These Are The Best Powder Skis of 2027

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 start to 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 Editor’s Picks

Our Editor’s Picks 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, all season long. 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. 

2027 Atomic Bent 110

• Sidecut: 134mm – 110mm – 125mm
• Radius: 19m (188cm)
• Profile: twin rocker
• Weight: 1750g (180cm)

Now in its fifth year, we’ve had A LOT of time collectively on the Bent 110 here at POWDER. For me, I owned a pair a daily driver resort and sidecountry ski at Jackson Hole for two full seasons. It now resides on my entryway wall as a coatrack. This past winter, our crew of POWDER testers skied it in all manner of conditions at Grand Targhee, so we’d say we have a pretty good idea on what’s going on.

In deep snow, it pivots and slashes with the best of them, offering a really fun slow to medium-speed ride but lacks float and stability compared to similarly-sized skis. In resort conditions, it had plenty of edge grip and a ton of pop and rebound on hardpack, making for a very energetic and fun ski when laying it on edge. It wants to spend the day playing around, but it lacks the guts for all-out high-speed shredding, especially when things get choppy and tracked out. One thing is certain, though, I never got tired of skiing it and it always left me with a smile on my face.

If you’re looking for a very versatile powder ski that can handle some inbounds skiing and some pow touring, the Bent 110 fits the bill. The freestyle-focused shape keeps things fun, no matter the conditions, and the low enough weight means you can mount a touring binding on them without breaking too much of a sweat on the skintrack.

2027 Blizzard Canvas 118

• Sidecut: 146mm – 118mm – 135mm
• Radius: 20m (188cm)
• Profile: twin rocker, camber underfoot
• Weight: 1960g (188cm)

Like all the skis in Blizzard’s new Canvas line, the Canvas 118 is extremely easy to ski, initiating turns without much effort, and even offers a higher amount of “draw” (the feeling of a ski pulling you into a carved turn and across the fall line). Where it really stands out is in deep snow. The 118 is pretty much unsinkable, even in extremely light, low-density pow. The extra width in the tip keeps these things on top of anything, even with the very centered mount point. That does lead to extra-long tails, which encourage a surfier, more upright style—one I always find to be supremely fun in powder. Leaning back and wheelie-ing these down an entire fall-line run never gets old.

Designed with heavy input from their next generation of freeride athletes, the all-new Blizzard Canvas 118 is a progressive twin-tip powder ski that skips the metal-reinforced core to bring a surfy, playful and freestyle-forward vibe to deep days.

The Canvas 118 joins the Blizzard collection as a ski that’s going to be best suited for an entirely different set of skiers than a Rustler, Anomaly, Sheeva, Black Pearl or Cochise. Truth be told, the Canvas 118 breathes some much-needed fresh life into Blizzard’s ski lineup and will be a great choice for any modern, progressive freeskier looking for a do-it-all powder ski, whether in the resort or the backcountry. The best part? Thanks to its still excellent on-piste performance, I don’t think it will alienate skiers who still demand a ski that can carve and make a “real” ski turn.

2027 Dynastar M-Free 112

• Sidecut: 141mm – 112mm – 133mm
• Radius: 21m (183cm)
• Profile: Twin rocker
• Weight: 2200g (183cm)

These days, freeride competition skis tend to be leaning more towards a twin rocker shape (eg., fat twin tips), and Dynastar’s M-Free 112 joins that trend. With skiers getting ever more creative in the freestyle realm during comp runs, that more playful shape is welcome, but the ski still needs to hold up to high speeds, questionable landings, and plow through rough snow.

The M-Free 112 offers all of that in its shape, with good amounts of tip and tail rocker, a fairly-centered mount point, and a medium-long 21-meter turn radius. 

The M-Free 112 was a ski we loved for how predictable it felt in all conditions, a ski that can handle whatever you throw at it in the resort on deep days. It does cater best to skiers with a freestyle background who ride with a more centered stance. These feel pretty well suited to freeride comps and skiers who like to charge but still ski lots of deep snow, and we’d take these as a daily driver at a Western resort with lots of powder, plenty of big-mountain terrain, and some out-of-bounds access to play around in.

2027 Salomon QST X

• Sidecut: 140cm – 116cm – 127cm
• Radius: 25m
• Profile: freestyle twin rocker, with camber underfoot
• Weight: 1900g

Back again for another year, Salomon’s 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 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. Now in its third year running, the ski receives a cosmetic update (animal print bases!), but construction and performance remain identical.

The QST X’s versatility is astounding, but I found it excels in catering to playful skiers looking to ski fast through technical terrain. Think subalpine pillows, trees, and chutes: the kind of terrain most of us actually spend the winter riding in the backcountry. It can still charge and straightline stuff, but it’s way more fun to throw sideways, slash and smear down the steeps.

Think about this way: there are two types of perfect days for riding the QST X. The first involves going on a long walk to ski a technical big-mountain line at high speed in deep pow. It’s the kind of day you’d find on a Canadian hut trip or touring in the Tetons. The stability and confidence inspiring nature of the ski lends itself perfectly to that, and the lighter weight means it won’t bog you down on the skintrack. The other is just smashing laps on mini-golf terrain inbounds or out the resort gates with the homies–it’s so playful and fun, and makes skiing deep pow really easy. Go fast, go slow, go big, and don’t bother going home—you’ll want to stay out ALL day.

2027 Völkl Revolt 112

• Sidecut: 134mm – 112mm – 126mm
• Radius: 19.1m (185cm)
• Profile: twin rocker, camber underfoot
• Weight: 2240g (185cm)

Völkl’s new Revolt 112 features one of the most unique-looking shapes of any ski on the market right now, taking the twin tip and tail rocker and taper to a whole new level. In short, these have extreme amounts of taper, with contact points closer to the binding as I’ve seen in years, paired with really high-rise tip and tail splay. Underfoot, there’s a 112mm waist, a small amount of camber and not much sidecut. However, thanks to the really short running length, the turn radius stays at a relatively short 19.1 meters in the 185cm ski. Völkl uses their 3D radius sidecut, meaning the radius gets longer at the tip and tail, but that almost seems irrelevant in this ski. The recommended mount point is damn near true center (-2.8cm from the actual line), which makes perfect sense given the nearly symmetrical shape and freestyle intentions.  

There are skis that are immediately intuitive to ride, and then there are skis that require a few runs (even a few days) to figure out. The Revolt 112 falls into the second category. But, that’s not necessarily a bad thing—it’s just been a really long time since I’ve ridden a ski like this. It’s hard to categorize this ski as purely a freestyle ski, but it definitely rewards a freestyler’s approach—skiing it from the center, ideally with a more upright boot, popping and jibbing around everywhere.

The Revolt 112 is not a ski for everyone. In fact, not all that many skiers will actually have fun on this ski, but for those with a certain ski style (jibby, bouncy, playful) it’s going to be one of the best choices out there. The combination of stability at speed and composure in funky snow paired with soft, buttery tips and tails and very surfy shape make for one hell of freestyle ski for deep days.