It’s that time of the year again! Despite record-warm temperatures and historically low snowpack around the Mountain West this year, Grand Targhee has somehow held on through the storm (or lack thereof).
Good thing we’re heading there this week for the return of the legendary POWDER Week–there’s a deep base on the ground, excellent spring skiing, and a storm on the horizon with more powder on tap. For 2026, we’re bringing together a diverse crew of testers, our production team, and POWDER staff to put 44 of next year’s skis through their paces.
How POWDER Week ski testing works:
In case you haven’t been following POWDER’s Gear Locker reviews, we take ski testing very seriously here. Throughout the year, myself and a team of testers is getting extensive time on various skis, boots, bindings, apparel, and accessories–but POWDER Week is where the real magic happens. This is our chance to assemble a team of ski testers (dream gig? yes!) from across the country and gather in one place (thanks, Targhee!) and dive deep into on-snow comparisons, get extra time on gear we might want to learn more about, and shoot all of our gear video and photo content for our Annual Gear Guide.
Photo: Hanne Lundin
For 2026, we’ve got 44 ski models from 12 manufacturers on deck. These are broken into 3 categories: all-mountain, freeride, and powder. We’ve also got a special highlight category of all women’s-specific gear within those. For the first few days, each tester will be assigned a smattering of skis, ensuring they get several hours of ski time per model before swapping out. Later in the week, testers will get a chance to spend more time on models of their choice.
We’re looking forward to 6 days on snow together, and are very grateful to be able to take advantage of everything Targhee has to offer: 2600 skiable acres, 500+ inches of snow, a 2270-foot vertical drop, a very high base elevation (7850 feet), and epic advanced and expert terrain.
What skis will be at POWDER Week 2026?
We’ve got 44 skis committed to being tested at POWDER Week. You’ll have to wait until the fall to see the exact models, but we can let you know what brands will be there. See below:
- Salomon
- Atomic
- K2
- Völkl
- Nordica
- Armada
- Dynastar
- Rossignol
- Stöckli
- Ellis
- Elan
- Blizzard
