31 comments on “1-Ski Quivers: Reviewers’ Selections (25/26)”

1. Back in the day, younger and stronger, I only skied on the Rossignol Giant Slalom skis. They were so forgiving but could bang the bumps, shush the chutes, and cruise full throttle on groomers or chopped up crud. I demoed many skis, but found nothing better than the Rossi’s for me. First pair in 200 cm, worked up to 207cm- too long, last pair at 201cm. So much fun!
   These were not shaped.
   So what is a good ski for me know that the glory days are over?
   Thanks, Mike in Montana

2. This is both my favorite and hardest quiver thought exercise… I’d probably have to go with the Deathwish 104 and Shifts. I could see a Woodsman 100 in a 50/50 layup taking this slot, but that’s a theoretical possibility and I know I get along with the Deathwish in a lot of conditions. In the hybrid binding space I’m interested in the ATK Hy Free but the shift 2.0 has been tried and true for me so far

3. Nearly impossible exercise for someone who skis November to July most years in the PNW haha. We get everything from feet and feet of meniscus-shredding heavy powder to corn and ice after skinning/hiking up for 6k feet. I’d probably opt for 90-98 1600-1700g skis and put inserts on them. Skis that come to kind are the Head Kore 94 W or Liberty Radian 92s. But honestly I hope to never need a one ski quiver haha

4. The fact that there are no skis under 102 on this list, especially considering the current conditions in CO, is difficult for me to comprehend…

   • Because … everybody on our team will be skiing well into May or June. Across a whole spectrum of conditions. And in a number of different places?

     The fact that every year people find it difficult to comprehend how & why our reviewers select *their own personal* quivers – even when we *then explain the rationale* … that’s the only thing I find difficult to comprehend.

     (Also, in our buyer’s guide, we do share our selections for skis we’d choose for various places, quantities of snowfall, types of snow, etc. These are, as the intro always states, our personal selections for how & where we ski.)

     Let’s please try this again: feel free to share with us what *your* 1-ski quiver would be, given where you ski and how you like to ski. I’d love to read more comments like that. Or, if instead you’d like us to help you select *your* 1-ski quiver for how and where you like to ski, just become a Blister member and we’ll be happy to assist.

5. For those of us who ski at places that don’t get hundreds of inches of snow per season, these quivers are rather fanciful. Would be nice if you got reviewers to select a OSQ assuming <= 100 inches of annual snowfall.

   • Please see my comment above. And I’ll repeat: feel free to share with us what *your* 1-ski quiver would be, given where you ski and how you like to ski. I’d love to read more comments like that. (Also, in our buyer’s guide, we do share our selections for skis we’d choose for various places, quantities of snowfall, types of snow, etc. These are, as the intro always states, our personal selections for how & where we ski.)

     Or, if instead you’d like us to help you select *your* 1-ski quiver for how and where you like to ski, just become a Blister member and we’ll be happy to assist.

6. Easiest one yet. Chipotle Banana with Pivot 18.

7. Rather difficult and not practical real world questions here (I gotta say the same, strange decisions here width-wise imho!)…a ski for all use cases regardless every aspect like conditions/place/space/steepness/lifts etc..?..hm probably JP’s old Armada Declivity 98 184 which was a 96 in 176, quite the Swiss army knife….superduper in bulletproof and fun AF in moguls, float was okish, 1830 grams in the 176, still a bit loose, best steep skiing tool there was at the time, super reliable and trustworthy metal ski. maybe quiver inserts with haute route and a stance 16. other options here Line Prophet 100, Sick Day 104 or K2 Coomback/Coomba.

   if NEW skis are required then maybe a ranger 102 in 183 with inserts or the new J skis Prophet thing. if I am bored I would go more biking in winter somewhere in the desert or fly out to a fancy destination in the southern hemisphere to go birdwatching!

   Satisfying my ski quiver must be. More skis you must buy. The force cannot be ignored!

   • Absolutely loved the old Declivity. Just super trustworthy and predictable in any conditions.

8. Sorry Strive 16, my favorite heelpiece, good geometry, better for carving than pivots but still nice for 3d snow, bit lighter still lozzo metal , good for small quivers…would be quite the shit if the first cast thing that if I can remember correctly was operated with Salomon Sth’s would come back …I bet lots of customers would buy it again with the new tech.

9. This is a tough exercise, so I’ll give it a try :-). I am fortunate to have a five-ski quiver and am in the process of bumping it up to 6 or even 7. thinkin salad cutlery and deserts :-D.

   @Paul: I have written to you several times in the comments on this topic, but I am not sure if you have seen any of them yet. If not, I am convinced you have missed the best AK powder touring ski, the Ronin 122. I have a very light-built exclusively for powtouring. But Jonno can build it heavier and make it work as one ski quiver for AK Heli and Touring. So that would be my AK Heli and Touring call. But I’m in Switzerland and not in AK, so I will make some different calls.

   1-Ski quiver overall: Blackcrows Atris with ATK Hy, but it is a close call beside some other skis. Further, this is only the case because my beloved Enforcer 104 Free is no longer in production. But I will hang on to it as long as it is in good shape.

   No touring: Blackcrows Atris with Strive (I’m not picky with bindings, Pivots, and Tyrolia have also worked for me). My focus in the Alps is a ski that carves well on groomers and still floats in powder. We have hardly any moguls in our resorts these days, and we also don’t ski cut-up snow that much.

   Only touring: That is an easy call, my beloved Folsom Giver in SRC with the Freeraider 15 EVO. My focus is ski touring, and I tour throughout the winter, spending a lot of time in powder with my touring ski. This is the best ski I have ever been on for all conditions that you can encounter in the backcountry. But since it is a custom ski, it feels a bit like cheating. Alternatively, I would go for the Nordica Unlimited 104 (it is still in production and available in Europe). This is an amazing touring ski that would also work as a 1-ski quiver for someone who likes to do occasional on-piste skiing but prioritizes touring.

   One last thing I would like to write here. I have been testing a couple of skis in my life, and preferences are a matter of taste. I share some of your reviewers’ tastes and mostly understand your choices and recommendations. The only category I struggle to agree with you on is touring skis (Except for Paul). The Hoji is a great ski, and although I have never tested it, I am optimistic about the Renegade. The only ski I have ever hated is the Raven in powder. This ski feels like a rocking chair and has sent me flying over the handlebars multiple times. And this has never happened to me with any other ski. So I totally don’t get why you all liked this ski so much. Luckily, you seem to be shifting your focus to the QST Echo, which I am confident will work for many more people and various backcountry conditions, including powder.

   • Hi Michiel,

     All good stuff!

     I would love to try the Ronin 122! It sounds like a really cool ski.

     Thanks for reading for the great comments, Paul

     • We need to get Jonathan to order you a pair ;-).

10. ON3P Cease & Desist as a do it all

11. I’m curious what people might pitch as 1-ski quivers for the East Coast. For me it’s been a Nordica Enforcer 93 (it’s an old one) for a while now. They are really tired, but they did manage to last me through the years of paying for my kids daycare, so hopefully I can spend some of that daycare money on skis going forward.

    The Enforcers have been a really well-rounded ski so my guess is that a fresh pair of Enforcer 94s would be a huge improvement. I think that ski does a good job of surviving conditions that would really be best suited for race skis, but then thriving in east coast chop off the side of the trail, or bumps and tight trees. I’m also looking at options like the Blizzard Anomaly 94 or something from a smaller company like 4FRNT MSP 91. What are other people are buying as a 1-ski quiver to “survive” the hard pack and tear up softer east coast conditions (which often still include some hardpack)?

12. Love that inserts got mentioned!
    My one ski would be Down Countdown 104L with insets for alpine Tyrolia Attack MNC and for touring ATK Trofeos w brake.

    • I absolutely love that ski!!!

13. Nice to see the V-Werks Katana getting a mention in 2026. I absolutely love that ski, even if one of them did fillet my thigh to the point where I needed 3 layers of continuous internal sutures and 50 skin staples over the top (an unforeseen side-effect of combining lazy technique on the day, obsessive edge maintenance, and the ultra-thin profile)

14. Per Jonathan’s desired format…:-)

    K2 Mindbender 89ti. Whitefish. Our last 5 seasons have not been filled with frequent big powder dumps. Our best fall lines face south, so we DO reliably get astounding corn.

    So I’ll trade occasionally having not enough float for the rest of the performance suite of the MB89ti — which carves astoundingly well for what it looks like when leaning against the wall, and is noticeably quicker than it’s 99ti big brother.

    Cheers!

    • Love it! Thanks, Tom, for the clearly laid out rationale for your selection.

      Keep em coming, folks!

15. I agree east coasters, a one ski quiver should be only as wide as the mounting screws on your bindings.

    Out of all the skis I have put time on I would have to go with the k2 Mindbender 108ti. Harder days are manageable, and I would have a hard time giving up the stability and float for deeper days. We don’t really have groomers here so despite my love of carving, as a percentage of ski time, they are not a priority.
    I suspect I would go with the Mindender 99ti if I had a chance to ski it.

16. OK, my second post here ever, tho’ I read them all. I just gotta’ chime in
    I retired my widest-ever ski, Atomic Atlas 115, my knees just couldn’t deal with them on hardpack, and because I skied them in Las Lenas I couldn’t part with ‘em so they’re on my wall.
    Narrowest to widest:
    Brahma 82 (two pair)
    Stance 96 (‘24model)
    Bonafide (two pair, ‘15 and ‘20 models and 98 under boot…….my favs’, best ski ever)
    QST 106 (‘23 model, pretty sure)
    Cochise 108( ‘15 model, the blue and orange one. 2nd best ski if feeling frisky)

    Hope everybody gets fun turns in this year.

17. I love spoons and forks and knives – love it Jonathan, and feel my own quiver is testament to also liking soup spoons, tea spoons, ladles, butter knives, fish knives, dessert forks…you get the picture.

    The dreaded one ski quiver question, for me it would be my Fischer Ranger 102FR, does well enough on piste and in the soft stuff and would only struggle on the deep days. Could mount with a hybrid binding for the few touring days I do. Head Monster 98 would also work, but would be better on piste, not as good off piste though better in heavier snow, would not want to drag it uphill though (wuss).

    Of currently available skis that I have skied, could be BC Justis or maybe the Atris, Ranger 96? Struggling a bit here, so need to get out and try more skis!

18. One additional question: One thing that struck me reading through these quivers is the number of reviewers using inserts to mount multiple bindings on the same skis. Are you all using Binding Freedom or something else? Do you find that shops are willing to do multiple sets of inserts like that?

    I use Binding Freedom on all but my racing skis (for example I have my Dancer 4s set up with inserts on both the progressive and classic lines because I went back and forth a bit) but I do all of my own work and therefore assume full responsibility for the consequences. I haven’t experienced any problems, but I’m super careful to seal around each insert with slow-cure epoxy etc.

    I’m wondering how shops react when you propose putting 16 inserts into each ski or whatever. I haven’t tried to get a shop to do anything like that lately, but some of them at least used to be pretty conservative about that sort of thing.

    • When I say “these quivers” I’m including all of them (1-ski to 5-ski). I realize there aren’t as many inserts in the 5-ski quivers for obvious reasons :-).

    • I’ve used both Binding Freedom and Quiver Killer. I slightly prefer QK (mostly because I don’t find the screwdriver slot on BF to be very useful, but it makes them harder to seal well) but both work well.

      I mount my own stuff too, so no experience asking a shop to do it.

      • That screwdriver slot mates to a pair of ears on Binding Freedom’s insertion bit. I agree that it’s completely useless otherwise, and it does indeed make it hard to see all the way up to topsheet level.

        SVST (Binding Freedom is a “gateway brand” that they use to disassociate their main, shop-oriented product line from their DIY stuff) would probably argue that the topsheet and the metal and/or glass layers under it aren’t vulnerable to water intrusion, so it’s OK to just seal up to the bottoms of those slots. Like you I’m way too paranoid for that and as you say it’s a hassle to seal.

        Our of curiosity what jig system do you use? I have a “real” ATK jig (courtesy of Hagan) which is awesome but $$$$, and I’ve tried the Jigarex but found it to be too flimsy and fiddly. I ended up building my own jig system from 2040 extrusion rails and a collectino 3D printed inserts that slide onto the rails for centering, clamping, spacing above the ski, and each binding’s toepiece and heelpiece (with 8 mm press-in drill bushings from McMaster Carr). I’m bummed that there aren’t more broadly available quality systems – it shouldn’t take an ex-ME with spare time, a 3D printer, and tech income to obtain a quality jig.

19. Tom, 6’2″, 175#, Baker/Sun Peaks

    Some seasons I seek out an interesting ski to learn something new. It’s never the most practical, it can feel quite awkward the first few times out, but by mid season I’m adjusted and enjoying a new dimension to skiing I haven’t experienced before. This year I’m working on playful short turns on a GS: The Atomic Redster G9 RS(M) (183/R24).

    4 days so far. First couple were a little weird. But the last time out I hit a perfect rain day at Baker (no crowds, concrete turns to soft spring snow) and had a blast.

    Of course “GS” and “Baker” oddly shouldn’t be in the same sentence. If I had to choose a practical ski for the conditions, I’d pick the Fischer Ranger 84 for the reasons:

    1) I tend to like narrower skis.
    2) Baker powder is mostly gone by 10:30.
    3) 84 is a good width to avoid high-siding. Baker snow tends to grab sub 80 skis throwing the pilot down the hill, sometimes violently.
    4) Has anyone flexed these skis?!?! They are completely different than the rest of the Ranger line. For a ski with no metal, it is surprising stout: Spar-88, old Brahma, maybe even Monster 83 levels.

    Love the quiver picks!

20. Hello! Question for Luke: Could you explain why you prefer the QST 94 over the QST 100 in a one-ski quiver? What does the Revolt 101 lack to be a contender for that spot in the quiver?

21. Rustler 10 192cm….you guys need to review this length. It’s very different than the 186, just like the Dynastar MFree 108 is in comparable lengths.