Editor’s Picks: Head to Toe

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Writing about the toys we use to slide down snow necessitates an open mind. If you get too sucked into what you personally like, and what works for you personally, you can often do a huge disservice to all the readers out there who don’t share your exact preferences. Instead, the goal is to suss out each product's performance in such a way that folks can decide based on their preferences if they might get along with it or not.

But, at the end of the day, reviewers are people too. We can wear the facade of impartiality and do our best to recommend skis that we personally might not love to folks that will get along with them well. That doesn’t change the fact that we’ve got personal favorites that might not be the most mass market friendly or universally recommended, but still make us really happy. So here you have it: This is the gear we reach for when we’re not working, the boots that make us happy day after day, and the skis we fall asleep thinking about.

We’ll work through several of our reviewer’s kits, head to toe, diving into the gear we love and why. And we chose this timeframe intentionally: the new year is truly here, which means new skis are dropping left and right. As we brave the onslaught of new information about gear that won’t be available for purchase until next fall, here’s the gear that we love that’s available now.

Cy Whitling’s Editor’s Picks

Skier Profile

• Height: 6’2”

• Weight: 192 lbs

• Style: Aspirationally playful

• Inbounds/Touring Bias: 30/70

• Location: Formerly the Tetons, recently Mt. Baker

Headwear

For general skiing I love Atomic’s Four Amid Pro helmet. It fits me well, looks good, and is comfortable. For touring, Smith’s Summit nails the feature set and fit as well.

I wear my goggles under my helmet (thanks Newschoolers) and can’t stand ear pads or warm helmet liners, they make my head overheat and cut my hearing too much. So I wear Blackstrap’s hinged hood anytime I’m skiing. It’s great, nails the warmth/breathability ratio, comes in pretty colors, and works well with a beard.

For goggles I’ve been a long-time lover of Smith’s Squad XL–they fit my face nicely and I get along well with Smith’s lens tints. But Scott’s React AMP Pro goggles have stolen my eyes this season. Both lens tints work really well in flat light, which I find myself dealing with a lot.

Outerwear

There’s so much good outerwear on the market right now. For a do-it-all kit, I really like Flylow’s Smythe bibs combined with Patagonia’s SnowDrifter jacket. The bibs have a great beacon pocket, fit nicely, and aren’t too warm. The SnowDrifter is nice and stretchy, weatherproof enough for inbounds pow days and comfy to tour in. And the colors work well in photos, which, unfortunately is worth considering when you need to get photos for every single review that are at least somewhat engaging.

If I could only own one kit though, it would be Strafe’s Nomad jacket and bibs. I’d size up to an XL up top, and go with slightly brighter colors, but I absolutely love this kit in just about any conditions.

For insulation, inbounds, or on tours with bigger groups, Montane’s Fireball Lite is awesome. For colder days, and around town, I’m a huge fan of Mons Royale’s Atmos jacket.

Against the skin: SAXX synthetic boxer briefs, and then something merino. Right now I’m loving ORTOVOX’s base layers. Their fit is quite European, and not flattering to my sorta-dad bod, but they stay smelling nice, and are super comfortable. The 120 Comp Light Hoody has one of the best base layer hoods I’ve ever used, and the Rock’n’Roll Short Pants hit a nice temperature balance for touring or skiing inbounds.

On my feet are some Hotronic XLP heated socks. I have messed up feet that hate ski boots, and heated socks are the only way I can tolerate full days on the hill. Heated insoles don’t work for me because I need every millimeter of volume I can get in the boot, and I swap boots for work way too much. Why Hotronic? That’s what my local ski shop had on sale. It sounds like the Lenz socks are much better (the Hotronic batteries don’t make it the full day when it’s really cold) but I kind of hate spending that much money on a clothing item that I’m going to wear holes in and make smell terrible, so I’ll stick with the Hotronics for now.

Packs

I’m fully sold on the Raide LF 40 as my everyday pack. It does everything really well. Cinch it down and ride lifts, expand the top and walk in to your week at a yurt. Heck, it even carries a laptop nicely in the avy tool pocket so you can travel with it as a carryon. I love this pack.

For inbounds/lift accessed backcountry, Gregory’s Verte 18 is wonderful for all the reasons I stated in the review. Baker seems like a great place to ski in a vest, but I haven’t found quite the right one for me yet.

On the occasions that an airbag makes sense, I’m a big fan of ORTOVOX’s LiTRIC system. It’s easy to use, and the packs are easy to swap around and are well designed.

Gloves

In the backcountry I use a combo of Black Diamond’s Midweight Softshell Mitts for 90% of my skiing, combined with their Waterproof Overmitts climbing couloirs. Inbounds I like Auclair’s Eco Racer Fingermitts or Pearl Izumi’s AmFIB Lobster Gloves. I run Hestra’s glove leashes on all my gloves and don’t understand how folks live without them.

Boots

My feet are not the shape that most brands make their ski boots in. I’m resigned to the fact that I fall outside the bell curve for last shapes at this point. I’ve spent enough time skiing in and reviewing boots that don’t fit my knobby forefeet comfortably that I’m used to it at this point. But, when I’m not writing about new boots, Dynafit has figured out the boot shape that works the best for me.

If I could only own one pair of boots it would be my Dynafit Radical Pros. Somehow I can wear a 26.5 in these, with minimal punching, all day, every day, and not complain. I’ve upgraded the liners to Intuition Tour Wraps, and bolted on a set of Booster Straps, but even stock out of the box, I love this boot. It’s not quite stiff and supportive enough to drive stiff heavy skis with inbounds, but I can get away with most skis in most conditions if I have to. And did I mention that it’s comfortable? It’s heavier than I need for a pure touring boot, but it fits, which is all that really matters, and it transitions really efficiently. If this was the only ski boot in the world, I’d be fine. The rest of you folks with average feet though, would not. Sorry!

For actually reviewing skis inbounds though, I needed something stiffer. And, this is about to alienate some readers, but I don’t feel a need for me, personally, to own a true inbounds boot. Modern 50/50 boots ski really well! They’re so versatile. I love having a walk mode! And, skiing at Targhee, and now Baker, where there’s a fair bit of “sidecountry” skiing on tap, I’ve decided I always need to have tech fittings. That’s because I have a personal rule that if I’m entering uncontrolled avalanche terrain, I always need to have a beacon, shovel, and probe (duh) along with the ability to go uphill. Call me overly cautious, but I’m not going into a potential companion rescue situation without bindings, boots, and skins that allow me to go uphill without postholing.

I really liked the K2 Mindbender 130 BOA, but I need extensive punching to make it work. Similarly, the Atomic Hawx Prime XTD BOA is a great boot that I recommend to a lot of people, but it needs some aggressive work to fit my foot comfortably. So I’ve ended up skiing another Dynafit boot, the Tigard 130, as my do-it-all slipper. It walks well enough for short tours, skis really well inbounds, and fits my foot well. I’ve also modded the living daylights out of it, in a way that’s probably going to piss some people off, but that’s a story for another article.

Bindings

I’ve been skiing demo bindings inbounds most days for almost a decade now, and even if this wasn’t my job, I wouldn’t have any issue with continuing. I like Amer’s Strive Demo, it’s easy to adjust, and is nice and low to the ski. It’s also easy to get in and out of, even in deep snow.

For a 50/50 binding, I really like the new CAST Freetour 2.0. We’ll have a full article comparing CAST, Shift, and the Duke PT soon, but for me at least, CAST makes the most sense. I still don’t like Pivot heels though, sorry everyone who does!

Touring, I could run Moment’s Voyager Evo on any ski and be happy. But for lighter skis, I like my frankenbindings even more.

Skis

Moment’s Deathwish is my always and forever love. I know, I’m a broken record. Give me a pair with inserts for inbounds bindings, as well as pins, and I can ski them every day for the rest of my life.

For a do-it-all touring ski, the Salomon QST Echo 106 blew me away last year. They’re really good, and they’re really easy to recommend.

For those really silly deep days that I used to live for, and hope to live for again, this article resulted in some Moment Ghost Train Tours that make me incredibly happy. Thanks Max!

Finally, there is no world in which I don’t own at least one pair of snowblades. Someday I’m going to fully retire from skiing, and revert to sliding around the post-climate-apocalypse slopes on blades in some of those sweet boots that strap a soft snowboard boot into a plastic frame that can lock into a ski binding. Will I go full Mad Max and rock a chain mail and leather outfit while huffing silver spray paint? Probably! I can’t friggin wait.