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Some skis are all business - a precise and demanding tool for pushing the limits of the skier at top speed. Other skis, like the K2 Shreditor 102 and the women's K2 Remedy 102 - are built for fun. Those days you can't go mach 3 or get the best untracked lines, these 102 skis make the whole mountain your playground. They're perfect for popping off wind lips, snaking through the trees in search of left-over powder stashes and hitting a few features in the park.

Philpug walks us through their features in this video:

Testers loved the playful nature of the ski - the tip and tail rocker let it smear and pivot in tight trees, gullies and bumps, while the camber and construction made it poppy, perfect for lofting off natural or man-made features. The width was just right for some of our lighter skiers to call it a powder ski - while bigger skiers still had fun in soft snow stashes off-piste.

On the groomers, the Shreditor and Remedy had descent grip on all but the iciest slopes. K2's seem to hit

The K2 Pinnacle saw great success last year and has become a top-notch boot for all-mountain backcountry skiers.

Ski boot manufacturing is actually not new to K2; they had a line of boots in the 70’s, that saw mediocre success, and nearly a decade ago K2 launched the Full Tilt brand using the old Raichle Flexon boot molds. Through this manufacturing process K2 set up relationships with the Italian boot manufacturers, buckle providers, plastic sources, and liner manufacturers, setting up K2 to branch into boots and the market was primed.

K2 spent a significant amount of R&D setting the boots up right, 3-D printing and CAD software allowed engineers to have working samples in a day, test the product, make some tweaks, and have new designs. Much of what they were doing wouldn’t have been possible a few years ago.

K2 did their homework, and I’m pleased to say we’re ecstatic with the product. If you’re looking for one boot to work for you at the ski area and touring it’s hard to beat the K2

Starting a few years back, there was a significant trend among good skiers - particularly out west, to go wider and wider with everyday skis. These skis became more common, as did rocker - and pretty soon we were seeing skiers on the hill with 110-120mm wide skis on non-powder days. You'd here tips flapping and turns skidding - and for the most part, people were having fun. But technically proficient skiers quickly found they weren't really the best choice for hard or rough snow.

Now, as we head into the 2015 season, we find the trend mentioned above has started to reverse pretty significantly and many ski widths have started to come down out of the 120+ range. The fact that out west, we have now gone a couple of seasons without significant snowfall is no doubt one of the reasons for this. Another reason might be that the ski makers and skiers in general have figured out that for the skier with a decided soft snow bias and “one ski quiver” appetite, these mid 100s are pretty darned good. For sure, some skiers will still be very happy with wider skis than these for everyday use, and a lot of skiers will settle back to the 98-100mm range. These skis in the 102-110mm range have a more decided soft snow bias than the 98-100’s, but they do a much better job than “powder skis” when it has been some time since the last snowfall. It’s also fair to say that it is a pretty rare powder day that one of these skis isn’t wide enough to handle things.

There is a trend these days to say that the plus-or-minus 98mm skis are the perfect ski width for everyone in the west, and that is not necessarily the case. It’s important to remember that trends sometimes fail to recognize the skiers’ capabilities and their preferences.

There are plenty of skiers out west that are well suited by frontside skis and a lot more (maybe even most) that are best suited by the roughly 88mm skis. Naturally a quiver of skis is the best of all and more is always better. Where the 98mm ski fits in is for the skier with one ski, roughly a 50/50 priority towards packed vs. soft snow usage, and the capabilities to ski that terrain.

The 98mm ski can also fit very nicely as the middle ski in a three ski quiver for the west and could well be the wide ski for an eastern or Midwestern skier who doesn’t really need a specialized ski for deep snow.

As always, this category is loaded with talent and also with differences. The differences can range from relatively dramatic to very subtle, the differences are almost never about the width. The 5mm width difference from the narrowest to the widest of the skis we’ll review here are not definitive. Some of the skis in this category have been modified recently either in flex or in shape or in both for a little more bias toward softer snow while others maintain a roughly equal terrain and snow bias.

The 2015 Blizzard XPower 810TI is a new carving ski from Blizzard, designed for serious front side performance. Our testers were able to get on it early last winter, and were universally impressed.

Phil praised the ski for both having a tenacious grip and the ability to work various turn shapes, making it both powerful and versatile. We headed to Northstar first, putting the 174 cm length through the paces on a firm day that slowly softened as the sun went to work.

Warming up with medium radius turns, the Blizzard XPower 810TI wasn't punishing, popping back and forth with ease. But as soon as the speed picked up and the radius opened up, the ski started to display some real power, rewarding serious technique and a willingness to push hard. Really hard.

So while it's easy to initiate a turn on this ski, and it doesn't punish you at slower speeds, it really rewards powerful skiers most. On our spectrum from quick, finesse skis to stiff, powerful skis - it's definitely on the power end of

For ski racers and traveling skiers, a good ski bag and boot bag are key, whether you're flying, driving or just dragging a lot of gear to the bottom of the slope. Thule stepped up in a big way this year with their new bag line, ranging from backpacks to bike bags, but we're really impressed with the Thule Roundtrip Ski Bag and Thule Roundtrip Boot Bag in particular.

This is something easier shown than told, so we had Stan take us through the new bags in this video:

These are really well designed bags on their own, with stand-out features like the hard goggle case on the boot bag and the internal and external compression straps on the ski bag, but the fact that the two toggle together really makes the whole setup stand apart.

All the pockets and organization makes it so much easier to make sure you have everything you need for a day or a week+ of skiing without fumbling around or losing essential items at the bottom of a big duffel.

To learn more, go to our Thule page here, give us a call,

A few years back, when powder was bottomless, fat skis were new and rocker was rocking our world for the first time, powder skis were a one-trick pony, and people loved them. As time has gone on, skiers have started to figure out that powder doesn't last all day, and often conditions sent skiers running back to their car by lunch to swap out those powder specialists for an all mountain ski.

More recently, ski manufacturers have started to figure that out too, producing powder skis with a little added versatility so you can ski them all day - and for a few days after the storm. Enter the new Dynastar Cham 117, new for 2015.

Both building on and tweeking the successful Cham 5-point ski design, the Cham 117 hits a sweet spot between pure powder grins and all-mountain versatility to keep going when the soft stuff gets tracked out. Rocker in the tip, just a tiny bit of rise in the tail, and taper both in front and back with traditional camber and sidecut underfoot make up the shape, and lightweight metal-less wood core construction sets up the flex and ride.

The Head Great Joy was one of the skis our female ski testers were most excited about when it was announced, and turned out to be one of our absolute favorites when we got it on the snow.

Ski manufacturers often announce the "next wonder material" that will "revolutionize the way we ski" and often, it doesn't quite live up to the hype. But in this case, a lot of the credit as to why we liked the Head Great Joy - and the whole Head Joy women's ski line - is a new material called graphene, previously used in Head tennis rackets, said to have one of the best strength-to-weight ratios of any material.

Blizzard's Flipcore skis have been some of our tester's favorites over the last few years, and the women's specific skis are no exception. The Blizzard Samba, at 98 underfoot, cuts the same profile as the hugely popular the Blizzard Bonafide - with a few changes to make it a great women's all mountain ski.

Right off the bat, we should say this is not an intermediate ski - but if you've got the skill and the desire to ski a wider all mountain ski, this is one of the absolute best.

Backcountry boots are improving at a rapid pace in today’s market, with several plastic options that allow manufacturers to make boots lighter, and ski better than ever before. Also engineering designs are improving the cuff articulation so the boots are going uphill better than ever before, while also locking down with a more solid connection on the downhill.

Dynafit has always been a top manufacturer of alpine touring and backcountry ski boots. They damn-near cornered the market on pin-tech style bindings, although some other manufacturers are setting themselves up for some interesting competition.

The Nordica Nemesis, a long-time Start Haus favorite for hard-charging women who like to get off-piste, has been updated for 2015, and from our testing, it's for the better.

Taking lessons learned from the shape of the wider Nordica Wildfire, the Nemesis gets a new rocker profile that's gradual and subtle, blending perfectly with the camber of the ski, along with tip and tail tapper, perfectly executed to reduce hooking in crud and variable snow without significantly diminishing edge contact on groomers.

Maintaining its lightweight wood and Wi-Core stringer construction, it's still a light, energetic and poppy ski like previous versions.

Tecnica has long been proud of their race heritage and the success of their narrow performance-focused boots. The Inferno released a few years ago, and the new Tecnica R9.8 130, which uses the same mold, has been a success over previous models and a pleasure to ski.

I owned the Inferno and skied the 9.8 130 extensively as my primary boot for three years. The fit is fantastic; I have a C-width foot, and didn’t have to do much work to make the 9.8 comfortable. After many days of skiing I put in a 5th metatarsal punch and an ankle punch, which are more than reasonable for the amount of days I’ve put into these well-loved boots.

The 98 mm category is bitterly contested, and all manufacturers (for the most part) make an excellent boot in this category. Why should Tecnica take your hard earned money? That is for you and your bootfitter to decide of course, with so many great boots in the category, go with the one that fits your foot best based on your values and needs, as each boot in the category skis darn well. What I can say is that for my foot and skiing ability, the Tecnica was a great match and a pleasure to ski for so long.