2020 Big Mountain

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. We...

Finesse Favorites: All-Terrain Access for All

The main reason to acquire an All-Mountain West ski is to get the widest ski possible you can use as an everyday ride. The reason you want the widest ski is so you can take it into powder and what’s left of powder between storms. To make that all-terrain access as...

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...

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...

2020 Women’s Big Mountain

The women’s Big Mountain genre has bedeviled us since we began covering these super-fat models as a separate category seven seasons ago. Part of the problem is that skis this wide require some semblance of new snow to be given a fair evaluation, limiting their appeal...

The 2020 Women’s Big Mountain Field

The women’s Big Mountain field is inextricably entwined with its unisex cousins, as this infinitesimal slice of the market doesn’t consume enough units to merit women-specific spin-offs. Fortunately for all concerned, men’s Big Mountain skis have already been put on a...