Print issue 2025
Get Outside!
Winter is here – along with the soft crackling under your skis, the cold, the luxury of making your own tracks, carving your own lines, sharing them with friends – the best time of the year.
BACKLINE tells stories of moments like these. Of the first light over familiar peaks, of solitude in the fog, of the cold and the warmth, of lines, gullies and slopes. They are different perspectives on the same pursuit, framed in subjective meaning, views on both small and grand ski touring adventures, on the many ups and downs.
Ski touring is more than a sport. It is a school of awareness, of self-responsibility, of conscious outdoor living. No lifts, no noise, no hustle and bustle. Ski touring is a series of stages on a journey, a quiet conversation between the outer and the inner.
You can scroll or flip through countless tour photos – perfectly staged, filtered, with summit poses, tips and pathos. But no picture, no catchy sentence can replace the feeling of setting off into the silence of morning and laying down your own track.
In this spirit – get out there now! – we hope you enjoy browsing through BACKLINE, but above all, we wish you many wonderful and safe adventures in the winter of 2025/2026.
Sincerely, Martin Fiala
Island · Snæfellsnes
There are journeys that immerse you in a nature so primordial it feels like the beginning of the world, when no footprint had yet touched the earth. You feel as if you’ve stepped into a parallel universe where everything is in harmony with its surroundings. Even the harsh weather, the howling wind, …
2025 · Alberto Sciamplicotti · 4 min
Italien, Schweiz, Österreich · Rätische Alpen
Between appointments, calls and a flood of emails, it’s always there – the desire to be outside. For me, this means slowing down, consciously spending time outdoors and feeling everyday life fade away. Right there, with snow, silence and friends. Finally, the time had come – our Alpine crossing …
2025 · Mico Kehrle · 4 min
Österreich, Schweiz · Bergell
There are moments in the mountains that last no longer than a single breath – yet remain forever. “Gold”, the new experimental ski film from Mountain Tribe, is dedicated to precisely those fleeting minutes: the Golden Hour. That narrow window of time at dawn and dusk, when the light softens, the …
2025 · Valentin Werner-Tutschku · 3 min
Grönland · Arctic Mountains
Ski touring in the remote wilderness of East Greenland is an unusual and exciting experience. Even more so when you stay at Robert Peroni’s “Red House. ” The charismatic South Tyrolean once undertook one of the most spectacular expeditions across Greenland’s ice cap. Today, he is fighting for the …
2025 · Günter Kast · 4 min
Schweiz · Mischabelmassiv
The 13,000-ft peaks of the Alps have always cast a powerful spell. It’s the allure of the high mountains – majestic, remote, awe-inspiring – but also the deeply human pull of recognition, altitude and achievement. Many gravitate toward the famous ones: the Matterhorn, the Weisshorn, the Alphubel. …
2025 · Giacomo Meneghello · 3 min
Schweiz · Plessur-Alpen
Time passes just as mercilessly as the hundredths of a second that once decided victory or defeat in ski racing. That makes it all the more wonderful to experience what we have always loved with former competitors. It’s no longer about the fastest time; it’s about shared moments and an unwavering …
2025 · Martin Fiala · 4 min
Italien · Palagruppe
Jagged rock towers and steep couloirs. Open powder fields and wide corn snow slopes. Mediterranean flavors from the kitchen and deep tranquility. In the southern Dolomites, all this merges into a magical winter wonderland. Ski touring in the Pala range feels like being on another planet. Not like …
2025 · Christian Penning · 4 min
USA · Cascade Range
“What were you doing – waterskiing?” inquired an old man in a tee shirt and shorts. No water, hat, or even hair on his head, but he was on a quest. “I want to see the lake one last time, ” he offered. Three corners onward, I could no longer hold my mirth and laughed. “Waterskiing, of all things, ” …
2025 · Jason Hummel · 3 min
Italien · Ortler-Alpen
Spring was advancing rapidly in the eastern Alps. Arriving late morning at the Forni trailhead, we found the winter snow already melted far up the hillside. Stu, Misha and I set off on foot, rambling up the summer path to reach the snowline. A bearded vulture soared overhead on the southerly …
2025 · Ben Tibbetts · 4 min
Japan · Mount Rishiri
While the world came to a halt during Covid, planes remained grounded and borders were closed, my horizons narrowed to the coastlines of Japan. I packed my surfboard and spearfishing gear into my car and began driving down the coast, bay by bay. One day, I met a young couple who lived on a …
2025 · Riki Nakajima · 4 min
USA · Chugach Mountains
My fingers are numb from the cold, aching as if the frost is seeping into my bones. The sun is almost gone now, a thin sliver of light stretching long shadows across the snow. The temperature is falling fast; each breath feels sharp in my chest. A cold wind nips at my face, a reminder not to ignore …
2025 · Christoph Johann · 4 min
Kanada · Pacific Ranges
The Squamish Chief (Siy ̓ám̓ Smánit) is unquestionably a rock climber’s mountain. It is a glacial-carved granite monolith that rises from the Pacific Ocean, greeting visitors coming up the Sea to Sky Highway into the outdoor hub of Squamish, British Columbia. By nature of its proximity to the mega …
2025 · Eric Carter · 4 min
Österreich · Ötztaler Alpen
Climbing a 9,800-foot peak with students in the middle of winter: ambitious, perhaps even crazy. But that’s exactly what a teacher from Imst in Austria is doing – and in the process, he’s teaching risk awareness, self-confidence and teamwork. Lessons for life, learned on skis. Next to the Riffelsee …
2025 · Simon Schöpf · 4 min
USA · Cascade Range
Ice is a book, a story of Earth’s past. Only near the very end of their eons-old story do you find lines written by humans. What are their stories? What brought them to those icy shores? Where have my own tracks intersected theirs – and how long will those faint lines endure before the next storm …
2025 · Jason Hummel · 3 min
