Alpine Touring

Built with a new steel-rod touring mechanism, the Mobe skis like a (softer) alpine boot with a walk mode and lug soles. Only it’s just eight pounds per pair—about 30 percent lighter than your average alpine boot. Add a booster strap, a rockered mountaineering sole, and tech fittings to the mix and you’ve got a boot burly enough for both sides of the rope. 8 lbs;
TAGS: big mountain, tech fittings

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Fast and Light

Designed to tackle the steepest Wasatch skin tracks and the deepest Utah powder, the three-year-old Switchback is still the lightest and least expensive free-pivot tele binding around. Testers gave props for its icing-resistant toe piece and its easy-to-operate, spring-loaded mode switch. “It’s not for driving big sidecountry sticks,” lamented one tester, but paired with light boards and boots the Switchback fulfills its purpose.
3 lbs;
Tourability: 5
Power: 3.5

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Alpine Touring

The Quadrant’s four buckles, consistent flex, and 40 degrees of touring motion make it BD’s best all-mountain option yet. Testers praised the stout overlap upper cuff and the way the Boa closure system in the boot’s liner cradles your ankle. 7.8 lbs;
TAGS: all mountain, Boa

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Big Mountain

With plenty of snow to push around during testing at Utah’s Powder Mountain, people didn’t wait long to dig in with Scott’s fattest ski. The general consensus: Most felt its name is somewhat misleading. “Lively … Stay forward and let the rockered tips plow over anything,” said one tester. Others found it nimble to the point of being squirrelly in tight trees yet hard-charging in the deep wide-open. Of course, all that mojo comes at a price: It’s the heaviest ski here. 141/119/133, 10.3 lbs;
Versatility: 3
Power: 4.5

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Alpine Touring

Game-changer alert! The price tag is no joke, but the TLT, with its full carbon-fiber upper cuff, boasts the best stiffness-to-weight ratio we’ve ever seen. It weighs less than five pounds, and it rips: The two-buckle lockdown system yields solid ski-to-boot power. Shave off a quarter of the price with the slightly softer and heavier (5.4 lbs) TLT 5 Mountain ($750). 4.9 lbs;
TAGS: touring, carbon fiber

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Big Mountain

In 2008, NTN turned a thousand years of freeheel thinking on its head. No more duckbilled boot toe. Instead, NTN鈥坅dded a safety-release system, step-in convenience, unprecedented downhill power, and free-pivot touring function. Rottefella lives up to its name, which means “rat trap” in Norwegian. But Americans have been slow to buy in. That was then. With nine boot options at this year’s test, one convert summed it up like this: “If it’s time for new tele boots, it’s time to buy the whole NTN system. Nothing else comes close.” The only gripe: The binding allows for only 30 degrees of free-pivot motion for climbing. 4 lbs;
Tourability: 3
Power: 5

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BIG MOUNTAIN

With plenty of snow to push around during testing at Utah’s Powder Mountain, people didn’t wait long to dig in with Scott’s fattest ski. The general consensus: Most felt its name is somewhat misleading. “Lively … Stay forward and let the rockered tips plow over anything,” said one tester. Others found it nimble to the point of being squirrelly in tight trees yet hard-charging in the deep wide-open. Of course, all that mojo comes at a price: It’s the heaviest ski here. 141/119/133, 10.3 lbs;
Versatility: 3
Power: 4.5

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All Mountain

From a man who skied it all, a ski that does it all. The late C.R. Johnson spent years developing this ski, and testers found it a fitting legacy. It’s got full rocker at the tip for float, reverse sidecut for smearing, scrubbing, and changing direction, and just enough camber underfoot to pop into the next turn or absorb big hits. As one tester put it, the CRJ “cleanly bridges the gap between surfing and skiing.” The only thing it doesn’t excel at: carving turns on hard snow. 126/115/124, 9.8 lbs;
Versatility: 4
Power: 4

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GEAR OF THE YEAR

“You can never have a bad day on the Coomback,” said one tester of the most adored ski in this year’s test. Returning with refined tip rocker—which allows the ski to plane, surf, and smear in powder without giving up control on hardpack—the Coomback was lauded by both AT and tele testers as “an incredible jack-of-all-trades.” The lightweight core—a blend of aspen and fir—provides plenty of energy and dampness for day-to-day resort duty, but the soul of this ski lies deep in the backcountry. Straight tails accommodate building anchors for ski mountaineering, and the topsheets are designed specifically to shed snow, while tip and tail holes work with K2’s precut skins and provide lashing points for building a rescue sled. From bottomless powder days to firm spring couloirs, the Coomback is a rare synthesis of hardcore utility and grin-inducing fun. 135/102/121, 7.9 lbs.
VERSATILITY: 5 (out of 5)
POWER: 4

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All Mountain

Aptly named for the exposed adjustable pivot beneath the toe, the Axl is a free-pivot touring binding like its forebear, the legendary Hammerhead. Testers found that the underfoot pistons, sleek cable routing, and heel throw provided more downhill chops than any similar binding on the hill. And unlike bindings that make you swap springs or power tubes to accommodate different skiing styles, the Axl has three settings that are easy to adjust on the fly. The only drawback is that the switch from tour mode to ski mode isn’t as easy and
intuitive as some on the new step-ins like the NTN and Black Diamond O1. 3.9 lbs;
Tourability: 4.5
Power: 4.5

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