Forecasters are pointing to a strong, possibly historic El Niño this winter, and that means one thing for skiers: the storm track could unload anywhere. The smart play, as Ski Magazine frames it, is to be ready to drop everything and go — the gear packed, the bag by the door, and a shortlist of resorts ready when the snow starts flying.
The outlet's gear team rounded up the setup their testers reach for when chasing powder across North America. On skis, the Salomon S/Lab QST X gets top billing: a 116mm waist with a freeride rocker that floats through both champagne powder and dense, surfy snow, weighing about 2,000 grams per ski at 184cm. Cork in the tip and tail plus flax and carbon fibers keep it stable, and it's light enough to pair with a touring binding if you want to slip out of bounds.
That binding question is solved by Salomon's redesigned S/Lab Shift 2 10 — beefed up in the heel and toe this year to cut pre-release, it skis like an alpine binding but flips into tour mode for short skins. For boots, Tecnica's new Zero G Decoy Pro is pitched as the one-pair answer: a stiff 130 flex for inbounds days, with a glove-friendly walk-mode lever for bootpacks and skintracks.
Storm skiing lives and dies on staying dry and seeing clearly. Outdoor Research's 3-layer PowSlacker jacket and pants — Gore-Tex ePE, a cinchable storm hood, and a transceiver pocket in the pants — handle the temperature swings of a storm cycle. Smith's 4D MAG ChromaPop goggles come with a magnetic lens swap you can pull off on a gondola ride, with a photochromic option for storm light that keeps shifting. Black Diamond's Mercury Mittens (fleece-lined gauntlet, waterproof BD.dry insert) and a spare Skida Alpine Neckwarmer — swapping to a dry one at lunch can buy you hours — round out the soft goods.
For out-of-bounds ambitions, safety comes first. Mammut's Barryvox S2 is the pro-grade beacon here, with a 70-meter range, Group Check modes, and a new Rescue Send that flips back to transmit if you've been motionless for four minutes. The Dakine Heli Pro 20L carries shovel and probe in a dedicated pocket plus a fleece-lined goggle pocket. Getting it all there is Backcountry's BGA Cottonwood rolling bag, which swallows two pairs of skis up to 195cm and rolls down smaller when it's not full.
Why does this matter for a holiday-planner rather than a gear nerd? Because El Niño winters reward flexibility. If the storm track lands in your region, you want gear that works for both resort laps and quick tours — one ski, one boot, one bag — so booking a trip on a whim doesn't require a second set of kit. Intermediates through hard-chargers are covered: the recommended ski suits both, and the hybrid boots and bindings blur the line between inbounds and out.
Story via Ski Magazine.
