The best skis can sweep up the slopes, rip through ramps, and chew obstacles like it's your last meal. These skis have a larger waist and more tip rocker, making them fun upfront, resourceful underfoot, and competent in the deepest powder.
This collection of women's skis is designed for women who ski anything from frontside groomers to tracked-out bowls and just about everything else. If you're looking for one pair of planks to do it all and do it well, you will find it here. These flexible skis with a little extra underfoot will enable you to handle any terrain and all snow conditions all season long.
However, narrowing your options to the ski you'll symbolically get hitched to can be tricky. There are so many features and options available that it is a challenge to sort through them all.
That's why we've compiled this list of the finest women's skis for 2022. Also, we offer a breakdown of their distinctions, so you can start deciding which ones you should try. Since your feet will either suffer or not, finally, it will affect every part of your skiing adventure.
Best Overall Women's All-Mountain Ski: Nordica Santa Ana 98, $699.99
The Santa Ana 98 is an excellent choice if you want a wider all-mountain ski that can carve groomers and give you confidence in new powder.
The Santa Ana 98 offers a smooth and stable ride thanks to the new design that combines a wood core with carbon and a sheet of terrain-specific aluminum.
This design also helps you control movement by reducing weight and improving edge hold and reaction.
The Nordica Santa Ana 98 is the Best Overall Women's All-Mountain Ski Choice in this category because it fared so well in practically all of our criteria. This ski is incredibly versatile, effortlessly switching skill sets across powder and hard snow. It transitions between hard rapid charging and precision bump skiing. It gives you the confidence to push yourself to new heights. If you're looking for a ski that gives you a lot of bounce and excitement, there will be many skis. But this one is an excellent ski for anyone looking for a versatile "one-ski quiver" that will carry them almost anywhere on the terrain.
Across any snow conditions, the Nordica Santa Ana 98 performs admirably. It gives a smooth ride for skiers of all levels, which is hard to come by in women's all-mountain skis. Most skis are either too stiff for beginners or too soft for specialists or big women to feel confident to use. In this way, Santa Ana 98 is a superstar ski. Nordica managed to get it just perfect for the majority of people.
Talking about form and the performance, the ski has a wide waist and rockered tip and tail. Thus, the Nordica Santa Ana 98 is significantly more stable than one might imagine. Nordica has removed some of the ski's heavy plastic tip and replaced it with a lightweight wood core. At a higher speed, the tip does not flop around. Yet the ski stays nimble.
The Santa Ana 98 is a broad ski that travels rapidly and is considerably smoother than its width would suggest. It turns a little wider, closer to 17.5 meters. Both skis track effortlessly and aim for a great turn. Yet, the shorter curves do not leave clean tracks.
Great Value for Advanced Skiers: Faction Dictator 2.0X - Women's, $679
The Faction Dictator 2.0X is a tough savage that can only be controlled by a commanding woman. The Dictator will take over when you want to speed down the mountain or land a skillful hop-turn above a cliff ledge.
The bright hot magenta pink color of this ski can draw many compliments.
The ski is a master of choppy snow, tough conditions, and groomers. The price is affordable for female rippers, since it’s less expensive than many high-performance skis.
The paradox of a bright pink ski charging hard power through any terrain on the mountain is what we love. The hue is a little off-kilter, but the term is accurate. Although, we wouldn't advise this ski for powder since it's a little unwieldy in the bumps. It's a strong, dependable ski in almost every other aspect. Don't be fooled by the color.
You will undoubtedly argue over who got to enjoy the pinnacle edge-hold of the Dictator. At that time of the season, if you start skiing early morning when it is all frozen and slippery, we promise you will love the adventure. You can also enjoy the power felt on the planks, even if you ski a little longer than the standards.
This model is in the middle of the price range. If you're a strong skier who can comfortably control it, we think it's a good purchase. It received our tag - Great Value for Advanced Skiers - because it is less expensive than many other high-performance skis. Also, it provides an ambitious skier with a great deal of balance and versatility.
Great Value for Powder: Elan Ripstick 94 W, $600
The Elan Ripstick 94 W is a formidable player in soft snow and on the playful meter. It can drift atop the surface of fresh snow with its never-ending flair for the rebound.
We chose it because of its low price and superb powder performance, but its abilities aren't limited to one kind of terrain.
It was also the most fun ski we'd encountered this season, and that quality carries across every condition. Overall, we were pleased with this ski.
The Riptick is a powder dream: a purple vision gliding over the soft snow, the color reflecting and splashing up into the fluffy flying material streaming over a skier's head. It receives an honor in this category for its low price. Also, we love its ability to make any sort of new snow, even the hardest stuff, enjoyable to ski.
Even edge-to-edge, this ski feels tremendously swift, thanks in part to its incredible rebound. It tosses you from one curve to another. The advantage of the rockered outside edge is that, while the ski can be compelled to carve, it can also be readily persuaded to smear. The outside edge performs with grace.
Even in deeper snow, the ski's somewhat spatula-shaped and rockered tips keep it completely buoyant. The "aquatic" aspect of this ski shines in powder, where the rockered outside edge helps you stay on top and butter about in the depths. The Amphibio design keeps the ski afloat, yet likewise allows for easier turn launch, contributing to the Elan Ripstick 94 W's naturally brisk feel.
Best for High-Speed Stability: Volkl Secret 96, $700
The Völkl Secret 96 is a ski that may be used across a range of conditions. Though the Secret is at ease on any portion of the mountain, it is most at ease when tearing down groomers at high speeds.
The Secret is no exception to Völkl's reputation for continuously high-quality ski manufacturing.
Even on tough snow and ice, the physical structure of this ski guarantees chatter-free stability. The Secret 96's however, isn't extremely agile in dense foliage or other congested situations. For the most part, though, this is a versatile ski that will satisfy any intermediate to advanced skier.
This ski has the legendary Volkl strength, and its tendency for sustained high-speed ripping earned it our Top Pick for Stability. In any groomed or high terrain, the Volkl Secret 96 is particularly reliable at top speeds. It has the best edge-hold of our test group, and it won't let go of its arc in a carving turn on any terrain.
The Secret 96 takes home our prize for stability for its consistent strength across the ski's length — from tip to tail — even at the greatest speeds. Its edge hold is superb at slower speeds and in the steeps, giving us confidence that we will hold at every turn.
Best for Carving: Blizzard Black Pearl 88, $649.95 - Women's
The Black Pearl 88 has been one of the most popular women's skis across all categories for several seasons. It has received a freshly modified design for the 2022-2023 season.
Perhaps you're the sort of skier that gets up early for crisp air and is itching to leave two clean marks in the freshly groomed snow, the Blizzard Black Pearl 88 might be the ski for you.
If you want to keep the Pearl on the course, a diligent and observant driver is required. But she will be rewarded with steadiness and deeply carved trenches. As a result of these factors, the Black Pearl 88 was named our Best Carving Ski.
With its unidirectional carbon frame, the Carbon Flipcore W.S.D. has long pleased skiers boasting its ability to reduce weight without losing performance. TrueBlend technology is a reinvented wood core structure that blends wood stringers of varied weights and stiffness in the parts of the ski that need them the most. It is one of the best improvements to Blizzard's technology.
To enhance power and stability, heavier, stiffer Beech is used throughout the midsection of the ski, while lighter, softer poplar is used at the extremities, making turn initiation and engagement easier thanks to a more balanced flex pattern. The low-weight, high-powered carver is now more appealing to an even wider variety of skiers.
It is exceedingly quick edge-to-edge, with good reliability, dampness, and torsional rigidity. It got amped-up last season by an extended mounting plate—making it an ideal all-mountain option for Eastern ladies, or Western women who spend a lot of time on terrain.
At most speeds, the Black Pearl 88 provides a secure ride. The ski starts to feel slightly slack if you neglect to push forward to the ski's sweet spot, or if you simply want a break from the continual intensity of making an intense turn.
It would much rather dig into the snow and form an arc. Although its general tendency for edging makes it unsuitable for tree skiing or sliding on boxes and rails in the terrain park, it makes plowing high-speed trenches a blast.
Our thoughts
The most versatile and well-rounded skis will naturally perform well across all of our criteria and rise to the top of the leaderboard. Therefore, we elected not to score the best women's skis on versatility alone. Also, skis that focus on a specific area tend to be the least adaptable, resulting in performance tradeoffs in other zones. For many skiers, a one-ski quiver is both practical and economical. The greatest skis should be able to handle everything from hard and fast groomers to soft and deep powder.
Skis are like super glue: they're the best instrument for the job no matter what condition you're in. In this category, versatility is the name of the game. This best women's ski review has you covered if you're searching for the perfect one-ski quiver to handle anything nature throws at you.
Our top-ranked skis have the versatility to perform in all circumstances and take you everywhere on the mountain. Whether you're looking for planks to help sustain in soft powder, rip the groomers, or slam through crud. The market in 2022 is flooded with the finest models, making it difficult to filter through the seemingly unlimited alternatives.