How to Choose Backcountry Skis

This is a guide to get you on your way to choosing the perfect pair of skis for the backcountry. There are so many options available that it can be overwhelming to decide what kind of skis you want and what kind of skis you need. By breaking down what kind of skier you are, hopefully you can get a handle on the best pair of skis for you.

The first step is to decide what kind of snow you will be skiing the most often. Do you ski powder everyday (lucky you!)? Or maybe you ski ice and corn all the time? Or is it often a mixed bag of conditions? Or do you love cross country groomers? Answering this will at least set you on your way to deciding on a width of ski to look at. If you ski powder all the time, I suggest looking at a ski bigger than 110mm in the waist. If you’re a corn skier at heart, look at skis that are no more than 95mm in the waist, and if you’re looking for that all mountain, handle everything pretty well backcountry ski, check out skis in the 95mm-110mm range. For the cross country skier, waist size isn’t as important a consideration and so I skipping past this step and down to what kind of performance you want from your ski.

Before we go another further, it’s time to dispel a myth. There is no such thing as an alpine touring only ski. With the exception of cross country skiers, all skis are just that, skis, and can be mounted with just about any binding and used in any setting where there’s snow. So don’t go out feeling as though you have to buy something that’s marketed as a backcountry ski when many downhill skis are just as adequate.

Next, consider how aggressive a skier you are. Do you like dropping cliffs, skiing steeps and slashing big powder turns? Or are you perfectly content to meadow skip and make beautiful spooned tracks down mellow slopes? The more aggressive a skier you are, the stiffer the ski you want. A stiff ski will allow you to push it hard and won’t get ‘noodly’ or floppy at high speeds. On the other side of the equation, if you like to meadow skip, get a softer and more forgiving ski that will feel more playful and in all likelihood, be lighter.

Which brings me to my next point, weight. To some extent, weight is a tradeoff with performance, although you can certainly find high end performance skis that are also light, and conversely you can find some pretty noodly, playful skis that are heavy. Unless you are out to huck big cliffs and ski spines in Alaska, generally lighter is better, although you’re going to pay a lot more for lighter skis than comparable slightly heavier ones. For meadow skippers, I suggest going as light as possible; you don’t need your gear to charge through crud and sustain big cliff drops so why lug around the extra weight? For true ripping skiers however, I suggest going a little bit heavier if you can handle it on the uphill; the extra weight will make your skis more stable and better and charging variable snow.

Ultimately, weight and performance are two different categories, but they are inexorably intertwined. There will never be a hard charging, big mountain ski that is as light as a feather because you need some weight on a ski to be able to ski like that, regardless of how stiff it is.

In the last few years, ski design has been revolutionized by shape. Skis now come in all kinds of flavours including rockered skis, reverse sidecut skis, 5 sidecut skis, twin tip skis, and good old fashioned shaped skis. If you’re looking for a do it all workhorse, I suggest sticking to good old fashioned regular sidecut and regular camber; they’ll ski consistently and like you expect them to. For powder hounds and those looking for something a little bit more playful, rockered and reverse sidecut skis offer a more surf like feel on the snow and arguably male powder skiing easier my keeping your tips afloat. Check out K2 Skis new lineup for more information about how they are implementing rocker ski technology into all kinds of skis. If you do choose rockered skis, remember to upsize your length a little bit because rockered skis ski shorter than they measure.

The final step is choosing a size. This is probably to most straightforward step, although that’s not to say it isn’t very important. There are a couple factors we need to take into consideration here. How tall are you? How heavy are you? What kind of terrain do you like to ski? And again, how aggressive are you? As a general rule, the taller and heavier you are, the longer a backcountry ski you’re going to need to support your weight and handle the amount of force you apply to the ski. Similarly, the more aggressive you are, the longer a ski you’ll need to deal with the extra demand and force you apply to the ski. The terrain part of the equation is important to consider because if you ski predominantly trees, you may want to consider downsizing slightly to accommodate the tighter turns you’ll need to make. If on the other hand you ski in Alaska all the time (again, lucky you!!), you’ll want to upsize a bit to handle those big swooping turns that the ski terrain in Alaska permits. Don’t be afraid to get skis that might seem long at first, as you’ll become a better, more powerful skier on longer skis.

I hope this helps you get on your way to choosing the perfect pair of skis for you. If nothing else, get out there and try as many pairs of skis as possible. Be adventurous! See if you can find a ski area or a demo days event where you can pay a flat fee and then swap out different pairs of high performance skis all day. The perfect pair of skis is the one that suits you the best, and is the most fun for you! Happy turns!