This year at Powder Mountain Utah, testers gathered for the 2020 Gear Test Week to review 157 pairs of skis. Of those, there was a noticeable abundance of standout mid-fat chargers that boasted waist widths between 108 and 90 mm underfoot—so many, in fact, that we dedicated 15 pages of our September 2020 Gear Guide to this category. And for our digital Editors’ Choice release, we’ve split these all-mountain shredders into two categories, for your reading pleasure: 105 to 108 mm underfoot and 95 to 100 mm underfoot.
Here are the 2020 Editors’ Choice skis: 105 to 108 mm.
Want tester feedback on these products? Order in our online store to get a copy of Backcountry Magazine’s 2020 Gear Guide with in-depth reviews of all 39 Editors’ Choice winners, plus more than 200 other must-have skis, splitboards, boots, bindings, clothing and accessories.
ARMADA TRACER 108
$875 – armadaskis.com | SIZES (cm): 164, 172, 180, 188 | DIMENSIONS (mm): 134/108/126 | WEIGHT/PAIR: 7.6 lbs. (180)
From the Gear Guide: “Stable underfoot, even flex and fully reliable through most speeds and all turn shapes.”
ATOMIC BACKLAND 107
$850 – atomic.com | SIZES (cm): 175, 182, 189 | DIMENSIONS (mm): 137/107/124 | WEIGHT/PAIR: 6.8 lbs. (182)
From the Gear Guide: “The shape allows it to carve hard, but also hold up in the crud.”
SALOMON QST 106
$900 – salomon.com | SIZES (cm): 167, 174, 181, 188 | DIMENSIONS (mm): 137/106/123 | WEIGHT/PAIR: 7.9 lbs. (181)
From the Gear Guide: “Best for variable snow where dampening is more important than heft.”
FISCHER HANNIBAL 106
$750 – fischersports.com | SIZES (cm): 171, 178, 185 | DIMENSIONS (mm): 138/106/121 | WEIGHT/PAIR: 6.7 lbs. (178)
From the Gear Guide: “Light, yet incredibly drivable and pretty darn stable in that cruddy, variable stuff.”
BLIZZARD ZERO G 105
$960 – blizzardsports.com | SIZES (cm): 164, 172, 180, 188 | DIMENSIONS (mm): 133/105/120 | WEIGHT/PAIR: 6.8 lbs. (180)
Have you tried the 106 Ripstick by Elan?
Slays it ALL!
The top three Editor’s Choice feature products of Amer Sports Corperation. Solomon, Atomic, and Armada are all owned by the same company. These recommendations lack credibility and discredit your review. Backcountry, Please consider being authentic to your patrons.
Hello Cole, For reference, our Gear Test picks are based solely off of tester feedback, something we are very proud of in this industry. The fact that those skis won Editors’ Choice awards is a result of them performing well on the slopes of Powder Mountain, Utah this past March. That’s just how the cookie crumbled this past winter. Something else to check out in this year’s Gear Guide is our section in which we designate an Editors’ Choice award and selects for micro-manufacturers to give the smaller businesses their due.
Look at the awards for the other widths, a wide variety of brands. I think your tin-foil hat may be broken.
Oh man, here come the Karens… just wanted to thank BC for providing this FREE resource!
It’s interesting that you don’t have an editor’s choice section for skis in the 100-105 range – that’s what I see as the sweet spot for the quiver of one these days.
I’m assuming they tested the skis 1st, and created the arbitrary dimension categories second based on their favorite skis. Also, I’m not able to bring to mind a lot of skis in the 100-104 range. It seems most go 90-98 for “mid-fat”.