Fast-paced (piste) ski tours, whether for after-work fun or to get more exercise, are becoming increasingly popular in the Alpine region. For a quick outing in the mountains, you don’t need a lot of gear. Plenty of skiers just leave their pack at home. A shirt to change into, a water bottle, gloves and ski skins – that’s enough for an Alpine jaunt. And it all fits into VAUDE’s new Larice Rapidity Jacket.

If your ski tour takes place on groomed slopes, you don’t need extravagant weather protection or classic avalanche safety gear. Just the bare necessities and you’ll be faster up the mountain and faster back home – or at the aprés-ski bar in the lodge. For light & fast-ski tours like this, VAUDE has developed the Rapidity – a lightweight softshell jacket. It features an intelligent mix of materials with different zones; the front and back are with windproof vapor permeable stretch fabric, which ensures you don’t overheat or undercool while on tour. Generous stretch patch pockets at the front and on the back stow everything you need on tour.

Lorin Etzel, aspiring mountain guide and passionate ski-tourer has this to say about new development: “I just love it when I can grab my skis for a fast hike up my home mountain – and I can leave my backpack at home. All I need for safe, in-bound touring easily fits in the Rapidity’s pockets. A bottle of water in the front, shirt and shell in the back. Then you change and tuck the skins in. Take off – it doesn’t get any more practical than that.”

Of course, VAUDE also took the environment into account in the design phase. Bluesign certified materials and a water-repellent Eco Finish without fluorocarbons ensure a clean environmental record.

The Larice Rapidity Jacket will be available as a men’s model in washed blue or hydro blue starting in Autumn 2016.

Suggested retail prices: Men’s Larice Rapidity Jacket 200, – EUR