Ski Magazine's testers put 15 women's wide all-mountain skis through their paces at the 2026 Deer Valley test in Utah, tackling groomers, chop and chopped-up powder across nine scoring criteria. The brief was simple: find skis around 100–110mm underfoot that float on powder days but still hold an edge when the mountain gets cut up. Five skis rose to the top.
Taking Best in Test is the Nordica Santa Ana 102 ($900), a ski testers described as utterly dependable and calm through rough snow, thanks to two sheets of Titanal. The catch: it's stiff, demanding strong legs and an aggressive style, so it's not the pick for newer skiers. The Blizzard Sheeva 10 ($850) won Most Fun — playful and lively, with metal only along the edges, making it stable yet easy to whip through trees and bumps. Testers said it helps intermediates level up, though its soft shovel struggles in heavy crud.
For deep days, the Salomon QST 106 ($850) earned Best for Powder honours. It's the widest of the group at 106mm and surfy, stable and confident when the snow turns weird — but heavy on hardpack and short on ice grip. The Atomic Maven 103 CTi ($850) is the Quickest: light, nimble and forgiving, ideal for smearing turns and tree runs, with tip chatter at speed and a clear preference for soft snow. Finally, the Fischer Ranger 102 ($850) — the only unisex ski in the top five — took Most Forgiving, opening up powder bowls to intermediates, though experts may overpower it and it washes out on firm snow.
A few patterns emerged. Four of the five winners cost $850, so price isn't a differentiator here — fit to your skiing style is. Metal construction (Titanal) separates the damp, hard-charging picks from the lighter, more playful ones. And as the title suggests, the old assumption that a women's ski that's soft and forgiving must be flimsy doesn't hold: several of these skis are both approachable and genuinely capable in crud.
Who's this for? Skiers who live where it snows a lot — the source suggests anyone with 200-plus inches of annual snowfall can justify a wide daily driver. If your resort mostly serves firm groomers, a narrower ski still makes more sense, and these are better viewed as the powder-day weapon in a two-ski quiver. Intermediates should look at the Sheeva 10, Ranger 102 or Maven 103 CTi; confident chargers should shortlist the Santa Ana 102; powder hunters, the QST 106.
