2025 Men’s Big Mountain Skis
It wouldn’t be unfair to lump all skis over 100mm at the waist into a giant bucket labeled, “Powder,” and leave it at that. Obviously, the fatter the ski the better the flotation, so pick a ski based on how high you want to ride on new snow and you’re good to go. I elected to divide the powder pie in two because there are big behavioral differences between the Big Mountain bundle of skis (101mm-113mm) and the cluster over 120mm.
The very fact that most manufacturers make (at least) one model in each genre verifies that there are reasons to make two distinct models to serve the Big Mountain and Powder categories. The best of the Big Mountain brotherhood are everyday skis for strong riders on – you guessed it – big mountains. But there are also easy riders in the Big Mountain corral; skis that will help the less talented whip their powder skills into shape.
The split personality of the Big Mountain genre is a result of the evolution of the fat ski phenomenon as a whole. Twenty-five years ago, when the concept of powder skis was still in its infancy, fat boys were conceived as learning aids for the uninitiated. Experts avoided the budding category as if they were badges of ineptitude – until they tried them. When Shane McConkey straight-lined a legendary couloir on a pair of 90mm Volant Chubbs, the collective attitude of the elite was tweaked. Suddenly a new mini-market emerged for high-octane athletes seeking first descents on previously unskiable pitches. Movies from Matchstick Productions and Teton Gravity Research showcased a new frontier in adrenaline sports, and the race was on to see who could make the best tool for these new school, big mountain athletes.
Flashing forward to today, both communities – those who want to maintain their speed in new snow and those who want to maintain their dignity – are being over-served by a brilliant buffet of options. Whether you tear into powder or tiptoe in, the right Big Mountain ski will make slicing knee-deep fresh snow nearly effortless.
People in the market for a powder ski tend to think bigger is better, that if a little flotation is good, massive flotation is better. It’s true that there’s no substitute for surface area, but flotation isn’t the only quality required for off-trail conditions. Some aptitude for moving quickly edge to edge is useful in moguls, which inevitably develop where sno-cats fear to tread. Edging accuracy comes in handy on steep traverses, and short-radius turns are de rigeur in pucker-tight couloirs. Point being, the slightly narrower chassis of a Big Mountain ski is probably a better powder ski for most skiers than the super-wide models that qualify for the Powder club by being next to useless anywhere else.
Every Big Mountain ski pries the tip and tail off the snow to some degree because there’s no better way to motor through crud – powder’s wicked stepbrother – than with a tip that won’t catch and a tail that won’t hang up. Some Big Mountain models are cambered underfoot, some aren’t. The biggest behavioral chasm in the category is the separation of models that can be trusted to hold just a ribbon of edge on hard snow and those who do their best work in the worst conditions, drifting over rubble like it was made from ice cream.
There are two major provisos that need to be shouted from the rooftops: one, acquiring an everyday ski that is too wide poses an increased risk of joint fatigue and even injury to the skier, even if he or she never falls; and two, skiers charging full speed on skis with huge girth but little effective contact area and perhaps no capacity for clean edging pose a danger not just to themselves, but every other person in their flight path.
Heavily rockered skis in the Big Mountain waist width zone of 101mm to 113mm can easily inspire the illusion that their owner suddenly has skills. After all, he can now kill it in the freshies, charging like an off-the-rails locomotive. When he rolls his act out on the groomers, still hauling, still squatting over the middle of his skis, his ultra-rockered tips and tails wildly slapping the snow, his ability to change trajectory and avoid the downhill skier is perilously close to nil.
This is perhaps the most important slope safety issue of our time. Please, people, restrict your use of Big Mountain skis to the off-trail terrain for which they were designed.
The 2025 Men’s Big Mountain Field
It was only two seasons ago that the Big Mountain field saw a significant infusion of new and revised models, so last season was predictably light on new model introductions, limited to the Rustler series at Blizzard and Stance chez Salomon. This year, the engines of innovation have been re-stoked at Nordica, Blizzard, Völkl, Kästle and Atomic, enriching a genre that was already rife with options for both tentative off-trail neophytes and full-bore, fall-line chargers.
Reducing the negative environmental impact of ski production has become a corporate crusade at Atomic, who happens to be the world’s largest ski manufacturer and therefore wields a lot of influence on the supply chain. The brand’s willingness to put its good intentions into action are embodied in the new Maverick 105 CTi, Maverick 115 CTi and Bent Chetler 120. The Mavericks reduce CO2 equivalent emissions by 24%, and the BC 120 trims its Carbon Footprint Reduction by 13%, compared to the same ski two years ago. BTW, I’ve included the Chetler 120 among the Big Mountain clique because that’s where your best other options for Powder conditions live.
The Blizzard Anomaly 102 and Nordica Enforcer 104 are each top dog in new, 4-model All-Mountain collections. The Anomaly 102 aspires to fill the big shoes of the departed Cochise 106 (an instantly iconic Big Mountain bruiser when it debuted a decade ago), and the Enforcer 104 reprises the role of gentle giant made famous by its forebears. Completing the cast of new arrivals are the Völkl Blaze 104, with enough added Titanal in its guts to substantially elevate its performance, and the Kästle Paragon 101, that again demonstrates you can’t go wrong with a classic, wood-and-metal make-up.
Last season in this space I reported on a new series from K2 called Dispatch that focused on the lift-assisted Big Mountain skier. It was squeezed into the collection between two other backcountry-capable series, Wayback and Mindbender. I’m happy to report that Dispatch didn’t last long enough to see its first birthday, a sign that the over-served Big Mountain category is finally shrinking to a saner size.
One of the engines that had been fueling the proliferation of Big Mountain models, the backcountry boom that was already rolling when the pandemic hit and demand skyrocketed, has definitely cooled off. Turns out, slogging uphill through powder is rather difficult, not to mention dangerous. I’m all for fat, Big Mountain skis in their proper milieu, but I’m even more enthused by the trend back towards the middle of the ski cosmos, where ski buyers should be shopping for their next everyday companion.
But if you already have a daily driver and are shopping for a storm-day ski, this is where you want to look. The quality options remain abundant; every major brand still boasts at least two Big Mountain models in its Alpine catalog. Of course, there are nuanced differences among the plethora of models, which the following reviews attempt to delineate. But as long as you size your selection properly, it’s hard to go wrong with any ski we’ve Recommended.
If you’re currently flailing in new snow, you’re on the wrong gear. Powder is the one condition in which the choice of ski can actually improve your skiing experience, without actually requiring you to improve your skiing, if you catch my drift. A properly selected and sized Big Mountain model will make you a better powder skier a lot faster than a great Technical ski will turn you into a proficient carver.
Power Picks: Killing It
The defining difference between our Power Picks and Finesse Favorites can be summed up succinctly: how fast are you willing to go before you steer out of the fall line? If you tend to ride the brakes and the gas at the same time, you’ve overshot your category: you should be searching among the Finesse models.
But if you love to let it rip, sending up geysers that almost engulf you as you go headlong downhill, this is your dating pool. Chances are, every one of these skis is better than you are, which is a good thing when you’re pushing the edge of the envelope. If your skills are commensurate with our Power Picks, you’ll have a partner for powder days that won’t ever let you down.
I would be remiss in my duties if I didn’t remind my Dear Readers that there’s one model that eluded our coverage that would otherwise be among the elite Power skis in the Big Mountain genre. The Völkl Katana 108 is a gem worthy of any strong skier’s consideration.
Finesse Favorites: Kicking Back
The original idea behind making a ski as fat as 110mm underfoot wasn’t to open previously unskiable terrain to world-class athletes, but to allow those without such skills to be able to navigate less forbidding pitches when the snow is knee deep.
Our Finesse Favorites fulfill this mission by bringing a sense of playfulness to the business of floating and smearing through powder. They prioritize ease over accuracy, allowing the less proficient powder skiers to more easily access this exciting terrain. The ulterior motive behind manufacturing such models is, of course, to sell you a second pair of premium skis. We warn you: once you go fat, you never go back. Which means, once you ski the deep on one of these plump beauties, you’ll never again foray into the pow without fatties on your feet.