Best Powder Skis of 2024
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The Safe Bet: The Atomic Bent Chetler 120 is a mainstay for a reason, it does everything pretty well, and has fun doing it.
For the Adventurous: The Black Crows Nocta is a top pick for those absurdly deep, once in a lifetime pow days.
It’s in our name, literally. Powder skiing is the best, and dedicated powder skis make it even better. These are the best powder skis we’ve used. But powder skis aren’t a monolith. Sure, they’re all meant to excel in deep, fresh snow, but within that category there’s a lot of variation for skiing style and terrain. So before you lay down your savings for some new pow skis, it’s worth being realistic with your goals as a skier. What are you looking to do with your pow skis? Do you have an epic cat or heli ski trip planned? Or are you mostly touring for your powder turns? Maybe you just want an extra wide setup to ride your home chairlifts with. Regardless, those are all factors that will influence what sort of powder skis will make you the happiest, and we’ve done our best to break down all those distinctions in our discussions of each individual ski.
Overview
Best for touring or inbounds use, playful skiers: Atomic Bent Chetler 120
Best for powder touring, a mix of playful and directional skiing: Moment Wildcat Tour
Best for the the deepest days, a mix of playful and directional skiing: Black Crows Nocta
Best for a mix of inbounds and touring, directional skiers: Volkl Blaze 114
Best for deep inbounds days, very playful skiers: Armada ARV 116 JJ
Best for a mix of inbounds and touring, playful skiers: Armada ARV 116 JJ UL
Best for big backcountry tours, open terrain: Moonlight Mountain Gear Cruiser Carbon Superlight
One of the most important things to consider when shopping for a powder ski is your skiing style. Are you a more traditional, directional skier who wants to carve smooth arcs in fresh snow? Or are you a more playful, newschool skier who’s looking to slash every stash and pop off every feature? There are powder skis for every skiing style, but choosing a pair that really works well with your personality will make for an all-round better experience.
In general, even more traditional, directional skiers will appreciate playful powder skis. There's something about deep, fresh snow that makes looser, slashed turns and gentle airs so much more inviting. So, when in doubt, opt for a wider, more rockered, more tapered ski than you usually would when you're choosing a pow-specific ski.
Finally, there’s the question of weight. Lighter powder skis are easier to turn, and generally more playful. They’re also easier to tour and earn your turns on. But, when the snow gets chopped up, and more variable, lighter skis are harder to drive, and will get deflected easier. So it’s important to be realistic about your conditions. If you’re walking uphill to earn perfect untracked powder turns back down, you’ll be happier on a much lighter ski than someone who’s planning on skiing powder in the morning and soft chop in the afternoon, inbounds, on the same pair of skis. For an in-depth breakdown of ski weights, check out this article.
But no matter how you answer all of those questions, this truth remains: Powder skiing is fun. Powder skis, whether aspiration or realistic, are one of the biggest investments in good, clean fun you can make. So make your choices and pray for snow!
About Powder’s Best Ofs
Our Best Of lists are collections of the skis, boots, outerwear, and other gear that stood out to us while testing. If you want to learn more about how reviews work at Powder, we’re very transparent about our process.
These lists are constantly growing and evolving as we try new gear. If you’ve got a favorite piece of equipment that you think we should write about, let us know here. And, if you represent a brand or company and think your gear deserves a writeup, we’d love to get in touch.
Waist Width: 120 mm
Weight (192 cm): 1871 g
Lengths Available: 176, 184, 192 cm
Best for: Touring or inbounds use, playful skiers
Read Powder's full review of the Atomic Bent Chetler 120
The Atomic Bent Chetler 120 is a prototypical powder ski. It’s been around for a long time, with subtle tweaks that have generally improved its powder performance while still managing to keep it a pretty versatile ski when conditions are less than perfect. The latest version of the Bent Chetler 120 is pretty light for its size, which makes it a perfect choice for anyone looking for a powder ski that can do double duty touring or inbounds. If you’re purely touring, the Bent 120 is a great choice for a full pin binding, but to get the most out of it we recommend a crossover binding like Shift. That way you can still enjoy the Bent inbounds too.
When mounted close to center the Bent 120 is a very playful ski. But, if you move the mount point back a few centimeters, it can handle more directional skiing just fine. If you’re between sizes on the Bent 120, consider sizing up. It’s so light and easy to turn that you can get away with skiing a longer ski than you’d usually choose, and reap the benefits of added float and stability.
Waist Width: 116 mm
Weight (174 cm): 1735 g
Lengths Available: 174, 179, 184, 190 cm
Best for: Powder touring, a mix of playful and directional skiing
Read Powder’s full review of the Moment Wildcat Tour
If you’re looking for a very versatile powder touring ski, the Moment Wildcat Tour should be high on your list. It’s light enough that it’s a pleasure to tour long days with, but Moment’s shape and build is more substantial than you might expect. That means it’s not a handful when the snow is less deep than you expected. If you’re looking to purely ski inbounds, the regular Wildcat will be a better choice, but for human-powered skiing, the Wildcat Tour is hard to beat.
The Wildcat strikes a nice balance with its personality. Jibby, playful skiers will love how easy to pop and spin it is, while more directional skiers will be happy to lean into its shovels for big, powerful turns. If the backcountry is your playground, the Wildcat Tour is your weapon of choice.
Waist Width: 122 mm
Weight (185 cm): 2024 g
Lengths Available: 177, 185, 190 cm
Best for: The deepest days, accessed via lift, cat, or helicopter, a mix of playful and directional skiing
Read Powder's full review of the blackcrows Nocta.
The Nocta is the widest ski on this list, and the most powder-dedicated. If you’re planning a ski trip to a dream destination (think a January in Japan, or heli skiing in British Columbia), the Nocta is the ski you’re looking for. It’s an absolute blast when the snow is bottomless. It’s hard to overstate how much float the Nocta provides. There's no such thing as "too much snow" for the Nocta.
If you’re planning to earn your turns, the Nocta is a little heavy, but for the deepest days, it’s the ski you want under you. And it’s no one-trick pony. The Nocta holds up even once the snow is tracked up and less than perfect. In fact, it’s one of the most stable skis in soft chop on this list. So if you’ve got big dumps in your future, reach for the Black Crows Nocta.
Waist Width: 114 mm
Weight (184 cm): 1900 g
Lengths Available: 176, 184, 192 cm
Best for: A mix of inbounds and touring, directional skiers
Read Powder's review of the Volkl Blaze 114
Volkl’s new Blaze 114 is the narrowest ski on this list, but it’s no slouch in deep snow. In fact, it’s the most exciting powder ski we’ve been on for more directional skiers. It offers excellent float and suspension, and is easy to arc through big, graceful turns. No, it’s not as jibby and poppy as some of the skis on this list, but that’s not the point.
Instead, it’s very versatile, it handles soft chop, and even firm conditions with aplomb. And it weighs in at a nice balance between in and out of bounds skiing. If you’re looking for a directional powder touring ski, this is our top choice. And, if you want one ski to do it all, anytime there’s fresh snow, just mount a pair of Blaze 14’s with Marker’s Duke PT binding and have a setup capable of handling just about anything.
Waist Width: 116 mm
Weight (185 cm): 2261 g
Lengths Available: 165, 175, 185, 192 cm
Best for: Deep days, accessed via lift, cat, or helicopter, very playful skiers
Read Powder's full review of the Armada ARV 116 JJ
The Armada JJ is one of the the original playful powder skis, so it should come as no surprise that this latest iteration is still really fun in deep snow. This is one loose, playful beast. It loves to be thrown sideways to make some snow move around. And it’s got plenty of float, even when it’s bottomless.
The Armada ARV 116 JJ is the most playful and jibby pow ski we’ve been on, but it still holds its own when things get cut up. In fact, it’s really fun to ski fast in chop and tracked pow, boosting off of every hump. It’s easy to butter, but has enough heft to ski surprisingly fast, even in variable snow. If you like goofing around in soft snow, the Armada ARV 116 JJ is up to the challenge.
Waist Width: 116 mm
Weight (175 cm): 1698 g
Lengths Available: 165, 175, 185, 192 cm
Best for: A mix of inbounds and touring, playful skiers
Read Powder’s full review of the Armada ARV 116 JJ UL
Like the sound of the ARV 116 JJ, but want something a little lighter that’s tour capable? Enter the ARV 116 JJ UL. It’s the same shape and rocker profile as the regular ARV 116 JJ, put on a diet. So it’s still absurdly playful and easy to slash and spin. In fact, it’s even more playful since it’s got a lower swing weight and is a touch softer. However, like the regular JJ, it’s surprising how fast you can ski the UL version in variable snow without it folding on you.
Like the Bent 120, the ARV 116 UL really excels mounted with a crossover binding like Shift. That way you can tour the deepest pow days on it, or ski it inbounds when the avalanche conditions are too touchy. The ARV is a touch more playful, and less stable than the Bent 120, but the differences are subtle, and both skis excel in similar conditions.
Waist Width: 120 mm
Weight (186 cm): 1286 g
Lengths Available: 177, 186 cm
Best for: Big backcountry tours, open terrain
Read Powder's Full Review of the Moonlight Cruiser Carbon Superlight
The Moonlight Mountain Gear Carbon Cruiser Superlight is the lightest ski on this list, and the most exotic. In fact, it’s one of the lightest skis we’ve ever reviewed, which is wild given its girthy waist and length. If you like to earn a lot of turns on deep days, the Cruiser Carbon is your ski. It’s a featherweight on the up, leaving you with lots of energy for extra laps.
On the way back down, the Carbon Cruiser is a surprisingly stable ski. Its directional shape and rocker profile mean that it’s not as easy to slash and jib as the other options on this list, but it has a ton of float, and that low weight makes it feel a little unreal on your feet. Every gram counts, and the Carbon Cruiser Superlight is missing a whole bunch of them. We called it the Batmobile for a reason, this is a high-performance ski, engineered to do one thing exceptionally well: ski backcountry powder.
Check out the rest of our Best Ofs here:
