All Mountain Skis

Waist Width Is The Defining Number

The width of a ski underfoot determines how quickly it moves from edge to edge and how well it floats in soft snow, and those pull in opposite directions.

Narrower skis around eighty millimetres are quick and precise on firm groomed snow and sink in anything deep, and skis over a hundred float well and feel slow and vague on hardpack.

Somewhere between eighty-five and ninety-eight covers most resort skiing in most conditions, and the right number depends far more on where you ski than on ability.

Most People Buy Too Wide

Wide skis photograph well and are associated with powder days, and the majority of resort days are spent on firm groomed snow where width is a liability.

A wide ski on hard snow requires more effort to get onto an edge, transmits less feedback and is noticeably more tiring across a full day.

Being honest about how many days a year actually involve deep snow is the single most useful thing anybody can do before buying skis.

Length, Weight And Ability

Ski length is chosen from height, weight, speed and terrain rather than height alone, and the old rule of a ski reaching your chin is a poor guide.

Shorter skis turn more easily and are more forgiving at low speed, and longer skis are stable at speed and in variable snow.

A heavier skier needs more ski than a lighter one of the same height, which is why weight appears in every manufacturer sizing chart and is frequently ignored.

Camber, Rocker And What They Do

Traditional camber arches the ski upward in the middle, which loads the tip and tail against the snow and gives grip and energy on firm pistes.

Rocker lifts the tip and sometimes the tail early, which improves float in soft snow and makes turn initiation easier at the cost of edge contact.

Most current all-mountain skis combine camber underfoot with rocker at the tip, which is a genuinely effective compromise rather than marketing.

Buying Used And What To Check

Skis hold up well and used pairs are considerably cheaper, and the things that matter are edge condition, base damage and whether the core has delaminated.

Edges rusted or worn thin cannot be restored, and a base gouged through to the core is a repair rather than a discount.

Bindings are the part not to economise on, since they must be current, in-date for indemnification and mounted and set by a technician.

Demoing is the step that resolves almost every uncertainty in this category and almost nobody takes it, since most resorts run demo centres where a ski can be tried for a half day and swapped. A morning on three different skis tells a skier more than any amount of reading, and the cost is frequently deducted from a purchase afterwards. That is the single most useful piece of advice anybody buying skis can be given, and it applies at every level of ability.

The Verdict

The right category for almost everybody, where honest assessment of conditions matters more than any specification.

Wide skis are tiring on firm snow, length charts are ignored, and used skis can hide delamination and worn edges.

Be honest about your snow. Most people buy wider skis than the days they actually ski call for.