How to Choose the Right Skis - Your 2025 Buying Guide

There’s nothing like a new set of skis to make the prospect of the coming winter even more exciting. But how do you choose the right ski from so many options? As always Outside Sports is here to clear up the confusion and help you find a ski that will make 2025 your best ski season ever! 

This guide to choosing skis will give you all the background information you need to make a great decision.

So let’s get started by asking a few important questions...

Are you looking forward to cruising down the beautiful groomers at Coronet and Cardrona, or is this your year to venture off-piste and hit the world-famous freeride chutes at The Remarkables and the steeps of the Summit Rocks at Treble Cone? Or maybe it's the amazing experience that awaits at Ohau? The type of terrain you’re planning to ski has a big bearing on the type of ski you’ll need to get the most out of your ski season. 

Along with knowing where you will be skiing, having an accurate understanding of your own skiing ability will help the ski experts at our Wanaka and Queenstown ski departments recommend the best options for you.  

The simplest way to work out your present ability level is to think back to the last time you skied and recall the grade of slope you enjoyed the most. Every ski field has a colour coded trail map like this one for the Remarkables, which is not far from Outside Sports Queenstown stores. Ski trails are graded like this: 

Beginner – Green. Intermediate – Blue. Advanced – Red. Expert – Black 

Ski length depends mainly on your weight, ability, and where you’re skiing. In general shorter skis are easier to turn than longer ones, and longer skis are more stable at speed. 

This rough guide to ski length that works pretty well for most people 

Beginners – about the height of your chin or a bit under if you’re light. 

Intermediates – about the height of your eyes. 

Advanced and Expert – about head height.

For fully cambered race-type skis take off about 5cm, and for extremely rockered powder skis add 5 to 10cm. Bigger, and/or heavier advanced and expert skiers should add a bit of length to these estimates to get the stability and edge hold you need for skiing fast and on steep slopes. 

For more information on ski types, their profiles, flex patterns, and their uses check out this earlier article on our website.  

Like ski field trails, skis are made to suit different ability levels. Beginner skis are made to be easy to turn at low speeds on gentle smooth groomed runs and help you progress quickly. At the other end of the scale, skis for advanced skiers and experts are built to perform at high speeds, in variable snow conditions, and on steep slopes. 

There are several key variables to consider, under the headings of Construction, Shape, and Length. 

Quality skis have an inner core made of a combination of different types of wood, plastics, fibreglass, rubber, and sometimes special fibres and/or aluminium alloy. How these materials are used together have a big on influence what a ski feels like on the snow. 

If you’re a beginner you’ll want a light, flexible ski that almost turns itself. 

At the other end of the spectrum expert skiers and racers prefer heavier, stiffer skis that are stable at high speed, can power through rough snow, and provide secure grip on steep slopes. 

By shape we mean what a ski looks like when viewed from the top and the side. The top view is the PlanShape and the side view is the Profile. 

Unless you’re looking at a very old ski or an FIS race ski, the tip and tail of skis will be noticeably wider than the waist – which is approximately midway between the tip and tail. This curve along the length of the ski is known as the 'side cut'.

The waist or ‘under foot’ measurement is what most people talk about when comparing skis, because it’s a rough guide towhat sort of skiing the ski is most suited to. For example a ski that’s narrow under foot with a significantly wider tip and tail will tend to make tighter turns than a wider waisted ski. 

This curve along the edge of the ski plan shape is actually a section of a circle and is called the Turn Radius.  

The things you're looking at when you’re evaluating at a ski from its side profile are the Camber, Effective Edge, Rocker, and Splay. 

When you lay a ski flat on the floor with no weight on it, the middle section will sit a few milimetres above the ground. That curve is the camber. When the ski is weighted by you on the snow, the camber builds up a springy rebound force that gives a feeling of ‘pop’ or energy to the ski. You can test this rebound force by pushing down on the middle of the ski with your hand until it’s flat on the floor, and then releasing it.  

In general, the higher amount of camber a ski has, the springier it will be. This popiness will be appreciated more by advanced and expert skiers who want to press hard against the ski and then have it bounce back to propel them powerfully into their next turn. 

Skis intended mainly for hard, icy snow, groomed runs and race skis usually have a very long cambered portion for grip, and skis with a more off-piste focus have a shorter cambered section for easier turning in rough snow.

Skis with no camber or reverse camber are very rare and are limited to dedicated powder skis.

Your edges are what grip the snow, and are made of stainless steel. In hard or icy conditions, you want a lot of edge biting the snow to stop your skis sliding out from underneath you. However, the trade-off is that with a longer effective edge you must put more energy into bending the ski before it will turn. That’s why a shorter effective edge is better for beginners and intermediates – see the next section on Rocker. 

Rocker is a term borrowed from surfboard design, and refers to the way the base of the ski slowly rises up from the points where the ski’s base touches the floor. Some skis have rocker at the front and rear, and others only have front rocker. 

Rocker helps the ski glide up and over bumps and lumpy snow off-piste. And when the ski is tipped on edge rocker helps guide the tip of the ski into the turn. Rockered skis are great for any level of skier in New Zealand because we get a bit of everything on our ski fields – icy to powdery, and everything in between and sometimes all in the same day! 

Because rocker lifts the edge of the ski off the snow when the ski is angled over in a carved turn, rockered skis have less effective edge.That means they have less bite on icy slopes, and it’s why race skis don’t have rocker – just full camber with a tiny bit of tip splay. 

On the other hand skis designed for soft snow and powder have lots of rocker and a very short camber section. Edge hold isn’t such a concern in soft and deep snow, because it’s all about being able to float up and over the snow. 

The tips and sometimes also the tails of skis are flipped up. The distance between the tips is the splay. Splay is a bit like rocker because it helps you glide over bumps and patches of rough or deep snow. 

For that reason off-piste skis have more splay than groomer skis. You’ll also see skis with a lot of splay at their tail too - known as ‘Twin Tip’ skis. The tail splay is so skiers can ski backwards – aka Switch. Park skis and some powder skis (for super expert level skiers who want to do tricks off jumps and land or take off backwards) have a lot of tail splay. These Atomic Bent 100 skis have lots of tip and tail rocker and twin tip splay.

We have demo models of our most popular skis, so you can try before you buy. This is a great option if you’re here for a week or two. Come and see us on the day you arrive and get an expert recommendation, then hire a demo ski for your first day or two before making your buying decision – certain you’ve made the right choice. 

If you’re super organised and already have a shortlist you can book your ski demo hire online now.