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See the 2015 All Mountain Ski Comparison Here

Our most popular category at the Start Haus is all mountain skis around 98mm under foot, a generalist, daily driver or quiver of one for many western skiers.

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 simply not the case.

There are plenty of skiers out west that are well served by frontside skis, and a lot more (maybe even most) that are best suited by the roughly 88mm skis in our skinny all mountain ski review.

Naturally a quiver of skis is the best of all, and more is always better. But, for the skier with one ski, roughly a 50/50 priority towards packed vs. soft snow usage, and the capabilities to ski that terrain, yes, the 98mm all mountain skis skis may be the one.

As always, this category is loaded with talent and also with differences. Those differences can range from relatively dramatic to very subtle - and generally not about the width. The 3mm width difference from the narrowest to the widest of the skis we’ll review here are not a deciding factor when picking between them.

For the last several years, we at the Start Haus have been very impressed by the close fit of the Head Raptor 130 RS and Head Raptor 115 RS for those in search of a narrow, performance-oriented ski boot.  Austrian-based Head is a premier brand in ski racing, taking hundreds of podiums in all disciplines of alpine ski racing.

As a boot fitter, I find many people are surprised when I pull a Head boot as a valid option instead of some of the more well-known Italian based boot companies.

If you are an expert skier with a narrow foot and are in search of a stiffer flexing boot, I would argue you owe it to yourself to try a Head ski boot from the Raptor family.

This year the Start Haus is carrying a wider selection of ski clothing than ever before, thanks in part to our new soft goods guru, Jennifer.

One line Jennifer was excited about when she got to check it out in person was Sherpa, a small mountaineering-oriented clothing line actually made by Sherpa mountain guides in Nepal.

"The story is amazing behind Sherpa - it's a family owned company, which is rare these days, and it's actual Sherpas that climb Mt. Everest," Jennifer said. "They could pick any gear out there, and I think that says a lot."

Boot fitting is our specialty at the Start Haus, and our huge ski wall offers a ton of choice, but ski bindings shouldn't be overlooked as an important part of the equation.

Philpug takes us through our range of ski bindings, from high-DIN race ski bindings to high performance freeride bindings, junior ski bindings to backcountry ski bindings, to help you decide what's right for you, and what factors you should consider:

Editor's Note: Bootfitter's Notes is a new series of posts the Start Haus will be sharing, in hopes of giving buyers extra insight into different ski boots, and how they fit. Whether you're an online shopper who doesn't have the ability to come into the Start Haus for a proper boot fitting, or your doing a little homework before coming in, these articles are here to help you.

Lange RS Ski Boots

The RS series from Lange are the blue boots that you see all over the slopes these days.

The 2015 version of this comparison is here: 2015 Narrow All Mountain Skis

When we move up in width from the frontside carver ski collection, our next category is this one that ranges from roughly 82-90mm.

Some skis in this category have a distinct bias toward hardpack and could possibly be considered as wider frontside skis. Most however, trade off a little of the hard snow capability in favor of increased versatility when softer snow and off trail usage is considered.

Some of the models in this group can work pretty well in up to say a foot of snow, and many of them are quite good in bumps. Most of these models still have fairly minimal rocker and will in general, are at least somewhat softer in flex (especially in torsion) than the frontside specialists.

This is a very popular category with a lot of variation in characteristics. Some models in this category have metal in their layups while many others don’t. Some skis in this group will use binding plates and some are sold flat.

See the 2015 Review Here!

As a western (Tahoe) based ski shop, we at the Start Haus have a lot of demand for wider soft snow biased skis, and for sure, we carry a wide array and sell a lot of them.

However, even on a “normal” year in this snow-rich area, there are periods when it doesn’t snow for a week or more. Last year, it basically didn’t snow any appreciable amount after the first of January.

For periods like this, it pays to have a good hard snow ski. Even in that mythical “normal” year, most Tahoe skiers will find that if they have this type of ski, they’ll ski it quite a bit. Some years, like last year for example, they’ll ski it much of the time. This category of ski is also a very popular choice for ski instructors and other well-schooled skiers in the East, Midwest or the West, who understand what edge angles and pressure are all about.

The Atomic Ritual returns unchanged except for graphics from last year.

This is one of those skis that we talk about when the discussion turns to the “one ski quiver” for a good western skier. To us, this designation means a skier with roughly a 50/50 bias between hard packed snow and softer or deeper snow, and the ability to handle most off trail type terrain.

Naturally, these are neither dedicated groomer tools nor are they powder specific skis either. Many skis in this category are in the 95-98mm width range and several of them have stiff metal layup constructions.

The Atomic Crimson TI has been a familiar name in the Atomic ski lineup for some years, but for 13-14, this ski is entirely new.

In fact, all the top models in the Nomad collection carry the same names as in the past but they employ a new technology known as "Arc."  This is a design that integrates the binding into the ski construction via a channel in the ski. This in itself isn’t entirely a new thing but Atomic takes this one step further by incorporating a power platform into the channel directly under the foot. This transmits power to the ski without the stiffening effect that channel type systems have sometimes exhibited. The result of this new construction is a ski with a slightly softer flex but more importantly, a more balanced flex.

As we've mentioned elsewhere in our 2014 ski reviews, the 100 to 110 mm wide segment of skis is going to be big next year. We've already reviewed the Nordica Vagabond and the Rossignol Soul 7.

But one of the skis in this class we're most excited about comes from a brand we haven't carried in the past - the Stockli Stormrider 107. The top pick for many of our testers in this group, the Stockli SR 107 is a departure for Stockli, and an impressive ski for soft-snow oriented all mountain skiers.

“All I wrote on my testing card was ‘wow!’” said Kenzie, one of our expert testers who participated in Powder Magazine's Powder Week at Jackson Hole.

While fatter skis get more attention these days, a mid-80 mm underfoot ski is a must have for the days the snow isn't fresh & deep.

One of the best - and one of the best values - in the category, is the HEAD REV 85 Pro, coming in at only $799 with 12 DIN bindings.

2014 introduces a lot of 100-something mm underfoot all mountain skis, and one that's getting a lot of attention is the Rossignol Soul 7.

Landing somewhere between the 2013 Rossignol S3 and S7, the Soul 7 is 106 mm underfoot with a 17 mm turning radius and a little less rocker in the tip, and substantially less rocker in the tail.