Backcountry Skis
Archive
Barking At the Door from Good Company Ski features skiers Lucas Wachs and Karl Fostvedt going huge in the backcountry.
From Black Crows, Lusti follows Christina Lustenberger who is an ACMG certified guide and former world cup racer. In this film, she’s chasing after a first descent of 'the black friar'.
HandCrank’s Power of Film series follows brothers Sam and Zack Giffin who double as a filmmaker and pro-skier, respectively. In episode two the duo head to Alaska to film with cinematographer Ben Sturgelewski.
In Black Diamond and Nomadik Motion’s new film, Connections, it follows skiers Tobin Seagel and Mary McIntyre as they venture into the Monashee Mountains.
From Sherpas Cinema and the North Face, Tsirku is a three-part film series featuring skiers Hadley Hammer and Sam Anthamatten with snowboarder Ralph Backstrom attempting to ski Corrugated, a set of spines on the Tsirku Glacier.
From Sherpas Cinema and the North Face, Tsirku is a three-part film series featuring skiers Hadley Hammer and Sam Anthamatten with snowboarder Ralph Backstrom attempting to ski Corrugated, a set of spines on the Tsirku Glacier.
From Sherpas Cinema and the North Face, Tsirku is a three-part film series featuring skiers Hadley Hammer and Sam Anthamatten with snowboarder Ralph Backstrom attempting to ski Corrugated, a set of spines on the Tsirku Glacier.
From filmmaker Thomas Woodson, photographer Adam Clark, and skier Drew Peterson Skiing the Wild West documents Peterson’s mission to ski the tallest mountain in each of the western states.
From the Utah Avalanche Center To Hell in a Heartbeat follows three friends on a day in the backcountry when things go horribly wrong.
In the last installment of this year’s The Shadow Campaign from DPS Skis and filmmaker Ben Sturgulewski the series takes a musical approach.
In a remote cabin somewhere between Revelstoke and Golden a few skiers and musicians are getting together to meld the world of music and backcountry skiing.
While in the backcountry, there's an array of different variables to be on the lookout for. This animated video from SINTR Visuals specifically examines two of those, snow faceting and sintering.
We recently sent reporter Paddy O'Connell to Aspen, Colorado hoping the kind folks in this ski town could help him define some of backcountry skiing's more arcane lingo.
From skier, producer, and director Nikolai Schirmer with support from Black Crows, Shapes follows Schirmer and Flo Bastien as they explore the backcountry in Canada, France, and Norway.
From Scott Sports and their athletes, Sam Cohen and McKenna Peterson, Peak of Ill Repute follows the team on a three-week skiing expedition at the base of Alaska's Fairweather Range.
A few weeks back we posted Faction's This Is Home. Though the footage was sweet and satisfying, there was a lingering hope that they may provide us with a little dessert. And did they ever.
The Seeking Nirvana series is back with this year's installment Road To Nowhere. This season, skiers Riley Leboe, Mike Henituk, Joe Schuster, Matt Margetts are on a road trip for ski and swell through Vancouver Island.
An A to Z guide to the ups and downs of the sport
From Salomon TV, Mica follows rising ski star Andrea Byrne along with Cody Townsend, Chris Rubens, and Leah Evans as they indulge Mica Heli Skiing's endless terrain.
The Utah-based ski company claims its new "glide treatment" will make your skis slippery for life. We tested it and came away impressed.
The More Than You Think series from Outdoor Gear Exchange, aims to highlight the backcountry offerings in New England showed off by the women who know it best.
Freeskier Sam Favret and snowboarder Julien Herry take on steep riding in the heart of Mont Blanc massif.
Often overlooked as a ski destination, the Aussie backcountry has some spectacular lines as displayed in this video from We Are Explorers and Hayden Griffith.
From KGB Productions, Westward follows a host of fascinating ski characters who are doing things their own way.
From DPS Skis The Shadow Campaign, The Time Within finds five of DPS's best skiers in the powder haven of Japan.
From Outdoor Gear Exchange, the More Than You Think series aims to highlight the expanding opportunities for backcountry skiing in the northeast.
Our PlayNow series highlights an epic POV clip so you can get in on the action even when you're stuck behind a desk.
Thanks to a plethora of new materials, skis are getting way more versatile.
For this season of Westward, KGB Productions has four new profiles of skiers doing it their own way.
AT gear keeps getting better and better at handling the down.
Better garage organization means easier gear access, which means more time to play outside
This video from Salomon is a teaser for all their upcoming films this ski season. With athletes like Cody Townsend, Greg Hill, and Kalen Thorien, this season is sure to set a new high.
From Matchstick Productions, Drop Everything features skiers like Cody Townsend, Michelle Parker, Elyse Saustad sending huge lines everywhere from British Columbia to Matchstick's home base of Crested Butte.
From DPS Skis and filmmaker Frank Pickell, The Shadow Within tells the tale of a young boy who finds a mysterious treasure on the shore of a deserted island.
For this film This Is Home, they all returned to their old playgrounds, secret spots, and favorite lines during filming. From the Flathead Valley to Verbier Switzerland, this film takes you around the globe in search of what it means to be a skier.
From DPS Skis The Shadow Campaign brings you into some of the most epic ski terrains in the world.
This basic piece of gear is a must-have for any adventure
The winter of 2017 was a force to be reckoned with from Tahoe to Maine, there were record snowfalls across the board. It was a wild season and you can follow all the excitement in TGR's new feature film Rogue Elements.
Four products I use all the time that were built here in the USA
A Whole Different Enchilada is a short film from Evo that follows professional athletes Adam Craig and Josh Dirksen.
Everything you need to know to ensure you don't ruin your skis, boots, and kit before next season
The DPS Wailer 112 RPC 2.0 ski is damper than its predecessor yet still light and quick on the uphill, making it one of our favorites for winter 2017.
The DPS Zelda 106 Pure3 is one of our top picks for women’s skis thanks to its powder performance and versatility.
The Women’s Volkl 100Eight earned high praise for handling both deep powder and crud with ease.
These preseason events can be overwhelming. Here are some simple suggestions for how to get what you need.
The race is on to create the perfect beyond-the-ropes setup.
If our Santa Fe office was on fire, this is the gear we'd save
Online gear editor Jakob Schiller tests a lot of skis. Watch to find out what makes the new backcountry Wailer 106 Tour1 stand out from the rest.
For the past 12 months, we tested these skins—which eschew the traditional mohair design in favor of patterned plastic—on everything from bulletproof skin tracks to sloppy PNW cement. Here’s what we found out.
Who needs a whole quiver when one set of planks does it all?
The two best alpine-touring setups of the year.
Alpine-touring equipment continues to evolve
From traveling light to going fast and steep, these 8 pairs of planks will help you carve pow all winter long
Venture Snowboards announced Thursday that it will not release boards for the 2015/16 season
The logistics of a ski weekend with kids are challenging, but the gear schlepping and tantrums just might be worth it.
I'm having trouble figuring out what gear to give my loved ones for the holidays.
DPS took its deeply rockered Lotus 120—which sports a long pintail, tapered tip, and just a smidge of sidecut underfoot—and added a convex base to the shovel of the ski. That’s right, the base is actually spoon shaped in the front third.
Rossignol’s honeycombed tip and tail shed mass where it’s vital—away from your body. As a result, it’s effortless to throw the Soul 7 sideways in the trees or whenever you need to scrub speed.
Thanks to the new factory, built with Laakso’s pre-preg expertise, all of Black Diamond’s 2013-14 skis are lighter but higher performance than existing models.
When the results were tallied after our on-mountain evaluations, these were our female testers’ favorite planks.
ϳԹ picks the best gear for your alpine-touring setup, including the K2 WayBack skis.
Black Diamond's new Carbon Megawatt is light enough for touring and fat enough to float atop soft snow.
ϳԹ reviews the best gear in the 2012 Winter Buyer's Guide, including the Line Celebrity 100 skis.
ϳԹ reviews the best gear in the 2012 Winter Buyer's Guide, including the Volkl Nunataq skis
I'm heading into the backcountry this winter after years of in-bounds skiing, and I need a randonee set up. How much should I plan to spend? And will I notice a big difference between randonee boots and skis, and my race boots and all-mountain skis?
What's the ultimate telemark setup this year? The Editors Santa Fe, NM
Good for All Mountain The Anti Piste has the exact same dimensions as K2's popular Coomba but with a bit of rocker in the tip. You can tell. Testers loved the way the subtle tweak to the shape allowed them to smear turns in a flash but noted…
Big Mountain In 2008, NTN turned a thousand years of freeheel thinking on its head. No more duckbilled boot toe. Instead, NTN added a safety-release system, step-in convenience, unprecedented downhill power, and free-pivot touring function. Rottefella lives up to its name, which means “rat trap” in Norwegian. But Americans have been…
Good for All Mountain Don't let the new costume fool you. El Hombre's guts are unchanged, and he still controls all corners of the ring–er, mountain. “It has good western all-mountain dimensions,” said one tester, “and enough shape and torsional stiffness to rail on variable snow.” It can be…
All Mountain From a man who skied it all, a ski that does it all. The late C.R. Johnson spent years developing this ski, and testers found it a fitting legacy. It’s got full rocker at the tip for float, reverse sidecut for smearing, scrubbing, and changing direction, and just…
Fast and Light Designed to tackle the steepest Wasatch skin tracks and the deepest Utah powder, the three-year-old Switchback is still the lightest and least expensive free-pivot tele binding around. Testers gave props for its icing-resistant toe piece and its easy-to-operate, spring-loaded mode switch. “It’s not for driving big sidecountry…
Good for Touring Though recently bought by K2, 32-year-old Karhu has so far stayed true to its roots, continuing to make some of the best touring skis on the market. Testers found the Storm predictable, versatile, and, of course, an absolute blast in soft snow. “Edgy and stable at…
All Mountain Aptly named for the exposed adjustable pivot beneath the toe, the Axl is a free-pivot touring binding like its forebear, the legendary Hammerhead. Testers found that the underfoot pistons, sleek cable routing, and heel throw provided more downhill chops than any similar binding on the hill. And unlike…
1. Black Diamond rolled out an impressive 11 new models this year. But our tele and alpine testers agreed: Of all the new skis we reviewed, the redesigned Verdict was the most versatile, wide enough for the deepest days and stable on hardpack yet still lightweight enough for touring. 2.
Good for Touring Extremely light for its width, the wood-core Manaslu impressed testers most when the snow got funky. While the tip is slightly rockered, the back third of the ski has more sidecut, which allows for quick turns in steep and tight terrain. Note: The pre-cut inserts are…
Fast and Light A standout as one of the most versatile skis in the test, this city kid is really a country boy. Testers found the slightly rockered, variable-sidecut Manhattan quick and snappy in tight trees but at its best with a good head of steam. “Turn it to 11…
Built on the same chassis as Völkl's bestselling alpine ski, the Mantra, the M Rock is lighter (there's no metal in it), and its wood/PU core makes it slightly less forgiving—and more fun—in powder. 133/94/113, 7.8 lbs; volkl.com Bonus: Hands-down the best resort AT ski we tested. “I'd put…