Best Backcountry Touring Skis of 2025

How We Think About Weight

Weight is the simplest, and most objective factor. We wrote a whole piece about how to think about ski gear weight. Here’s a reminder of how we contextualize ski weights for backcountry skiers:

• Sub-1000 grams: A skimo race ski, or something similar that’s probably too small for everyday touring for most people.
• 1000-1500 grams: Lightweight touring skis
• 1500-1800 grams: “Average” touring skis
• 1800-2100 grams: Heavy touring skis or light inbounds skis
• 2100+grams: Sure, you could put touring bindings on them, but why?

Most of the skis on this list weigh somewhere between 1600 and 2100 grams.

What Conditions Will You Be Skiing In?

The second factor is conditions. Are you planning on skiing a lot of low-density powder in the backcountry? Or are you buying a touring ski to keep skiing late into the spring, after the resort is closed? The conditions you’re planning on skiing in will make a big difference in what ski makes the most sense for you. 

In this list, we cover skis that are appropriate for everything from huge powder days to long spring missions, and we break down which skis will work best for any sort of conditions.

Where Are You Actually Skiing?

Finally, location. And no, we don’t mean where you live, but instead, where you plan to use these skis. Lots of folks have their skis do double duty between the resort and the backcountry. Others prefer to only tour on their touring skis, and never ride a chairlift with them. And that choice affects what sort of bindings you’ll want to use, as well as which skis you should be shopping for. 

So think about where you’re going to be using these skis. Only touring for untracked powder? Awesome, go light and wide. A little bit of everything? Go narrower and heavier. Again, we’ll discuss what sort of bindings we think pair nicely with each of these skis in their descriptions.

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.

Salomon QST 106 Echo

• Waist Width: 106 mm
• Weight (181 cm): 1803 g
• Best for: versatile skiers looking for a versatile ski

Read Powder’s Full Review Here

Salomon’s QST Echo 106 was the ski we loved most last year, and for good reason. It’s one of the cleanest encapsulations of what a modern, do-it-all touring ski can be. Light (enough) yep! Capable in most conditions? Absolutely! Ready to be skied inbounds, or out? Definitely! The Salomon QST Echo 106 is one of those skiers that almost any skier can ride, on almost any day in the mountains, and have a lot of fun. A lot of that comes down to how it handles inconsistent snow. The QST Echo 106 does a good job of absorbing chatter while still being lightweight and lively.

It floats very well for its waist width in fresh snow, while also being narrow enough for hop turns in spring snow. The Salomon QST Echo 106 isn’t necessarily a class leader in any one category, instead, it ranks highly in all of them. So, if you’re looking for one touring ski to do it all, mounted with either a crossover binding like Shift, or a full pin setup, look no further than the QST Echo 106. This is one of those rare skis that you can reach for, without reading the weather report, and never be disappointed.

Rossignol Sender Free 110

• Waist Width: 110 mm
• Weight (186 cm): 2200 g
• Best for: Strong skiers who are willing to lug a heavy ski around

Rossignol’s updated Sender Free 110 is a playful and reliable big mountain twin-tip with an insatiable appetite for crud-busting. True quiver-of-one freeride skis are hard to find, but Rossignol’s new Sender Free 110 might be the one. One of the most approachable freestyle powder skis ever made, the Sender Free 110 bridges the gap between high-speed crud-busting performance, playfulness in powder, and edge grip when things get nasty. It's remarkably easy to ski and doesn’t feel like it will overpower you, but doesn’t have a speed limit, especially in tracked-out powder. 

That being said, it's not exactly light, so you this isn't a ski for a big day of walking. Instead, I think of this is a tool where you might be touring with the help of a snowmobile or chairlift.

While the Sender 110 is quite playful, the ski prefers big, wide-open turns and inspires confidence for fast and powerful riding in really gnarly terrain–it’s no wonder these have won multiple Freeride World Tour titles on the feet of Marcus Goguen. These point-and-shoot weapons perform consistently, no matter if the conditions underfoot involve untracked pow or cut-up chop. 

Salomon QST X

• Waist Width: 116 mm
• Weight (184 cm): 1900 g
• Best for: Playful skiers, in or out of bounds

Read Powder’s Full Review Here

Salomon’s QST X is a pillow-smashing, deep snow freeride weapon. As the backcountry-friendly counterpart to the popular QST Blank, the new QST X is a shockingly nimble, floaty, and fun powder freeride ski that breaks the mold of what a typical “athlete” ski might make you think of. With a very surfy twin-rocker shape, 116mm waist, and a very damp ride, it’s an excellent choice for deep days where cliff hucks, pillows, and maching through tight trees are on the menu. 

At 1900 grams, these are on the heavier end of "light enough to warrant taking out on a long day", but they pair especially well with a lighter binding. The long turn radius means plenty of edge contact despite the pronounced rocker lines, making skinning surprisingly comfortable for this wide of a ski. The QST X’s versatility in deep snow is astounding, but it excels in catering to playful skiers looking to ski fast through technical terrain. Think subalpine pillows, trees, and chutes—you know, the kind of terrain many of us actually spend the winter riding in the backcountry. Will you feel like Stan Rey? Maybe. Will it be stupidly fun? Absolutely. 

Faction La Machine 3

• Waist Width: 109 mm
• Weight (175 cm): 1610 g
• Best for: Directional soft-snow seekers

The 105-110 mm underfoot category is a real hot spot for touring skis. The skis in this class are generally made to handle a little bit of everything, instead of being stuffed into one particular niche. But, there are plenty of ways to make a do-it-all touring ski, and, like many things in life, there’s no one right answer. Instead, it’s up to you, as a customer, to find the skis that best match your goals. While the Salomon QST 106 Echo leads in all-out versatility, that doesn’t mean it’s the best lightweight tool for powder sking. And the Faction La Machine 3 Mega makes that abundantly clear.

At almost 200 grams lighter than the QST 106 Echo, the Faction La Machine 3 Mega is much better suited to long days in the mountains. You’ll notice that lack of weight with every step. And the La Machine 3 provides more support and stability for directional skiers thanks to the stiffer tail and tip rocker lines that allow the ski to plane above the snow predictably. It punches through variable snow much more powerfully than any stats sheet would suggest, and remains very reliable when things get steep and scary. For year-round ski mountaineering objectives, like what you might find in the Tetons or the Wasatch, the La Machine 3 Mega is a clear leader. And it’s fun enough in powder and mellow terrain to be a fine one-ski-quiver for a lot of folks.

K2 Reckoner KF

• Waist Width: 114 mm
• Weight (184 cm): 2180 g
• Best for: Backcountry freestyle

Long live the pro model ski! K2 delivers an innovative athlete-designed ski with their latest special-edition Reckoner KF. It’s a freestyle pow weapon straight from the mind of Karl Fostvedt that makes bouncing around in powder in all directions unbelievably fun. As one of the few athlete-designed pro-model skis available this year, it may be tempting to think that the Reckoner KF is a one-trick-pony only suitable for those of us with Fostvedt’s unique skill set. 

While it certainly caters to high-energy freestyle powder skiing, it’s a remarkably approachable ski for mere mortals. Despite the long turn radius, it prefers short, powerful, slashy turns at speed. Even with a very soft flex, the carbon axial braid core construction provides both a damp ride and a trampoline-like amount of bounce and pop. A much-needed refresh from the industry’s vast selection of high-speed chargers, the KF is focused on having fun, skiing familiar lines in a new way, and putting the freestyle back into freeskiing. 

This isn't going to be the ski for long days of walking around, but if you're looking to hit backcountry booters all day, land switch in pow, and make your favorite backcountry draining your own personal terrain park, Karl's got you covered. Slap a CAST Freetour binding or a Duke PT on these, and get ready for some serious backcountry airtime.

Line Bacon 122

• Waist Width: 122 mm
• Weight (185 cm): 2160 g
• Best for: Snorkeling through Japan-deep snow

Big ski float good. Seriously, sometimes there isn’t that much to ski design and when the snow is soft and light, the Bacon 122 is a riot. It’s bouncy and playful in the pow and really will float no matter how deep it gets. 

Line's new Bacon 122 is a blast from the past, echoing the era of super-fat, super-floppy pow skis that do nothing but bounce around in La Niña-level snowfall. This harkens back to the time of the legendary K2 Hellbent, with a 122mm waist width, a super-soft flex, and a nearly symmetrical sidecut and rocker profile. In other words, these skis look hilarious, and have such a ridiculous shape that they really are best skied only in the backcountry. 

Blackcrows Camox Freebird

• Waist Width: 95 mm
• Weight (178 cm): 1550 g
• Best for: spring turns on a big objective

Backcountry skiing is all about adventure, exploring new zones, and taking in the whole experience of walking around in snow-covered mountains. That often means there is a ton of touring, perhaps even some bootpacking, but isn't actually a lot of powder skiing involved. Those are the days where a nimble, lightweight, and predictable ski like the Blackcrows Camox Freebird comes into play. It's light enough to where massive days out aren't a problem, but it still has enough heft to dampen vibrations and power through unpredictable snow. 

With a short 17-meter turning radius, and a hint of tip and tail rocker, these little red skis can pivot on a dime, making them an excellent tool for skiing steep objectives, icy spring lines, or navigating through rocks and trees.

So, if you're looking for a ski to take on those days where you're not quite sure what to expect from the snow, grab a pair of the Blackcrows Camox Freebirds and let them loose. 

Völkl Blaze 104

• Waist Width: 104 mm
• Weight (179 cm): 1790 g
• Best for: a one-ski-quiver for resort and touring

As an excellent one-ski-quiver option, Völkl’s Blaze 104 is equally at home chasing chalky steeps inbounds as it is deep in the mountains skipping through powder meadows. At under 1800 grams, it would make an excellent ski to mount a pair of hybrid bindings like the Salomon Shift 2.0 for split resort/touring use, or to use as a full-time backcountry freeride ski. 

Thanks to subtle but long rocker lines in the tip and tail, the Blaze 104 is shockingly maneuverable in tight terrain and happy making short radius turns in trees, chutes, or anywhere without a lot of room to spare. While still a very directional ski, with a massive tip and a much smaller tail, it feels a lot more modern and “fun” than the Völkls of yesteryear. If you’re someone looking for a single ski to ride all season long, the Blaze 104 would be a very safe bet.

Check out our other Best Ofs Here:
Best Powder Skis
Best Wide All Mountain Skis
Best Narrow All Mountain Skis
Best Crossover Boots
Best BOA Boots