Knowledge is a reliable companion.

Anyone who regularly straps on touring skis and heads out in all weather knows it precisely: you have to be able to rely on your equipment – not somehow, but absolutely. Because if the gear does not fit or fails, no Instagram filter will help.

Only then is your mind free for what really counts: the moment, the ascent, the descent and your friends. That is how sunrises in biting cold turn into a memory that carries you through the summer.

For the 2025 edition, too, we spent five days in Lenzerheide (Switzerland) with 15 testers testing skis, poles and backpacks, and over the summer we compiled comparative data on the current models of touring boots, bindings, avalanche safety equipment, clothing, socks, skins, helmets and goggles – to make it easier for beginners and experts alike to find the right equipment for their individual preferences.

BACKLINE has always stood for honest tests in real terrain. No laboratory measurements, but feedback from enthusiasts who spend a great deal of time in the mountains because that is where they are at home. I am proud to have worked with most of the testers in the BACKLINE test for a long time, and to be out in the mountains together beyond the tests themselves. Given the rapid evolution of ski touring equipment, this continuity adds to the testers' knowledge and experience – and therefore to the quality of the test results.

We wish everyone a good read – and a snowy, safe winter 2025/2026.

Yours, MARTIN FIALA, Publisher, Editor-in-Chief