The Best All Mountain Skis For 2025 | Reviewed & Compared @ Newschoolers Gear Week

What's up everyone, it's Milo from New Schoolers. I'm here with Twig, we're at Sunshine Village for the 2024 gear test. We've had some of the freshest skis from all these brands out here. We've been putting them through their paces and these are our picks for best of test all-mountain skis. So, here at New Schoolers, we like to judge our all-mountain skis on a wide variety of conditions. We'll put them through the park, we'll take them in the pow, ski crods, ski groomers. We really try to get an overall picture of what this ski does. We pretty much arrange these skis here from like narrowest to widest and also from most freestyle, arguably to the most directional. But any of these skis pretty much works all kinds of conditions. They work in the park, they work in some pow. They handle a variety of conditions and they're all just really good skis that our testers loved. All right, first up we have the Atomic Vent 100. It's a super fun ski, super versatile. They've mixed it up a little bit this year. They've kept a lot of the good things from the old one. Still incredibly versatile. But the main thing they've changed is they've switched up the tail a little bit. You got a little deeper rocker lines here. Still not as much as the other skis here, but just adding that little bit more rise means the ski's way more drifty when you throw it sideways, especially in pow. And because they stiffened up the tail a little bit to compensate for the added rocker, there's no loss of carving performance to me. They still feel super natural. They're still, of these skis to me, the most powerful ski on edge. They're super fun. One of the great things about the Vent lineup is the Vent 120, the OG, was super popular for how surfy it was and playful. Chris Benchettla, super inspired by his surf roots. And it's super impressive that Atomic have managed to slim that amazing profile down and keep that surfiness and playfulness in this narrow platform. I think for a lot of people, a ski over 100 mil underfoot can be a little bit intimidating, especially if you've had a few knee injuries like we have. This doesn't lose too much in the pow for being 100 underfoot. For your kind of average pow day, like boot deep, knee deep, this is still gonna float, still gonna perform really well. But as Tweek said, great on groomers. For me, the stiffer tail is a huge plus. I like to take fatty to flatty and land back seat, so a little bit extra stability there really means that I don't watch out quite as much, although footage from the week may argue with that. I think that's a super good point about the more surfy feel of this one and comparing it to the other skis in the Vent family. Because I feel like with the old Vent, there was kind of a missing piece. The 110 and the 120 felt pretty similar, and then the 100 and the 99 felt pretty similar, but between the 100 and the 110, they were completely different skis. And now this one kind of sits more in the middle. It's a little bit looser. The 90 tracks way more on groomers. Or the 110, which is like a total freestyle ski. And these are kind of now a middle ground, which is sick to have. And it feels way more in tune with the Vent DNA compared to the older skis. One of the reasons we picked this for our first best of test all-mountain ski is our test of feedback was positive across the board. We've had people take this into the back falls, into the dive, jumping off cliffs, hitting pillows, but we've also had people doing fours on, doing crazy spins and like that in the park. And I think we've got such a wide variety of testers here, which is one of the things that is so good about this week. Honestly, like Marla said, pretty much anyone could love this ski. They could be your park ski if you like a wider ski, because they're pretty light, the swing weight's low. They could be a backcountry touring ski. Again, light, check a shift on it and go. They're gonna be a pretty good, versatile, bit of everything ski. And if you're out East, they could even be a power ski. They're pretty wide. They float really well for how wide they are. And yeah, they're just super fun. Really enjoy them. I think most people will enjoy them. It wasn't a ski I came into the test looking forward to loving, but it turns out, I guess I am a Ben 100 skier. Next up, we have the Depart by Salomon. It's a whole new take on the freestyle ski. It took us a long time to decide whether to put this one in the park bracket or the all-mountain bracket. At the end of the day, it's so much fun to turn on and it has a lot of power. We decided this is a really versatile ski and it has to go in this category. The Salomon Depart is kind of a part of this new direction from Salomon. They're jumping back into the freestyle game. It's been developed with a really versatile and creative group of skiers, taking skiing in a new direction. This is the tool they designed to help them do that. First thing you're gonna notice about these skis is they have a super unique shape. They got this pinned tip and a pretty squared-off tail and they also have a lot of rocker. Rocker from the tips down to here, tail here, and that makes them incredibly surfy. They really wanna go sideways. This tip tracks super well in any kind of snow conditions and that's why we like them. Even as a powder ski, these things go. As you can see, when I try and flex it, it's a pretty stiff ski with really deep rocker lines and a stiff layup. This ski is playful yet stable and you can butter it and bend it, but you gotta put a little bit of effort into that. That also gives it these great properties for all-mountain skiing and this ski, when you drive it, it goes, you can crank it over, rail turns, it's really nimble. A lot of what Marla said, I agree with. I also think something that's crazy fun about this ski is the tight turn radius. It's a 15-meter radius and you can really feel it when you put them on edge. They're a bit wide, but they really turn. You can lay into a turn, you can get your shoulder down, they're not gonna fold out on you. And the same thing goes, you take them into the park, they're super quick. For carving between features and popping off lips and all of that kind of thing, these things are a dream, they're really, really fun. I think what we've seen in a lot of the all-mountain freestyle ski space is a return to the turn, the tight radius is coming back, the art of the turn is not lost. And yeah, if you want a turny ski that can take you anywhere, get this Rasta Base. Next up, we have the Scott SEA 108. It stands for Ski Everywhere Anytime. And to be fair, that's pretty much what this ski can do. It's another really unique new shape and a new take on the all-mountain freestyle kind of ski. It's pretty different from a lot of the other skis here in that it's pretty directional in terms of flex. The tail's pretty stiff, it's great for stomping drops, but the nose is plenty playful. It likes to surf on top of snow and drift around. It's definitely party up front, business in the rear. The SEA has a bit of this camber in the nose to provide some float. I definitely really enjoyed these not pushed forward like we always do with our skis, a little bit more on the recommended line to be able to get over the front of the skis, drive through the nose, and really attack the full line when you're skiing. I would pick this as a kind of daily driver ski. It really can ski anywhere on the mountain. You can do banger frontside laps, lay in trenches in Corduroy, and then when those back ball zones open up, you take it in there and you don't miss a beat. You're just straight in there, slashing turns and dropping clips. Yeah, I totally agree with that. I think these are the kind of ski that you pick if you wanna ski some freestyle, but it's not your first priority to be lapping the park every day. They have enough freestyle chops to feel good in the park, to feel buttery. You can land switch and pow. They work, but they're fundamentally a more directional ski than some of the other skis here. That adds a totally different element to things. So if you're the kind of skier that wants to ski a couple tight lines in a day, but maybe chuck a three in there every now and then, great landing platform, but they're not the ski that's like your first priority is spinning all the time. I think most people could hop on this ski and have a really good time all over the mountain. I didn't have a learning curve to get used to the shape. It feels very natural and well-built, well-designed. You just get on them and they're easy to ski. They might not be the most aggressive ski out there, but anyone can have a good time on these. Lives up to its name. Ski everywhere, anytime. This ski's a banger. Next up on the list of best of test all-mountain skis is the Dynastar M3 108. This is a really popular ski. I've seen it all over the mountains this winter. Everybody loves it. It's been updated a little bit. I took this out pretty firm morning laps, first day, and had to really push into this ski. But when you do, you get a lot out of it. You can really.