The most honest, accurate, and useful Buyer’s Guide in the world.
Our 23/24 Winter Buyer’s Guide is — by far — our biggest guide ever, and also the best guide out there: 300+ skis, 70+ boots, plus plenty of snowboards, splitboards, touring bindings, climbing skins, helmets, goggles, apparel, and more.
But what makes our guide the most trustworthy is what you won’t find in it: there are zero advertisements from any of the ski or snowboard companies we review, so you aren’t getting any paid-for reviews, just — as always — our honest, unvarnished opinion after many days of testing each product.
You can now order the print and digital editions of the 23/24 Guide.
Same as last year, you can order the print edition and get INSTANT access to the digital edition at no extra cost, or go digital only.
Of course, the super smart move is to become a BLISTER+ member, which gets you the guide and a whole lot more.
Our 23/24 Cover Photo
This year’s cover photo was shot on Feb 15, 2023, right in the middle of our Blister Summit, which is particularly fitting, since the skier pictured is Blister reviewer & Summit director, Kristin Sinnott. (Our Summit photographer, Taylor Ahearn, captured the ethereal image of Kristin, in addition to grabbing hundreds of great photos of Summit attendees.)
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what readers are saying:
WHY THE BLISTER GUIDE IS BETTER
We Test Product Year Round
Other publications do their product testing in a few days. We literally test year-round. Nobody puts in as much time on equipment as we do, so no other Buyer’s Guide can match the accuracy of our gear reviews and our product comparisons.
$$ No Conflicts of Interest $$
Unlike many other buyer’s guides, we don’t take any advertising money from the ski or snowboard companies we review. So what you get from us is the most honest, accurate, and useful product descriptions and comparisons you will find.
We Won't Insult Your Intelligence
Bad cliches and unhelpful product reviews aren’t our thing. Instead, you’ll get the info you need to make informed buying decisions, including our own verified product specs, and honest, accurate descriptions of how products perform & compare.
WHAT'S IN THE GUIDE
- 300+ Skis
- 70+ Ski Boots
- 100+ Bindings, Apparel, & Other Gear
- No BS
Overview
Our Buyer’s Guide covers:
- Men’s & Women’s Skis
- Ski Boots
- Men’s & Women’s Snowboards
- Outerwear & Midlayers
- Helmets
- Goggles
- Backcountry Touring Bindings
- Backcountry Touring Skins
Blister Spectrums
Our Ski-Quiver Selections
A favorite among Blister readers, we will once again lay out our recommendations for potential one- and two-ski quivers from the 23/24 crop of skis.
The 23/24 Blister 'Best Of' Awards
When we give a product a ‘Best Of’ Award, you can be sure that it was earned, not bought.
Blister Categories
Most buyer’s guides are simply too general. So we’ve sorted the skis and boots we’ve reviewed into distinct classes based on common characteristics. We describe those classes in detail, and lay out what each particular product brings to the table.
Our Ski Categories Include:
- All-Mountain Skis:
- More Stable
- More Forgiving
- Chargers
- Freestyle
- Women-Specific Skis
- More Stable
- More Forgiving
- Powder Skis
- 50/50 — Resort / Backcountry Skis
- Touring Skis
- Frontside Skis
- Park Skis
- Powder Skis
- More Directional
- More Playful
Our Ski Boot Categories Include:
- Dedicated Alpine Boots
- ‘Walk Mode’ Alpine / Touring Boots
- Touring Boots
Frequently asked questions
If you ordered the print guide or selected the print option when purchasing your BLISTER+ membership — and placed your order before September 7th — our printer shipped your guide on September 18th. U.S. orders typically take a week to arrive, while orders shipped to addresses outside the U.S. typically take 2-3 weeks to arrive.
If you placed your order on or after September 7th, we will be shipping your guide and you’ll get an email with tracking information as soon as it is shipped.
All Blister Members and those who have purchased the Guide can view and download the digital Guide directly from our site, here. You can also find it under the “Buyer’s Guides” tab on our navigation bar; there’s a tab under “Winter Buyer’s Guide” labeled “READ NOW: 23/24 Winter Buyer’s Guide.”
To view the Digital Guide, you’ll need to be logged into the account that you used to purchase the Guide or Blister Membership.
Nope! If you have an active BLISTER+ Membership, you automatically get the guide. There are two versions of the BLISTER+ Membership: one that includes the Digital and Print Edition (and therefore includes a shipping charge) and one that only includes the Digital Edition (and therefore has no shipping fee).
To check which option you have selected, head to the “My Subscriptions” tab on your “My Account” page and look at which variation of the BLISTER+ Membership is listed. If you’re set to receive both Digital and Print editions, it will say “Of course!” next to the BLISTER+ Membership on your subscription. If you’re only set up to receive the Digital edition, it will say “No thanks” next to the BLISTER+ Membership on your subscription
If you’re a current BLISTER+ Member who selected the digital-only option for the Winter Buyer’s Guide when you bought your BLISTER+ Membership but would now like to receive the print edition in future years, go to the “My Subscriptions” tab on the “My Account” page on our site, hit the “Switch Subscription” button, select the print option from the drop-down box on the BLISTER+ Membership product page, and complete the checkout process (be sure to double check your shipping address). You’ll be able to do this at no extra charge, but your next renewal payment will include a shipping fee to cover the print guide.
If you’re a current member who selected the print option for the Winter Buyer’s Guide when you bought your BLISTER+ Membership but would now like to switch to the digital edition and not pay shipping in future years, go to the “My Subscriptions” tab on the “My Account” page on our site, hit the “Switch Subscription” button, select the digital option from the drop-down box on the BLISTER+ Membership product page, and complete the checkout process. Then, to have the shipping charge removed from your subscription, please reach out to us at this email and we’ll make sure we get that updated.
Have a different question? Contact Us
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Become a BLISTER+ Member to get a print & digital copy of the guide and a ton of other great benefits like personalized gear recommendations, access to ALL Blister content, discounts dozens of outdoor brands, — and BLISTER+ members get phenomenal injury insurance through Spot that covers a huge range of outdoor activities — at up to $25,000 PER INJURY — with $0 deductible.
Hello
Ref: good all around touring ski and good binding for resort and touring
Every year my wife and i are gooing on ski trips in western canada. We are always doiing a 5 days in backcountry and 5 days in resort in the same trip. In the past, we brought 2 complet kits of skis and boots, down hill and backcountry on our trips.
It’s kind of anoying and we would like to bring only ONE ski/at that could do both. We are ready to sacrifice on the touring kit (weight, width and bindings) and have a better kit for the skiing in resort.
I tried Soul7 with G3 Ion and Technica G Zero touring boots, DPS Tour 106,
I tried different skis, weight etc… but nothing conclusif…
My main concern are the at bindings, dont feel safe with Ion on in the resort at all.
I cant find any “reviews” on this topic. Can you refer me to some info ?
What at bindings would you suggest ???
Love reading and listening to your podcasts !
Thanks
I love my Head Kore 93mm as it’s a ski that balances relatively high stiffness while remaining realtively light at around 1700-1800g per ski in the 191cm length. This is my hybrid ski if I want to do sidecountry in the resort or if I want to go backcountry in firmer conditions. It will float in moist powder. Probably will not float in bottomless dry powder but that is a compromise you need to make for a ski that can still carve and hold an edge in firm conditions. The alternative I’d recommend for a ski is the Volkl BMT 108. But it will not hold an edge on ice inbounds, and will not do any high speed carving in the resort. If you only ski soft snow inbounds then it would be a good hybrid ski, but you’d have to take it easy.
There is no tech/pin binding I would personally trust for high speed in-resort skiing on firm snow. They are just not designed to release in the same way as a traditional tech toe. So in that case I would only personally recommend the hybrid toe bindings made by Marker (Duke) or Salomon (Shift). I don’t use either of these bindings as I have dedicated setups for inbounds and out, but they are the only binding I would trust as they have a toepiece that converts from traditional toe to pin toe.
When will the digital release occur?
That photo of Jonathan in AK is frikken amazing!! Like skiing an ocean of snow.!
Glad you like it! I was just thinking … I’ve been in thousands of ski photos over the years, and that image might be my single favorite of them all.
Y’all keep saying that Blister may be the largest gear guide out there in podcasts… I’m shocked that you don’t reference the SkiAlper Buyers Guide as the largest gear guide. Blister may be the largest in the USA, but the level of analysis from SkiAlper still gives Blister and Blister Labs a goal to work toward. Thankfully it is available in english this year so less work with Google Translate!