Indie Skis: Women's Skis

MSRP: $619.95

Tip/Waist/Tail: 138-110-128

Lengths: 159, 168, 174

It’s as delicious as it sounds. The all-new Cake earned the highest overall score in the women’s category. Its layered personality – agile, forgiving, powerful – suits every palate, and testers found it so smooth it “skied like butter, baby.” A semi-cap construction is light enough for touring, stable enough for speed, and strong enough for pushing around spring slop. It’s served best, however, served with sweet cream pow.

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MSRP: $1,750.00

Tip/Waist/Tail: 135-95-114

Lengths: Tested: 165

Handmade is Telluride, the Custom 95W was one of our tester favorites in hard-snow performance – despite its too-short 165-centimeter length. Slight tip rocker eases into the turn and then sticks to its line until you tel it otherwise. Wagner’s skis are all different – custom-made according to each skier’s preferences about their body type – but if this model is any indicator, they all rip.

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MSRP: $750.00

Tip/Waist/Tail: 139-101-129

Lengths: Tested: 174

The Goddess seeks the backside with a 101 millimeter waist that hungers for powder, shop, bumps, and trees. An early-rise to scouts for pow, while a cambered, full-wood core sandwhiched by SkiLogik’s unique carbon-fiber and fiberglass composite holds an edge when you need it to. It drifts through powder and copes with crud, but its rockered tip gets flappy on groomed, where it was dinged for lack of stability at speed.

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MSRP: $830.00

Tip/Waist/Tail: 134-106-126

Lengths: 152, 162, 172

Inspired by the Bibby pro, with a tailored fit for the ladies, the Bella features classic camber under foot and a tip/tail rocker that will rally through any conditions. The 106-millimeter waist will stay afloat on deep days, but won’t compromise stability during bulletproof early mornings.

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MSRP: $559.00

Tip/Waist/Tail: 115-85-110

Lengths: 157, 164

The Envy All-Mountain uses classic camber, a standard 85-millimeter waist, and a female-friendly flex pattern for predictable performance from the park to the piste. Thanks to a bamboo core, the Envy All-Mountain is also a lightweight ski.

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MSRP: $679.00

Tip/Waist/Tail: 138-100-120

Lengths: 155, 165, 175

Icelantic’s only women’s ski, the Oracle uses a women’s-specific, lightweight core for a friendlier flex and weight. It utilizes an early-rise tip for added float and easier turn initiation. At 100-mm underfoot, the Oracle is suited for all-mountain skiing. Intermediates to experts will enjoy the Oracle.

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MSRP: $679.00

Tip/Waist/Tail: 132-96-122

Lengths: 166, 176, 182

Fifty-six year-old brand Hart, despite having been out of production for a while and having gotten off to a sputtering restart, seems now to be rolling smoothly into the future. The big-mountain models we tested (Outback, Griffin, and Wizard) all impressed testers with their edge grip, flotation and handling abilities. The Hart Only One is designed, according to Hart, to be “as close to a one-ski quiver as you will find!” Please note that the exclamation point is Hart’s, not ours. It’s the women’s version of the One, which is a competition freeride ski used by Hart athlete Emiko Torito to place second at the 2011 Freesking World Championships in Crested Butte. Inside, it consists of a poplar core wrapped in triaxially braided fiberglass. It also features rubber inserts to help damp vibrations.

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MSRP: $1,190.00

Tip/Waist/Tail: 135-98-125

Lengths: 149, 153, 161, 169

The widest ski in the women’s collection is designed for the kind of snow they get near Goode’s factory and design center in Ogden, Utah. Goode’s wider skis-and women’s skis in particular-are built with softer flexes to make them easy to manage. A touch of tip rocker should contribute to the effect, smoothing the ride in rough snow. Construction: wood core with all-carbon-fiber torsion box. Goode made a radical change in its layups last year, going with wood, instead of foam, for all of its cores.

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MSRP: $820.00

Tip/Waist/Tail: 148-118-126

Lengths: 177, 180, 185, 187, 195, 205

The Gambit can be fully customized, but it’s also one of Folsom’s limited-run stock models. Also available as a men’s ski, it blends rockered and early-tapered ends, is stiffer than hell, offres litte forgiveness, and leaves you with few regrets, especially in soft snow. It’s built for powder and can feel chattery at speed elsewhere: “Deep, steep lines are where this ski wants to be.”

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