-volume 98mm last and customisable cork liner ensure a precise, tailored fit for both carving and charging.

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Gear › Ski Boots

Atomic

Nexus 95 BOA W

Comfort meets confidence. The Nexus 95 BOA W boot combines a precise BOA lower wrap with an innovative rearentry lever for easy access. A medium-volume fit, heatmouldable liner and adjustable cuff make this a versatile, top-tier all-mountain performer. £500

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Salomon BOA 130

S/Pro Supra C

£570 £570

The best of both worlds. This high-performance boot melds a cuff-mounted BOA with two traditional lower buckles on the clog, blending exceptional heel hold with familiar forefoot precision. The stiff 130 flex is built for advanced skiers who demand precision and power from first lift to last.

Atomic BOA W

Hawx 105 S

Tecnica

Mach1 MV 120 TD2

£510

Light, locked and loaded. This combines a low-volume 98mm last with BOA closure, Prolite construction and a heat-mouldable Mimic liner for impressive comfort and precision. The punchy 105 flex is ideal for strong female skiers who like to charge all over the mountain.

Engineered to respond. An all-mountain weapon that pairs a medium-volume 100mm last with Tecnica’s upgraded T-Drive 2.0 carbon spine that reduces shell deformation to deliver lightning-fast transitions and energy transmission. The highly customisable C.A.S shell and heat-reflective liner ensure comfort and a personalised fit.

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News › The BRITS 01

PenkenPark Delivers Again

The BRITS’ second year back in Mayrhofen confirmed its 2025 return to the Alps was no one-off. With massive jumps, creative features and room for riders of every level to progress, PenkenPark once again proved the perfect playground for everything that makes The BRITS special. 02

Five Things... The BRITS 2026 New champions, standout performances and another unforgettable week in Mayrhofen - here are five takeaways from The BRITS 2026.

The level of riding across both the freeski and snowboard disciplines was arguably higher than ever, with increasingly technical tricks and fiercely contested podiums throughout the week. In the men's freeski, Jay Hebblethwaite produced a superb final run to take the Slopestyle title after crashing on his opening attempt, delivering under pressure when it mattered most. 03

The Next Generation Is Already Here

If there was one theme that ran throughout the week, it was youth. The introduction of BRITS Futures gave under-12 riders their own dedicated competition for the first time, while the junior fields across the Championships showed just how healthy the pipeline of British freestyle talent has become. 04

The BRITS Has Gone International

Official FIS World Ranking status for both Big Air and the new Streetstyle Championships marked another important step in the event's evolution. Riders weren’t simply competing for national titles – they were earning international ranking points, cementing The BRITS’ place on the freestyle calendar and strengthening the pathway to European Cups, World Cups and beyond. 05

Craig Robinson

The Standard Keeps Rising

More Than a Competition

The results matter, but The BRITS has always been about more than podiums. Backed by Ellis Brigham and The Snowboard Asylum, the event continues to bring together everyone from first-time competitors to Olympians in one of Europe's best terrain parks, creating the sense of community that has defined The BRITS for more than three decades. The BRITS returns to Mayrhofen 14-19 March 2027 - see you there?

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Gear › Freestyle Skis

Frequent Flyers

Shop the Range

Steve Wells, Ski Buyer

Atomic

Bent Decode

Candide

BC 111

Salomon

Depart 02

£590

£650

£520

Park rat with an all-mountain passport. The new Bent Decode combines a versatile 92mm waist with a lively Poplar woodcore and HRZN 3D profile, creating a stable yet easy-topivot platform for stomping landings and skiing switch.

Powder ski meets Candide-style freestyle attitude. At 111mm underfoot, the BC 111 has the float for deep days, while long rocker lines and a lightweight C-Light core keep it loose, lively and ready to turn every natural feature into a launchpad.

Creativity comes built in. New for 26/27, the Depart 02 combines a poppy cambered platform with balanced twin-tip rocker for ollies, butters and quick pivots, Full sandwich construction and wide steel edges handle rails and side hits.

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Gear Focus › Oakley Goggles

Why You Need Prizm Snow Lenses

Vision Rapt Face Foam

Switchlock Technology

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Oakley Flow Scape It’s easy to get carried away talking about lens technology when it comes to ski goggles, but Oakley’s Flow Scape proves that what sits around the lens can be just as important. The flagship model in Oakley’s Scape Series, it’s designed around a simple idea: if you can see more of the mountain, you’ll ski it better. To achieve that, Oakley has rethought almost every aspect of the goggle’s construction. A conical lens shape and advanced frame design bring the lens closer to your face, creating Oakley’s biggest field of view yet without making the goggle feel oversized. 3D-moulded Vision Rapt face foam follows the contours of your face while staying out of your sightline, creating a remarkably open, unobstructed view that makes it easy to spot terrain changes, read snow conditions and pick your line, no matter how fast you’re charging.

And the optical tech is every bit as clever. Oakley’s Prizm Snow lenses boost contrast to reveal more detail across varied snow and light conditions, while a lamination process fuses the anti-fog treatment directly to the outer lens, reducing distortion and improving clarity. Every Flow Scape also comes with two Prizm Snow lenses, and Oakley’s Switchlock system makes it quick and easy to swap between them. Interestingly, Oakley has ditched the magnets used in its other Switchlock systems here, using one mechanical outrigger lock instead to secure the lens in place. That means less hardware around the lens - aka less ‘stuff ’ getting in the way of your peripheral vision. The result is a goggle designed to open up the whole mountain, helping you see more, react sooner and ski more instinctively. 71

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Gear › Helmets & Goggles

Peak Vision Luke Watkins, Accessories Buyer

Dragon

Slain MAG

When the light flips, Dragon’s magnetic Swiftlock system makes lens swaps a cinch. The Slain MAG’s medium-large frame delivers a superaccessible fit, while two premium Lumalens cylindrical lenses help pick out every bump, lip and powder stash on the mountain. £140

Shop the Product

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Smith

Stash XL

Salomon

Pioneer 3 Mips

Giro

Neo II Mips

£150

£130

£140

Go big or go home. Smith’s largest cylindrical lens delivers wall-towall visuals for spotting landings and secret stashes, while the low-profile semi-rimless frame nails the fit. Two interchangeable ChromaPop lenses keep things looking sharp.

A firm favourite gets a fresh new look. The latest Pioneer features a slicker shape and adds Mips alongside Salomon’s EPS4D tech for serious protection. Fit is nailed via a micro-adjustable dial, while recycled materials complete the overhaul.

If it ain’t broke, make it better. Giro’s much-loved Neo returns with a sleek new profile. Mips technology ups the protection stakes, plus it comes with adjustable venting to keep things cool when you’re laying down lap after scorching lap.

Oakley

Smith

Mont Scape

MOD1 Pro Mips

Cache Mips

£207

£127

£105

Less fuss, more mountain. Part of Oakley’s Scape Series, the Mont Scape pairs a massive field of view with a clean, stripped-back frame and modern-retro styling. Everything you need, nothing you don’t.

An all-time classic for good reason. The low-profile, effortlessly cool MOD1 Pro combines a skate-style inspired design with tough Dura-Matter construction and Mips protection for park laps and powder days.

New this winter, the Cache pairs tough ABS hardshell construction with Mips protection and a microadjustable fit. Eleven vents help manage airflow while removable earpads make sweaty spring sessions a breeze.

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Name: Mason Flannery Job title: Ski Boot Tech How long at EB: 8 years, between travels Store: Xscape Yorkshire You’ve been skiing at Castleford since long before you worked there. What makes it such a good place to ski, progress and meet people? Snow domes are a great place to learn freestyle. The features aren’t massive, but there’s a good range to progress through, making it great for building solid foundations - particularly when it comes to rails.The UK snowsports community is also really close-knit and friendly. You quickly get to know people of all ages from across the country. I’ve met some of my closest friends through skiing at Castleford. Where has skiing taken you that you might never otherwise have ended up?

After Hours The latest instalment in our series highlighting the adventures our staff enjoy when they’re not in-store takes us to Yorkshire.

My plans to move to Austria after college were derailed by Covid and Brexit, so I started looking further afield and eventually landed on Canada. In November 2022, I moved to Whistler and spent three years living there. I fell in love with BC and would love to make it home one day. I also spent last winter in Japan, where the powder was unlike anything I’d ever experienced. Skiing has taken me to some incredible places! What does your perfect full-day session at Cas look like? Fridays are my favourite days at Castleford. From 2pm, the freestyle park is out and you can ride until 10pm, so it can be a huge session! I love learning new tricks, but get the most enjoyment from finding flow and creative lines through the features. The setup changes weekly, with rails, tubes, jumps and spines keeping things exciting and opening up new ways to link the features together. What advice would you give a skier trying freestyle for the first time?

Scan to watch the After Hours series.

The sooner, the better! My only regret is not starting park nights earlier. I was in my early teens when I began skiing them weekly and competing, when the fear factor was definitely lower. I’m 24 now and I don’t bounce like I used to! These days I get just as much enjoyment from skiing fast and finding flow around the mountain - that’s the great thing about skiing: how you enjoy the mountain evolves with you.

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