What's your favorite ski magazine?

Powder.

But the print versions of Skiing last season were pretty good too.

Other: Backcountry.

I also like Powder and Ski Journal. I'm a snowboarder, but most snowboard magazines chug nards (unless you're 13 years old or an immature man child), so I mostly stick to reading ski magazines. Years ago, they made a snowboard mag written for actual adults (Snowboard Life), and it lasted all of a year or two. Snowboard Journal is pretty awesome, and I have some hopes for Kronicle (though the stupid name dashes some of those hopes), which launched last winter as a snowboard-specific version of Backcountry.

I prefer the one that comes to my mailbox free of charge year after year.  Really crammed with resort town ads and biased $$$$ gear reviews, but I like to look at those too.  I can look at the more expensive ones in the dentist office

Freeze was probably the best "newschool" magazine.  Pretty sure they stopped publishing it a few years back though.  Freeskier isn't terrible but it doesn't offer much in the way of real content...mostly ads and biased gear reviews. 

I'd like Powder better if they would use larger print font (like any good porn, they have great pictures, but I read the stories too).  I voted for SKI, but they focus too much on non-ski stuff (food, lodging, spas, etc).  "Skiing" is about right, but they hosed me on a 3 year subscription and sometimes veer off into the absurdly juvenile, like pictures of McConk's junk (note to self - never get more than a 1 year subscription to any ski magazine - ).

Freeze was great.  They captured what was going on during skiing's resurgence in 1999-2002 while other magazines didn't.  IIRC they stopped publishing around 2005 (and as a result, I haven't seen Brad Holmes since.)  Freeskier magazine tries to fill that void, but it just isn't quite the same. 

Other: Backcountry Magazine

The Ski Journal is 2nd.  

Quote:

Originally Posted by JoeUT 

Other: Backcountry.

 

I also like Powder and Ski Journal. I'm a snowboarder, but most snowboard magazines chug nards (unless you're 13 years old or an immature man child), so I mostly stick to reading ski magazines. Years ago, they made a snowboard mag written for actual adults (Snowboard Life), and it lasted all of a year or two. Snowboard Journal is pretty awesome, and I have some hopes for Kronicle (though the stupid name dashes some of those hopes), which launched last winter as a snowboard-specific version of Backcountry.

Hey Joe,

You may want to check out frequency The Snowboarder's Journal. www.frqncy.com

Ski Canada, by a mile. Besides the useful, non-cutsie summaries for each ski, and graphs comparing each ski to all the others in the category for appropriate conditions and skier style, they have individual ski scores in a variety of categories (like SkiPressWorld used to) for the quant freaks among us, and best, rundowns on each tester (background, size, style, sponsors if applicable, and top three individual skis tested). Nothing else comes even close in terms of info to sift through. Which is the point of these things, not actually agreeing.  

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wibby 

 

Hey Joe,

 

You may want to check out frequency The Snowboarder's Journal. www.frqncy.com

Yeah that's the one I was thinking of, got the name wrong. Great mag, just wish it came out more often (though then it probably wouldn't be as good).

Quote:

Originally Posted by beyond 

Ski Canada, by a mile. Besides the useful, non-cutsie summaries for each ski, and graphs comparing each ski to all the others in the category for appropriate conditions and skier style, they have individual ski scores in a variety of categories (like SkiPressWorld used to) for the quant freaks among us, and best, rundowns on each tester (background, size, style, sponsors if applicable, and top three individual skis tested). Nothing else comes even close in terms of info to sift through. Which is the point of these things, not actually agreeing.  

Agreed, Ski Canada's ski testing is superb. I really like the bar graphs that they use such as ski flex: soft to stiff; ability level:beginner to expert; turning radius, ease of turn initiation, stability, ideal for:soft snow to hard snow, etc. Some of the ski tester comments are entertaining as well. They also list every model of ski for sale in Canada. Last year there were 1000 different ski models which imo is way too much choice.

They have some really interesting contributing writers who are usually a good read. They did a really good article a few years ago about the incident at Kicking Horse where a Quebec couple went under a rope and were lost and wandered around outside KH's boundary for a week with the wife dying from exposure before the rescuers found them.

Ski Canada also has a great Spring issue every year called "The Best of Skiing in Canada" which is both informative and funny. Anyone can invent a category and submit it to the magazine with rankings and perhaps photos and they will likely print it. Some of the categories from the past include Best Powder, Best Tree Skiing, Most Snow, Best Apres Ski, Biggest Vertical, Best Grooming, Best Off Piste, Friendliest Locals, Best Skiing Weather, (I don't recall a Most Fog or Most Wind but then they are trying to promote the sport), Most Like Skiing in Colorado, Most Gnar, Best Cafeteria Food, Best Place to Party, Get Married, Get Lost, Kids Program, Race Training Program, Trail Signs, Trail Names, Parking, Pizza, Cinnamon Buns, Ski In/Out, Lift Accessed Hike to Back Country, Non Ski Activities, Ski With a Celebrity etc. It is my favourtie issue.

The Ski Journal...I've gotten all the issues. Love the quality, photography and articles.

I've had a subscription for Ski Canada for at least 10 years, but I didn't renew it. Besides the ski test, the rest of the mag felt like a repeat of stories from previous seasons. It got tiring.

As for a Canadian magazine, I've liked what SBC Skier has been putting out.

Powder is my favorite largely because I get a free copy at Matchstick Productions movies. I've only heard good things about Ski Journal, and have seen some of the photography that goes into it, but buying magazines is way down on my list of things to spend money on.