You can’t go home again.
The past is another country.
Nothing lasts forever.
There must be 1,000 such homilies that share the same, sorrowful observation. No matter what we cherish about the past, it ain’t coming back.
I’ve spent decades refining the peculiar craft of capturing a ski’s on-snow personality, only to see the entire enterprise evaporate in a cloud of indifference. The apogee of these endeavors lasted for only five years, during which time, with the blessing and budgets of the New York Times Magazine Group, I assembled the largest cast of world-class talents ever convened for such a purpose, and put them to work for three solid weeks. Whatever remains of on-snow testing today runs for 2-to-5 days, tops.
Before I start swinging this verbal wrecking ball in ever wider arcs, permit me to better define the boundaries of my umbrage. No contingent of recreational skiers is better served than those who travel uphill under their own power. If you hike to ski, you not only have more equipment choices than seem sensible, but you have passionate and well-informed editors who enlist the aid of an armada of in-it-for-life testers who talk eye-to-eye with their readers. Thanks to the efforts of Freeskier, the Pipe-and-Park contingent also have a toes-in-the-snow publication that caters to the unique requirements of those who take to the air upside-down and backwards.
But for the downhill-facing, lift-assisted skier, the number of trustworthy sources is perilously close to zero. I gather through the grapevine that Outside aims to improve its ski review content, but this is the same outfit that fired Mike Rogan in the not-so-distant past, an act of such rank stupidity it will take years of diligent reporting to live it down. That Rogan is back testing for Outside is more testament to his exceptional talent and well-mannered temperament than it is a validation of the new regime’s reportorial talents.
If you want to read how we at Realskiers.com went about the business of categorizing and rating every important Alpine ski model for sale in North America, I’ve retained a detailed description of our methodology in the Gear Guide housed on the home page. Ski reviews dating back to 2016 are still ensconced in our Archives for the edification of our paid subscribers (still only $24.95 for new members and a mere $19.95 to renew).
I’ve augmented the text of the revised Gear Guide with a few bits that weren’t part of Realskiers’ original copy, most notably a current test card. The latest test card differs from the original incarnation in a couple of important ways: I’ve fiddled with the test criteria in an effort to be clearer about just what behavior the tester is rating, and the “card” isn’t recorded on paper, but logged into a Google app. The biggest difference between the era of the paper card and the current cyber card isn’t in the contents, but the number of submissions each season. (Read A Dearth of Data here.) We used to get thousands of cards; now we hardly get any unless I instigate the testing. But being prepared to test and actual testing are two different beasts; to achieve the ultimate goal of ranking skis according to merit requires not just skis; it also requires skiers, and that’s where the current market conditions torpedo the entire enterprise.
So why am I retaining a detailed explanation of a system that no longer works? Because I’ve learned from my thousands of Dear Readers that they regularly visit our Archives, where we’ve stored every ski review I’ve penned since 2016. (The Archives used to reach back into the aughties, but the older reviews proved to be a playground for cyber creeps looking for vulnerabilities they could exploit, so they had to be euthanized.) There are also some bits in the introductory text that are still relevant, such as How to Demo and how to interpret the icons that are scattered throughout the archived reviews.
But model-by-model, long-form ski reviews are as dead as disco. What remains in their stead are detailed Brand Profiles that put the current model families in context, helping skiers winnow through a ski market that is over-stuffed with options. The final hurdle in the model selection process is determining which ski has the optimum amalgam of traits that fits with where and how you ski. I can help you, Dear Reader, find the ski of your dreams, or at the very least concoct a hit list of skis to demo. Member Consultation privileges are unquestionably the most unique and valuable service provided by Realskiers.com. I look forward to hearing from you.
As you ponder what pithy problems you would like to plumb, take a moment to contemplate the many splendors Realskiers.com provides:
- Ski Brand Profiles, including coverage of the current market
- Boot Brand Profiles (2026 content to post in September)
- Best Boots from the Masterfit Boot Test (links to Masterfit current analysis)
- Revelation Archives (over 300 entries on the members’ site, categorized by subject matter)
- Jackson’s List of the most worthy specialty ski shops in America
- The Returning Skier’s Handbook, a primer for the lapsed skier
- The Library of Podcasts from Realskiers with Jackson Hogen
Realskiers.com is essentially a Master Class in the recent evolution of the U.S. ski market. The insights that are routine in Realskiers’ content can’t be found anywhere else in the current crop of ski media. If you like what you see here, please consider becoming a Realskiers’ subscriber, still only $24.95 for new enlistees, and $19.95 for returning veterans.
If you’re thinking of buying new gear this year, a Realskiers subscription isn’t a luxury; it’s a necessity. One receives the best advice from those most qualified to provide it, and no one else in ski journalism can match my credentials and track record. I hope you’ll become a Realskiers subscriber and subsequently benefit from my counsel. It’s what I’m here for.
Related Articles
In Praise of the Wandering Mind
This subject has been percolating in the subterranean strata of my noggin for several months, searching for the connections that will lend it substance. The search for this topic’s handles has a wedding-cake’s worth layers: to depict the wandering mind requires its engagement, a self-cancelling concept that would oblige me to catch and release the idea in a Sisyphean quest to define its merits.
The notion of expounding on this Möbius strip of an idea was, naturally, an example of the wandering mind in action. I might have been noodling on a question several of my Dear Readers have posed, which can be distilled to, how did I ever learn to write in the manner that I do?
To find my answer, I had to relax my grip on the subject. My reasoning self was ready with mechanical answers, such as the discipline of writing every day. Duly noted, but insufficient. Let’s wander a little further.
Yard Sale! When Going Big Goes Wrong
If you’ve been a lifelong skier, you’ve not only experienced failure; most likely you’ve survived at least one miscalculation so soul-scarring, its time capsule is enshrined in the halls of memory alongside weddings and funerals.
As inspiration and prod to memory, allow me to recount a vignette from my days as a freestyle competitor. The location is Keystone, Colorado, the event, The Chicken of the Sea Freestyle Classic, a sponsorship coup that couldn’t have been too tough to land as Ralston Purina owned both the resort and the tuna.
I qualified via a preliminary aerial competition, taking a conservative tack by throwing a mule kick, hardly daring when going upside down was common. But my modest move was clean and hung out to dry, with a barely discernible, weightless pause at its apex.
The Best Women’s Skis of 2020
Before getting down to the business of picking favorites, let’s re-examine the fundamental question, what makes a ski a women’s ski?
Not to be flippant, but any ski its maker markets as a women’s model qualifies in that it will come in shorter lengths, which are scaled to match smaller people, a considerable percentage of which are women. To drive this point home, the women’s models will also be decorated in themes deemed – however correctly – to be more appealing to women.
