La Sportiva

Syborg Alpine Touring Ski

La Sportiva designed the Syborg Alpine Touring Ski to be a lightweight, high-quality rando racing and mountaineering ski for folks who don't necessarily feel like spending their life savings on a ski that weighs negative two pounds. At about 3.5 pounds per pair, the Syborg is still ridiculously light, but it's tough enough that you don't need to treat it with kid gloves when you're hitting the skin track or the descent. Like any good mountaineering ski, it has full camber for plenty of edging power. It also has torsion box construction and multiple carbon fiber and fiberglass laminates for lightweight stiffness.

Combine these features with the Light Karuba Paulownia wood core, and it's not surprising that the Syborg can hold its own against race boards that cost twice as much and weigh just a few ounces less. Don't confuse it with a powder ski—it is only 65mm underfoot, after all—but if you need to challenge for the top spot or speed up seriously long and arduous ascents, it has what you need. La Sportiva also gave it plenty of user-friendly touches like a reinforced sheet underfoot for bomber binding mounts, a speedy and pre-waxed P-Tex 5000 base, rubber-dampened steel edges for grip without the vibration, and a flat tail and tip notch for easy skin attachment.