The Top Skis for Winter 2019

From Freeride Touring and All Mountain to Cruisers and Piste Performance, check out the top men's and women's skis for Winter 2019

Chosen by PROSKILAB with their tried and tested methodology and intrinsic ethical values, these are ski tests that you can trust, the most objective assessment of the top skis on the market...

There are ski tests in the media, often carried out by the media but can you really trust their top choices? Are they biased by their advertisers or the brand that took them heli-skiing in Alaska?

STYLE ALTITUDE has been invited to test skis but, hands up, we find it impossible, with limited staff riders, to try enough skis in all conditions to differentiate between the brands. Plus there's always weight, gender and style of riding that can make one ski your favourite and another's nightmare.

Retailers also test skis but ditto the above. On the ski tests we've been on for retailers and press, there are hundreds of skis to test and only three days to do it. As well as time and testers being limited, the ski conditions can be all over the place.

So we are happy to pass the buck of selecting the best skis for winter 2019 to the experts, to PROSKILAB who have a tried and tested methodology and intrinsic ethical values keeping their ski tests uninfluenced by brand pressure making it a point of honour to give the most objective assessment possible.

Most of the reviewers are professional ski instructors and/or mountain guides and are paid. Many of them are former competitors at national or international level with extensive experience of testing ski equipment. Their role is to give an objective evaluation that will be useful to all skiers from beginners to experienced riders. PROSKILAB also recruits expert, non-professional skiers, who are there to give a less technical appraisal that is closer to the end consumer.

The PROSKILAB review methodology involves all the skis in a category being tested by the same panel of reviewers within a limited time frame (half a day) so as to test all the skis in a same category under the same conditions. This means there is a mathematical limitation of 5 to 8 skis maximum per category. Find out more in our interview here

NB: Ski Brands tested for winter 2019: Black Crows, Head, K2, Nordica, Stockli, Volkl, Atomic, Dynastar, Zag, Rossignol, Elan, Kastle, Roxy. Other brands including Scott , Armada and Faction were not included for this winter owing to logistical availability of skis at the time of the PROSKILAB testing.