The 17 inches of powder that fell on Powder Mountain, Utah this past March didn’t distract testers at the 2020 Gear Test Week from logging hours on this coming season’s newest skis, splitboards and boots to find the standouts across crud, corduroy and deep blower fresh. From bell to bell, each tester buckled down to tally at least eight reviews per day, providing a final count of more than 1,000 individual reviews over the course of the week. This data transferred into the 218 reviews comprising the 2020 Gear Guide, on newsstands now.
After the week’s end, each tester was asked to nominate their personal favorites for skis, boots, bindings and splitboards. Here are their bios and top picks—so you can prepare for this season knowing what fresh products might be best for you.
AGE 41, 5 FEET, 9 INCHES
Moretown, Vt.
CURRENT SETUP
K2 Side Stash ski, Black Diamond 01 boot, Scarpa T1 binding
GEAR PREFERENCE
“I like a lighter-ish weight set-up to go uphill with a solid performance downhill.”
ATOMIC BACKLAND 95
$850 – atomic.com | SIZES (cm): 169, 177, 185 | DIMENSIONS (mm): 126/95/115 | WEIGHT/PAIR: 5.9 lbs. (177)
“This was such a fun ride! Agile, powerful—these skis were inspired. I would confidently take these on adventures in bounds and out, in any conditions.”
VOILÉ HYPER V6
$795 – voile.com | SIZES (cm): 163, 173, 178, 183, 188 | DIMENSIONS (mm): 131/99/111 | WEIGHT/PAIR: 5.8 lbs. (178)
“This ski was very playful and had smooth turn initiation. It was also powerful enough to plow reasonable well through choppy, variable terrain.”
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