Women’s All Mountain Skis are aptly named in terms for what they are designed to do: handle the entire mountain. That means groomers, soft snow, crud, steeps, catwalks—terrain features and snow conditions often encountered on a typical day at a typical mountain. Waist widths range between 88 mm and 99 mm in this category, which could more specifically be considered All Mountain Back, since wider waist widths can handle more snow volume often found on a mountain’s more extreme terrain features or off-piste slopes. There is some overlap with waist width dimensions with the All Mountain Front category—those range between 74 mm and 90 mm. However, AMF skis lean heavier on edge grip and carving, while true Women’s All Mountain Skis focus more on versatility or a blending of skills. When testing All Mountain skis, we use the following mini-rating criteria: Responsiveness, Stability, Float, Carving and Versatility.

Responsiveness

Responsiveness measures the liveliness and reaction time of a ski in a wide variety of terrain. Testers most often note this as “quick edge-to-edge,” or “lively and agile” or “energetic.” Some of the Women’s All Mountain Skis have noticeable edge grip combined with a wider waist, resulting in the feeling that the ski is “like a fat GS ski.”

The Atomic Vantage 97 CW, Billzard Sheeva 9, and Dynastar Legend w96  all received high scores for Responsiveness. The skis all shared similar responses of “quick or easy edge to edge” and “good edge hold tip to tail.” Testers also remarked about lightness or softness in these skis, which increased agility and response time. 

Stability

Stability refers to how confidently the tester felt the ski reacted to a variety of snow conditions and terrain. Stability can come from great snow contact or edge grip, but also a damp construction. Testers often use comments such as “solid at speed,” “huge sweet spot,” and “conquers crud or cut up powder.” Stability also comes in to play when testers think about skiers who are looking to improve or breakthrough from beginner to intermediate and would benefit from a ski that increases confidence by providing a stable platform.

Highest Stability Women’s All Mountain Skis scores were given to the Dynastar Legend W96, receiving descriptors such as “beefy yet agile,” “predictable” and “smeary yet strong edge hold.”  

Float

Float for the Women’s All Mountain Skis category refers to Resort Float, or the ski’s ability to provide some flotation in soft snow (but not necessarily huge powder days). This most often refers to the tip’s performance and waist width. Some of the tips in this category have some sort of weight-reducing technology which not only decreases swing weight but also increased flotation.

Carving

Carving in the Women’s All Mountain Skis category refers to the ski’s ability to set an edge and hold the turn consistently throughout a small, medium or large radius turn. Carving comments often mention ease of turn initiation or exit of the turn. Testers also look at the flex pattern of the ski, whether it’s a soft-flexing ski (“easy going flex pattern for a variety of ability levels”) or stiff (“needs a hefty skier to stomp on this ski”). When looking at this criteria, some skis fit into one of two descriptions: directional or bi-directional. Directional means the ski seeks the fall line and probably has a race-inspired construction. Bi-directional means the ski has a more surfy feel with a freeride-inspired construction.

Versatility

Versatility is the backbone of the Women’s All Mountain Skis Category. It’s here that skiers look for a “one-ski quiver,” a ski that you can grab most days for most mountains because of the blend of skills the ski can offer such as moguls, to hardpack to light powder. Testers often say “awesome all over the mountain,” “can make a variety of turn shapes,” or “great waist width for most days.” Some skis in this category have a speciality such as high turn shape variability or playful and surfy.

Review Conclusion

Women’s All Mountain skis are the meat of the market in terms of where most women in the West and many in the East look for a ski to handle the entire mountain. Many consumers look for a ski that can perform well on hardpack as well as soft snow, while providing stability in crud and confidence-inspiring performance on steeps. This category is where women could potentially find a one-ski quiver that could perform well on terrain features and in snow conditions often encountered on a typical day at a typical mountain.

All in all, our experienced testers were impressed by the high quality of the Women’s All Mountain skis. In years past, only a few skis rose to the top in terms of being awarded high scores in all of our mini-rating criteria and the All Mountain skis that received the highest scores had the best blend of all mountain skills.

For 2018, testers felt that many of these models would suit a variety of ability levels, terrain choices and snow conditions. Rocker has made a huge impact on increasing overall maneuverability, user-friendliness and flotation in skis in this category—which increases versatility. Not all of these Women’s All Mountain Skis have a core construction specific to women, though some do. However, most of these skis have a lightweight construction or weight-reducing technology combined with a high-performance layup, which included full wood cores, full vertical sidewaAll-Mountain degrees of tip rocker and mid-fat range of waist widths. Skis that scored lower in the test tended toward park and pipe or freeride-feeling personalities in terms of being able to butter or smear well, but lacking in stability, edge grip and on-piste carving talent.

Test Methods

The Gear Institute’s Women’s All Mountain Skis test took place over three days at Snowbird, Utah, in March of 2018. Six female testers skied each of the skis in the test and completed a detailed test card after each test run. Testers ranged from Olympians, to former racers and coaches to ski instructors and skiers who prefer backcountry/off-piste conditions. Categories were concluded on the same day so that skis were tested during similar conditions and on the same terrain. An in-depth look into construction and performance of the skis took place in Vail, CO, during a December industry event where testers skied on all test skis under similar conditions.

Testers were instructed to view each ski as a “Tabula Rasa,” or blank slate. Test cards included initial rankings of Favorite, Excellent, Good and Awful. Testers were asked to list three things they both liked and disliked about each ski as well as answering the question, “Who is the ideal customer?” Lastly, testers rated the criteria in terms of best to worst in the following mini-categories; Responsiveness, Stability, Float, Carving and Versatility.

What makes an All Mountain ski?

With so many great skis in the Women’s All Mountain Skis category, how do skiers decide which one is right? The choice should be determined by body type, ability level and bank account. The “A” in All Mountain could also stand for “Adventure,” since All-mountains skiers explore the whole mountain, sometimes having to ski through crud or float in powder or arc up the corduroy.  The first element these skis need to conquer the mountain is a wide enough waist to handle changes—and waist widths range between 88 mm and 99 mm, which has slimmed slightly from the past few years. The second element is a construction that blends performance skills and a balanced flex. Over the past several seasons, companies have developed technology to lighten the ski without losing performance. Some cores have strategically milled out tips or mid-sections, some have a crafted combination of hard and soft wood, carbon, or other materials such as flax or basalt. This season the trend is to build lightweight skis from the ground up—not take an established ski and reduce weight. The result is some nicely balanced lightweight, yet strong skis. Nearly all the models have a sandwich sidewall construction with some amount of rocker and vibration-absorbing properties designed to increase flotation and reduce swing weight.