You’ve moved past the rental line and are ready to buy your first pair of skis—but with so many options out there, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed. Good news: there’s no such thing as a bad ski anymore.

Testing skis isn’t easy. Especially when there are 23 brands, 24 testers, and over 100 pairs of skis that need a fair shake. But, when the powder cloud settles and the scores are tallied, there can ...