Atomic have always had a dedicated band of followers who believe it is truly the skier’s ski. This new model has caused great excitement in the industry because rather than a new season version of an existing model this is a brand-new model that fulfils Atomic’s eternal aim to create ever lighter, stronger and generally better skis than the ones that have gone before.  The Atomic Vantage is designed to be a truly powerful all mountain ski that can do it all – carve up the groomed runs, blast through the crud and float over the powder. The ski is reported to be exclusive to Ellis Brigham stores in the UK and has an RRP of £625 including bindings.

Salomon’s new S/LAB Shift binding has been seven years in development and the company believes will usher in a new next generation of freeride capability, blending the touring efficiency of a pin (low-tech) binding, with the performance of an alpine freeride binding. Designed for skiers who like to push the boundaries of the mountain and their skiing, Salomon are marketing the binding as the first ever truly compromise-free binding for ski tourers. Using a simple lever in the toe, you can transition from touring binding to a true alpine binding (toe and heel) with a 13 DIN for charging downhill. Plus, with 47 mm of elastic travel (same as the legendary STH2), the SHIFT's long toe wings offer top of the line energy transfer and efficiency.  Here's a video.  

If you want to move to a class above with your carving, the XO range from Swiss ski company  Exonde are exceptionally light yet powerful carving skis that are simply unlike anything else on the market – albeit with a serious price tag. The skis feature a traditional racing construction with a wood sandwich and fiberglass, high-quality steel edges and high-density base material but nothing else. With no metal and no binding/plate combination there’s a 30% weight saving over a conventional ski and at the heart of X.O is a wooden core manufactured to a hundredth of a millimetre. It’s “an authentic Swiss recipe, secret and unique,” the company says, using World Cup technologies and benefitting from hundreds of hours of testing. RRP £750

“Head’s Kore range captured everyone’s attention last year with its mix of class-leading performance and obvious light weight, and this new addition to line up is sure to be a big hit,” says Steve Wells, Buyer at Ellis Brigham.

Head have managed to reduce the weight of the ski still further thanks to the innovative use of a Karuba wood core combined with Graphene and Koroyd construction and the very clever approach to not using a traditional top sheet.  Even Google doesn’t seem to have heard of Karuba wood but it does say Caruba wood is a very lightweight - yet still very sturdy -  wood grown mostly in Brazil and harvested from the Copaiba Tree.  RRP £520

British freeskiing company PFD Skis (Pure Freeride Design) has launched its first ever snowboard for the 18-19 season. There are two designs – The Big Mountain Powder Plank, for charging the whole mountain on powder days and the BMPP Split, enabling snowboarders to benefit from the possibility of touring.  PFD only use the very best materials in their products ensuring that they are sustainably sourced including bamboo cores and top sheet, the flax-fusion, extra thick base and edge material, all of which help to boost performance and durability.

“We have always wanted to launch a freeride snowboard and we are really happy with the results,” said PFD Skis’ Founder Rupert Gammond, adding, “Taking our knowledge of ski construction and design and applying it to what is a high-performance freeride snowboard has been a great journey.

The 162cm BMPP Split freeride splitboard with Karakoram clips has an RRP of £900  

K2’s new women’s range LUV has five models topped by Tough Luv, a slightly wider ski designed for performance on the piste but, thanks to that extra width, also goo on bumps, popping between trees or floating through powder. The range has a full wood core with carbon stringers which reduce the ski’s weight compared to a traditional build by 10 percent. The skis feature K2’s BIOkonic core using fir and aspen wood and metal laminates increase precision. Speed rocker at the ski’s tip helps the skis run smooth handling in rougher terrain, with no loss of response on hardpacked snow.

For most of us that don’t have the budget or back strength to hump two or three pairs of skis to the slopes each winter a decision has to be made as to whether we invest in an ‘all-mountain’ ski which can do everything but can’t quite therefore be 100% good at  on piste as well as off and everything in between OR if we decide we want to spend all out time off the groomed runs and but a freeride ski or confess we actually like sticking to the piste and buy a pair of skis for the groomers. The X Max 10 delivers stability, power and precision on the piste and their new Edge Amplifier technology clearly improves performance further. The ski also has a completely redesigned ski/binding interface that transmits energy perfectly to the edge for exceptional grip.  RRP £495 (inc. bindings).

Elan is not a terribly well known ski company on the UK market but those who rent regularly overseas are increasingly likely to have come across it as it has certainly gained market share, particularly in the US as well as across much of Europe and even Asia. The Slovenian company’s Ripstick range. These freeride skis have been rated as a “game changer” by some enthuisiaswtic reviewers, including living legend freeskier Glen Plake, who has named them as one of his favourites.  Part of their popularity is their Amphibio camber profile which sees more camber on the inside edges and more rocker on the outside, delivering exceptional  grip and very easy transitions. RRP £575

Volkl skis never disappoint and the new RTM 79 models have received rave reviews in the trade press since they were first released for testing by shops and journalists at the end of last winter. The skis deliver a very smooth ride regardless of the conditions with the instant response and turning precision of the best piste skis. This is in large part down to its 3D Ridge and Dual Wood Core XL construction. For advanced to expert level skiers reviewers were rating this ski as best in class and saying for its price it is significantly less for the quality it delivers than its competitors. RRP £575 (inc. bindings).  

The ‘must have’ skis of recent years for the fashion-conscious skier, Black Crows, created by Julien Regnier, have restricted most of their 18-19 season updates to new graphics on their incredibly successful existing models. However there is a new tour version of the Anima series providing a lighter weight option of the existing versatile twin-rockered shape.  “The anima is a very stable ski and extremely stable at high speed. It will embrace a skiers creativity (big lines, jumps, quick pivot) and keep him on his feet,” the company claims. RRP £620  Here's a video...