Ski and Snowboard

Boots first, helmets changed, and the kit that is not optional off-piste.

Updated

Skis and boards move fast and these reviews are full of models long gone. Two things here are more important than any of them.

Boots are the only thing worth a fitting

Everything about skiing is transmitted through them, and a badly fitted boot ruins a week. Hire skis, buy boots, and buy them from someone who measures your foot and can work the shell. This is the best money in the sport.

Helmets: the biggest change in this category

Use went from a minority habit to near-universal in a decade. The feature to understand is rotational protection: a conventional helmet handles a straight-on impact, but most real crashes are angled, and the rotational force is what a hard shell alone does not absorb. MIPS and its equivalents add a low-friction layer that lets the shell move a few millimetres. None of this existed in ski helmets when these reviews were written.

The foam is single-use. Replace after any real impact, and never buy second-hand.

Goggles: buy the lens, not the frame

Flat light is what stops people skiing, not cold. A low-light rose or amber lens lifts contrast on a grey day and is the biggest improvement most people can make. Modern frames swap lenses magnetically in a lift queue and most ship with two, which replaced the old advice to own two pairs. Never wipe the inside of a lens: the anti-fog coating lives there.

Skis got wider and rockered

A ski considered fat in 2009 is mid-width now. As a rough guide: 80 to 90mm at the waist for firm groomed snow, 90 to 105 as an all-rounder, over 105 for deep snow specifically. Length between your chin and the top of your head. Demo before buying; a ski that reviews brilliantly can feel wrong under you.

Off-piste, the part that is not negotiable

A three-antenna digital beacon, a metal shovel, a 240cm probe, and the practice to use all three inside five minutes. Older single and dual-antenna beacons are obsolete and should be retired. No pack, airbag or breathing device replaces this.

Airbag packs became the mainstream extra layer, and battery-and-fan systems largely replaced gas canisters because you can fly with them and practise a deployment for free. Black Diamond's AvaLung line was discontinued, and several 2010 models were recalled over air-intake tubing that could crack in the cold.

Courses and daily forecasts: avalanche.org.

Kept current

The reviews (93)

Written at the time, about gear that in most cases is no longer made. Useful for what the writer noticed, not as a shopping list.