Together to the top

One thing always becomes clear quite quickly during the conver­sations with the athletes: the extreme demands placed on high-end mountain boots. The athletes serve as valuable advisers who go over the details, strengths and limit­ations of the footwear with the developers. The athletes’ needs and the devel­opment depart­ment’s vision have been combined to create in a new, innovative product line. The models ALPINE PRO GTX, Approach PRO GTX LO and ROCKET represented the launch of the LOWA performance collection.

The ALPINE SL was developed in collab­oration with David Göttler. The aim was to reduce as much weight as possible. This is a feature expressed by the product’s full name: the “Alpine Super Light”. Göttler turned to the LOWA devel­opment team with a request for an extremely light Alpine boot that could still handle the chal­lenges created by difficult conditions on the mountain. The experts came up with a boot that includes integrated gaiters that prevent snow from penet­rating the boot. The real trick: The boot was boiled down to the essentials. But the light moun­tain­eering boot is still equipped with a stable sole for use during Alpine adventures. During an expedition, the athlete subjected the “Alpine Super Light” to the toughest of real-world tests – and the boot aced them all. The information gained from the tests then flowed back into the devel­opment of the successor model.

Collab­oration with profes­sional athletes has a long tradition at LOWA. The outdoor company has been spon­soring their exped­itions for years now. The LOWA PRO Team now consists of 11 athletes from Germany, Austria, Italy and Switzerland. In addition to the moun­tain­eering stars Ralf Dujmovits, Stefan Glowacz, Gerlinde Kalten­brunner, Hans Kammer­lander, Alix von Melle and Luis Stitzinger, the line-up of climbing profes­sionals includes Ines Papert, Robert Jasper, Rudi Hauser and Roger Schäli. Paragliding pilot Chrigel Maurer also flies under the LOWA banner. In addition to serving as devel­opment advisers, the athletes on the LOWA PRO team play one key role in particular: They act as important brand ambas­sadors. They climb the world’s tallest mountains and venture into uncharted territory with LOWA boots on their feet – in the process, they create stories that inspire lovers of the outdoors around the world.