What are the best all-mountain skis?

T

Topputstyr

New member
Hi! I am replacing my 2008 Völkl Aura this season. They have been well used and loved, both in fresh powder and in the slopes.

Two seasons ago I went for the Shiro for powder only and Amarouq for backcountry.

Any model/brands outside the Völkl family that you guys recommend for an all-mountian ski?
 
Search through the gear thread and see what people are already talking about, there are basically too many options these days.

U need to tell us and yourself what u want to ski, how u ski, what aspects of your previous skis did u enjoy in terms of their design and the way they handled and see if can find a ski which incorporates all those things.

Where are you based? Demo some skis maybe before this coming winter or if u feel you have a good idea of the spec and style of ski u require look around at skis that have great reviews and take a risk and buy a pair from last year from some online sales.

If u want a ski to handle some powder and slopes, maybe the volkl mantra or the female equivalent. What's your budget? if u can afford a two ski quiver again then do that. If not there are more skis that are 'one ski quivers' than ever before. u just need to decide if u want a more freestyle oriented ski or a charger or a carver that u can take in the pow etc.

If u are like most ppl on NS u want a camber underfoot, rocker tip and tail mid-fat ski around 100mm underfoot. stiff with softer tip. there are maybe 25 skis that fit that description.

I ski an RMU apostle to fit that gap in my quiver for variable days and a do it all ski.

good luck
 
well since your name is pink you must be a chick, but i rode the womens k2 missbehaved as an all mtn pow stick. I ABSOLUTELY LOVED THEM. go check them out and if you have questions feel free to pm me
 
'All-mountain' can mean a lot of things. We need to know more about you. My daily drivers are 117mm underfoot and I use them on everything. Some people prefer 100mm skis for everything.

How much do you ski on-piste versus off-piste? How much do you ski tight trees and bumps versus big open pow fields? Do you huck big cliffs? Do you ski park at all? How tall are you? How much do you weigh? How good of a skier are you? Do you like quick playful skis or powerful aggressive skis? Do you like wide skis or narrow skis?

Knowing next to nothing about you, I would make my usual recommendations of Pettitor, Bent Chetler, JJ, New Life, etc. I would recommend the Shiro too, but you already have those. To me, all of those are all-mountain skis, but to some people they are pow skis and "all-mountain" means something like 100-110 underfoot.
 
Hi! Thanks a lot for the answers. I´ll leave a little bit more information about the requirements.

I would like a 60 slope 40 off piste ski. I almost never ski the park, for this ski it would be resort skiiing and the off piste around when there is one.

In terms of length I think about a 170 ski, that would be 8 cm lower than what I am. I have the Shiro in 183, which is great when there is powder and fresh snow also in the slopes. It feels like an SUV that would just go through whatever comes in its way. But for the ski I am describing it is more sports car oriented than SUV...

It should have a radius that would make it fun to carve, maybe around 18m but not too much more. The skis should be able to handle tight bumps and trees, as I have the Shiros for more open landscape. I weigh 72 kg (158 punds according Google). I want quick playful over powerful and agressive, but they should not start to shiver if I get on with some speed. As for skills I guess I am good, I have the basic level of skiing instructor, but I am not in the pro segment, and have never skied in a club or anything just for fun. For width I guess what you say about 100-110 underfoot is something that would be right. For budget there is no special limit.

Just another question what is the benefit of skis having the widest front a bit back on the frontof the ski, like it looks like the RMU mentioned have?
 
I had a similar problem to you last season only I had the 2009 Volkl Kikus. I had skied them to pieces so it was time for a new pair. I'd say I'm about the same size as you, maybe a bit smaller, and I just replaced my Volkls with a pair of 175cm Kitten Factory All Mountains. They're definitely stiffer than the Volkls and they're way lighter too. They're a 102 underfoot with a turn radius of 19 or 20 I believe.
http://www.kittenfactoryskis.com/14-15-all-mountain/

I'd suggest looking into them or the Chairmans if you want something more aggressive and wider underfoot.
 
Given the initial information you posted, I think around 100-110 underfoot would be good, maybe on the lower end. 170 might be a little short, maybe go 175. That partly depends on brand though, if you get K2s go a little shorter because they measure differently. A K2 169 is like a 175 or so from pretty much anyone else.

I mostly just ski fat skis, so considering you want 100-110 I don't have any specifics to recommend. Given that you want soft/playful over powerful/aggressive, I would avoid getting another pair of Volkl, because from my experience they're stiff aggressive skis (though I haven't skied many Volkls). Dynastars, same thing, they tend to be very stiff and aggressive.

I like K2s a lot and they tend to be a good balance, pretty aggressive but still playful enough, but maybe still a little stiffer than you're looking for. You could consider the K2 Shreditor 102. However, my opinion is a bit biased as I personally really like K2s. They're great skis for my skiing preferences, but may or may not be ideal for you. Worth looking into at least. With the Shreditor 102s you would definitely want the 170s (the smallest size they come in) because they will be like 176 or so from other manufacturers. Not sure how Volkl specifically compares in measurement.
 
13098338:Sh4dow said:
Given the initial information you posted, I think around 100-110 underfoot would be good, maybe on the lower end. 170 might be a little short, maybe go 175. That partly depends on brand though, if you get K2s go a little shorter because they measure differently. A K2 169 is like a 175 or so from pretty much anyone else.

I mostly just ski fat skis, so considering you want 100-110 I don't have any specifics to recommend. Given that you want soft/playful over powerful/aggressive, I would avoid getting another pair of Volkl, because from my experience they're stiff aggressive skis (though I haven't skied many Volkls). Dynastars, same thing, they tend to be very stiff and aggressive.

I like K2s a lot and they tend to be a good balance, pretty aggressive but still playful enough, but maybe still a little stiffer than you're looking for. You could consider the K2 Shreditor 102. However, my opinion is a bit biased as I personally really like K2s. They're great skis for my skiing preferences, but may or may not be ideal for you. Worth looking into at least. With the Shreditor 102s you would definitely want the 170s (the smallest size they come in) because they will be like 176 or so from other manufacturers. Not sure how Volkl specifically compares in measurement.
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I think you need to demo a few more skis before advising. Not trying to put you down as your trying to help but the advice is not always that accurate. K2 for example are generally a soft ski. Vokl and certainly dynastar have plenty of great skis which are mid soft. Your giving advice in slightly to general terms. But a I said it's awsome your giving advice maybe just keep it too skis you know very well.

Also just fyi for woman you usually come narrower as they weigh less. So a 110 equates to more like a 120-130mm for men. So recommending the same ski you would for guys to woman is not always suitable. You need to convert things a bit more. And I'm sure you will come back and say you know woman who rip on fat skis and I totally agree but in general going smaller works for woman. So just so you are aware of that for te future.
 
13100555:tomPietrowski said:
I think you need to demo a few more skis before advising. Not trying to put you down as your trying to help but the advice is not always that accurate. K2 for example are generally a soft ski. Vokl and certainly dynastar have plenty of great skis which are mid soft. Your giving advice in slightly to general terms. But a I said it's awsome your giving advice maybe just keep it too skis you know very well.

Also just fyi for woman you usually come narrower as they weigh less. So a 110 equates to more like a 120-130mm for men. So recommending the same ski you would for guys to woman is not always suitable. You need to convert things a bit more. And I'm sure you will come back and say you know woman who rip on fat skis and I totally agree but in general going smaller works for woman. So just so you are aware of that for te future.
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I know the advice I gave is fairly general, and yes that's partly because I haven't demoed enough skis to give more specific advice. The skis of similar width/design to my K2 Obsetheds that I have demod from other companies (JJ, S7, Bent Chetler, etc) have for the most part been softer than my Obsetheds, and yeah of course it will vary from model to model, not just company to company. Just based on the skis I have demod, K2s tend to be in the middle as far as flex goes.

As for width varying between men and women, that is a good point, I had never given it much thought. I think it would still be pretty similar for pow skis, but I could see women going narrower for all mountain skis.
 
Since it sounds like you are still figuring out what you want out of a ski. I would say you really need to demo. The kind of ski you are looking for is so broad spectrum and there are so many things to consider especially with a lot of newer shapes popping up. Everyone has their own preferences and personal bias. My temptation is to steer you away from tapered tip skis because I don't like them. That's unfair though because I know that plenty of people love the new tapered tip skis, and they aren't wrong, they just have a different skiing style. But this is exactly why you shouldn't just listen to random people on the internet.

Demo as much as you can and you'll end up with a much better perspective on what you want out of ski. Once you've narrowed it down a bit then come back and ask us again if you still can't decide.
 
13100705:Cyanicenine said:
Since it sounds like you are still figuring out what you want out of a ski. I would say you really need to demo. The kind of ski you are looking for is so broad spectrum and there are so many things to consider especially with a lot of newer shapes popping up. Everyone has their own preferences and personal bias. My temptation is to steer you away from tapered tip skis because I don't like them. That's unfair though because I know that plenty of people love the new tapered tip skis, and they aren't wrong, they just have a different skiing style. But this is exactly why you shouldn't just listen to random people on the internet.

Demo as much as you can and you'll end up with a much better perspective on what you want out of ski. Once you've narrowed it down a bit then come back and ask us again if you still can't decide.
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Seconding
 
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