Icelantic

Keeper SKNY Ski

Every ski bro wishes there was deep pow 24/7/365, but, like finding a toilet made of solid gold, some things just aren't in the cards. Icelantic shrunk down the fat Keeper ski to create the brand-spankin'-new Keeper SKNY Ski for days when the white is a little more hardpack than blower and edge grip's a bigger deal than silly flotation. The SKNY has the same shape as its fat older brother, with traditional camber underfoot and rocker in the tip and tail so you can rail hardpack and float through rough and soft snow, but is only 95mm underfoot, so it's more of an all-mountain shredder than a specialized pow tool. The turning radius is still fun and manageable—just 19m in the 191—and the SKNY's Carbonium topsheets feature the same Travis Parr artwork as the chubby version, so you'll be all but guaranteed to be the most popular dude in the lift line.

Like most of Icelantic's sticks, the Keeper SKNY has a lightweight poplar core that's been overlaid with unidirectional and triaxial fiberglass laminates for stiffness both fore and aft and torsionally, and has a fiberglass mountain plate underfoot to improve binding retention. Using fiberglass instead of metal keeps the SKNY light and lively, so you'll be as nimble in the trees as you are solid on the hardpack. The Durasurf sidewalls and base are quicker than a greased mongoose, and the 2.2mm steel edges bite into the snow so you can rail turns in everything from wind chalk to frozen groomers to Sierra cement.