Best Ski Brands

All skis looked at are all-mountain skis.

Best low tier brand LINE with the Sick day 94 skis.

Best middle tier brand ROSSIGNOL with the Experienc 86 Basalt.

Best high tier brand VOEKL with the Deacon 76 skis.

This article will help you find what skis brands are the best for all mountain skiing, and what is the right ski for you! All of these skis are based on unisex styles if offered, if not they are male, but the female version should be good as well.

My whole career, I have used hand-me-down skis and ski boots, so I suggest when starting out you find some deals from friends or ski swaps if you can.

All prices posted on this article are new skis. So if you are trying to save money, try buying an older version and not on the retailer’s website. If not bought on site, warranties may vary.

All brands chosen are top ski companies and are at the top of their game.This article will not talk about associated ski gear. The skis chosen are all twin tips.

All the skis recomended would be great for anyone, but these are my top picks, for what I deem important.

To figure out what brand is the best, we need to find out what properties make skis great in the first place. Many properties of skis like length and width will be based on your height and weight and what you plan to do with the skis.

• The curvature and sharpness of your edges

• How thick are the skis

• Curvature of the front and back tips, do you plan on going backwards.

• What material are they made out of, fiberglass skis or wood skis

• How rigid the skis are

You can easily spend a $1000’s on skis, so this article will talk about 3 price points. Below 500, 500-750, and over 750. They will be in categories of low, medium, and high tier price points.

Ski brand Voekl:

The largest ski manufacturer.

This is a top brand, it hits all your major price points. This is a top ski company and comes from Northern Europe. All three medalists for downhill at the 2018 winter olympics were Voekl brand skiers. Voekl is the king of world renowned skiers. This ski brand is serious and has had inventive ski design since they started in 1932 in Germany.

Medium Price Point KENDO 88:

price$699.99

Skill level intermediate/advanced

The KENDO 88 skis from Voekl hit the spot in the mid tier. They are a great all around ski with great edge retention. They are great for all levels of skiers, but for people who want to focus on all terrain and just want to go with the flow. Turning radius is well balanced, with a moderate weight balance.

Issues:

The skis are a bit thin, so there might be some issues with holding on to edges, I would say these are advanced skis. If you are taking corners hard they may cause you to fall with imperfect control. Wider skis are generally good for powder.

Advantages:

These are heavy wood skis. The reason you would want heavier skis is that they keep shape more easily when turning, and they will keep you grounded when going fast. These are a good medium tier ski and will treat you well on your edges and in keeping speed.

High Tier DEACON 76:

Price $1049.99

Skill level advanced

For Voekl, coming in at the high tier is theDeacon 76 skis. They are made out of heavy wood with multiple different types of wood. These are more for expert skiers who don’t care what they are skiing on even if its ice, slush, or snow. These are more for race oriented skiers, with its crisp edges and lightweight characteristics that will let you rip.

Issues:

Will not do well in powder. It has nothing powder skis have to make them float and keep speed. I would not use these in the out-of-bounds zones or in extremly thick powder.

Advantages:

For pure speed and controlled turns is what these skis are meant to do. The advantages at the end of the day are a fully tailored design for speed in the ice and snow at maximum velocity. So fly on, my friends!

Low Tier Voekl Bash 81 flat skis:

Price $349.99

Skill level beginner/intermediate:

The skis have a slight curvatures in the front and back for going backwards and good front curvature is better for powder. They are heavy wood skis. More on the lighter side of weight at 1670 grams, so they are easy to throw around and should be easy for beginners. These are forgiving, and at a low price point, there are no complaints.

Issues:

With these skis you get what you pay for. These skis don’t use the highest quality materials. the edges may not be as sharp or durable so more maintenance may be necessary. It’s made out of wood and composite, the outside of the skis are composite and fiberglass. These skis won’t do well in the powder.

Advantages:

A great ski for a great price, they do the groomers and the basic runs perfectly, no complaints from beginners or intermediates. They are twin tips and will get you to being an expert in no time. If I was a beginner I would buy these skis.

Ski Brand LINE skis:

I have personally used this brand for over 15 years, I used their line prophets for the last 7 years, a great pair of medium tier skis for speed and carving. I love my skis, and I am impartial, but everyone loves what they know, so I would suggest this brand for beginners and people looking to zoom. This is a U.S. based Washington state ski company, but they manufacture in China.

This ski brand offers all types of skis, but was created to serve the terrain park market and for free style skiing.

Famous skiers are Tom Wallisch a X game gold medalist, and all around dope skier. He does amazing tricks. A good ole American guy. I only name him because hes American.

Medium Tier Line Chronic Price My Favorite skis:

Price $650

Skill level: Intermediate/advanced skis

Just a great pair of skis, and have a huge range of capabilities. The tips are well-rounded, and move easily through powder, the weight is 1905 grams. Heavier than the other skis. These skis are made of maple wood, and should treat you well in all mountain environments.

Issues:

These are not trick skis, the skis have major camber and will be very floppy, hard to control your tips when landing on the ground. Trick skis are normally short and light, these are the opposite.

Another issue is that you won’t get higher speed from these skis, they are too wide, and heavy.

Advantages

These skis are quite fat as they say, so the powder will be better with these, but that doesn’t mean you can’t go fast, there will be some more friction, but with more weight and more surface area you can control yourself more while going downhill on these skis.

These are not backcountry skis, but they would hold up just fine based on the width of the skis and the bigger lips on the front.

High Tier Line Skis Blade Optic 114:

Price $800

Skill Level advanced:

These skis lean towards a free ride ski, and by free ride I mean ride on anything.

The lips on either side have a feature of early rise, which means less ski is touching the ground, and so that means you can go faster. Everyone knows that if you don’t have speed in powder it turns into a slog and is like going on sweat inducing run. Nothing is worse than being stuck in the powder. These are geared towards powder skiers, and are fatty skis.

Advantages

When it comes to powder the ski weight matters, more weight help you go faster, but it also involves more friction and in turn slows you down. The weight is 2170, as you can see these are extremly heavy compared to 1900 on the chronic and 1750 for the low tier Voekl skis. These skis use laminate that increase edge retention. The reason many skis are fatter nowadays has to do with the type of skiers nowadays and to be built for that purpose.

Issues:

These sksi are too heavy for speed, and are meant for powder and out of bounds. Heavier is harder to control for more novice skiers this may hinder performance.

Low Tier Line Skis Sick Day 94:

Price $500

Skill level beginner

Can be used for non skiers, to get into the sport.

These skis are durable and are made for people to join the sport and to be able to do anything they please. They deal with crud well, and can be used in any part of the ski season. If you are new to mountain sports, I would suggest these because they are cheap enough to not break the bank. If you do want to change to snowboarding, you can have a very capable pair of skis you can always go back to.

Issues:

The issue is that these are basic skis and not meant for expert skiers, so that’s not an issue. These skis are slightly lighter skis these are about 1800 grams.

Advantages:

The versatility is unmatched, they can do anything, just not at the top echelon at each type of skiing. They are made of lightweight core materials, and are good for speed. These skis will be great for skiing on Big Mountain, in Washington state, or any place in the U.S. You will have a great mountain experience with these, and they will keep you excited about your journey to becoming a full-fledged skier going down black diamond runs.

Ski Brand: Rossignol:

This is one of the most reliable brands in the ski industry and one of the best ski brands. I think everyone knows about this brand. Rossignol is a French company that started to make products for skiers in the French alps. The company is a skier owned company, so they make great products for themselves. The company Dynastar and LOOK are also owned by Rossignol. It was founded in 1907. The most popular Rossignol skier who is American is Lindsay Vonn the olympian. I only talk about the famous skiers because it lends credibility to the brand, if you can put it to a face. The products are all made in France or Ukraine as well, which is important these days, it’s not made in China like Line.

My personal experience for Rossignol was with a beginner pair that were single tip. I can’t recall the name, but they were a great beginner set.

Medium Tier EXPERIENCE 86 BASALT OPEN:

Cost: $699.99 with bindings

Skill level: Advanced

These skis are wood core, but made with Basalt which is a composite thats stronger than fiberglass. These come with bindings unlike the other brands, so you are looking at 3400 grams for the pair. They are described as lightweight skis, but are reasonably durable that helps the skis stay sharp. These are an all around great ski, and should be used for people who like carving up the mountains. These skis should do great on piste runs, which means groomer in the uninitiated.. These skis are a natural medium and are for anyone looking to increase their control.

Advantages:

These skis have great reviews and hit all the tick marks for me. These skis are wide enough for powder, and lightweight for easy manipulation. The advantages seem to be everything.

Issues:

The only issues with these skis are not issues because all skis are made for different purposes. For instance, these arent very wide skis coming in at 132mm, which means they arent the best for powder. Powder skis are generally 143 mm. You judge skis on what they are built to do. This is the best mid tier skis.

High tier EXPERIENCE 86 TI:

Price 1099.99 with bindings

Skill Level Expert skiers:

With skiing you get what you pay for. These skis are perefect alpine skis. I mean large mountain areas that are steep. These skis are made of wood, and are a bit heavier than the last pair at 3600 g with bindings. These skis are covered in Titanal, which is a substance stronger than fiberglass, but essentially this composite is sharper and gives you more grip for turning. These skis are more balanced in the sense that you can control them more than other skis. They are not as lightweight, but the materials are of a higher quality that lets you glide and perform to your skill level. These skis will let you do what you please on the mountain.

Advantages:

These do everything to the highest degree to what they are built to do, they are extremly balanced, sharp, and grippy for all enviroments that will be found on the mountain. These skis will eat up whatever it is thrown at it. They are a great length for people just looking for speed and clean turns on the slopes.

Issues:

These skis can only be bought in longer sizes from 167 to 185 cm. The range is small because I think they are focusing these skis on a specific crowd. The powder crowd, and the ssx tricky people wont find these skis too appealing at this price range,this size or weight.

Low Tier EXPERIENCE 76:

Cost $479.95:

Skill beginner to intermediate:

These skis are fairly cheap and come in a range of sizes from 137-176cm, which gets pretty short, but not too long. So powder people should stay away, especially if you are tall or large. Depending on your size 180-200 cm is a great length for you. These skis come in at a lighter weight than the last two pairs, around 2900 grams. These are fiberglass technology skis, and therefore dont have the same flexiblity or sharpness as other ski materials. Remember fiberglass is what they use to keep the heat inside your homes. The core is wood and an overrall good pair of skis.

Advantages:

These are meant to guide you to what type of skiing you want to do like a terrain park junky, powder person, or an out of bounds skier. These skis are cheap, and should withstand the punishment you give them based on their fiberglass coating, which is a very resilient substance. A good all around ski.

Issues:

These are much cheaper than the others, and will not let you ski to your utmost ability. They are lighter which is better for control in terms of moving your legs, but heavier skis connect to the ground more, so their is more control. These are meant to be used to get a feel for all the mountain enviroments from powder to slush. I am not a fan of fiberglass, its mostly used because its cheap to make into anything.