Gear Review: Dynafit Cho Oyu

[Ski mountaineer’s dream] If you spend most of your time touring to technical peaks and then carefully etching your way down them, the Cho Oyu is your choice. It features carbon stringers (which stiffen the ski) spread over the surface of a wood core, and carbon inlays in the tip that help lighten the ride. The result is a ski that whips around on a dime while also being stiff and stable. The rockered tips also help them break trail on the uphill and dampen the vibration of frozen faces on the down. We toured them to the top of 10,567-foot Hayden Peak in Montana’s Beartooths, and loved them on the long, buttery descent. We were intrigued about the triple radius in the sidecut (flared in the front for float, shorter and narrower underfoot for max stability and balance, and shortest in back for poppy turning). After testing that included open-bowl descents, steep hardpack in tight trees, and tight, controlled turns through a melted out gully, we were sold. Bonus: They also shined in the bumps at Colorado’s Copper Mountain Resort. Tradeoff: A few testers found them chattery on resort groomers. $800; 4 lbs. 10 oz. (174); 174 (125-88-111), 182 (125- 89-111), 191 (126-90-111); dynafit.com