In 2004, SALEWA founded the international SALEWA alpineXtrem team. The idea is to promote young athletes under the leadership of the two experienced and successful mountaineers, Christoph Hainz and Matthias Robl. And they’re already pushing mightily ahead! For example, Roger Schäli, the young Swiss mountain guide and extreme mountaineer, has already been nominated for the "Piolet d'Or" – the mountaineering Oscar – for his two first ascents of the Arwa Spires in northern India. Frenchwoman Chloe Minoret has a European championship title and a country championship title to show for herself, whilst Timo Preussler and Daniel Steurer are each scooping up the medals at the climbing competitions in Germany and Austria. Martin Moser, on the other hand, has already made many first ascents of routes in sport climbing and is happiest when solving difficult boulder problems. It is particularly interesting that the team members originate from five different countries - thus enabling an exchange to take place between the different scenes. In 2005, the first joint expedition also took place within the framework of a difficult climbing route that opened in the Taghia Valley in the high Atlas/Morocco. Further demanding expeditions are also planned for the future. However, the team members are not only the most important SALEWA ambassadors in the climbing halls, rock faces and mountains of this world – they also play an important role in the product development. New products are tested extensively and under the toughest conditions. The feedback helps those responsible to continually improve the products and to bring fully developed materials onto the market. SALEWA customers can be certain of purchasing a safe and functional product.