Ski Kit
Beginner / Budget
All the gear you need to get off to a successful start on the slopes.
Skiing is often described by people as a lifelong love affair. But everybody needs to start that relationship somewhere, and that includes getting the right gear for learning and progressing on the slopes. This Beginner Ski Kit is crafted to achieve that goal: All of the products are picked with comfort, value, and safety in mind, so you can concentrate on perfecting your turns, not on what you’re wearing. This gear will get you from the bunny slopes to blue runs (and beyond)—at which point you should check our Intermediate Ski Kit.
K2 BFC 80 ($350)
Rossignol Arcade 78 + Xpress 10 GW ($500)
REI Co-op Powderbound Insulated ($229)
REI Co-op Powderbound Insulated ($159)
Smith Transfer ($58)
Giro Ratio MIPS ($145)
Dakine Titan Gore-Tex ($94)
Helly Hansen Lifa Stripe ($50)
Smartwool Full Cushion OTC ($31)
Evo Merge ($50)With a comfort-first width and learner-friendly stiffness, the BFC 80 is a great starter boot. It’s not so burly that you’ll be fighting against it while you’re progressing (quickly, of course) through your pizza and french fries, but it’s still made with K2’s high-quality construction.
Beginners should opt for a relatively narrow ski (between 70 and 88mm underfoot), and the Arcade 78 is just about in the middle of that range. This ski also comes pre-mounted with a dependable binding, which sweetens the deal even more.
Putting a ski kit together from scratch is hard on the wallet, but the Powderbound Insulated offers warmth, comfort, and functionality in an affordable package. That means more cash for the rest of your gear (including the pants version of this jacket, below).
Weather Protection
Warmth
Comfort
Breathability
Durability
Sustainability
Know what’s sweet? Rocking a matching top and bottom on the hill. Know what’s even sweeter? When the pants cost less than $200 and still get the job done in most conditions (they might get overwhelmed in wet snow, though).
Weather Protection
Warmth
Comfort
Breathability
Durability
Sustainability
Perhaps more so than any other piece of ski gear, goggles are suffering from price creep. But the Transfer (and its smaller version, the Tribute) bucks that trend as a true entry-level design from one of the category’s most storied brands.
With a soft, warm interior and adjustable ventilation, the Giro Ratio is a great resort lid at a value price. It’s bulkier and won’t have as long of a lifespan as premium alternatives, but it’s among the most versatile budget designs we’ve tested.
Comfort
Warmth
Ventilation
Weight & Bulk
Durability
Sustainability
Even new skiers have heard a lot about Gore-Tex. The Titan (and the women’s Sequoia) provides that brand’s excellent waterproofing—in addition to a robust feature set—without a premium price tag. It’s an attractive glove no matter your experience level.
Warmth
Waterproofing
Dexterity
Comfort
Durability
Sustainability
The Lifa Stripe is an iconic base layer that costs just $50. It’s all function: The polypro material feels somewhat plasticky and isn’t particularly cozy, but it moves sweat away from the skin and dries quickly. At this price, that’s really all you need.
Warmth
Breathability
Durability
Comfort
Odor Resistance
Sustainability
As you’ve surely noticed, comfort is a major factor in this kit. These socks max out their cushion (it’s right there in the name!) while adding warmth and wicking away sweat.
Simplicity is the key to a lot of beginner- and budget-friendly ski gear, and that’s especially true when it comes to poles. The Merge’s classic aluminum design will be all you need for keeping your hands in front (trust us, you’ll learn) and pushing on cat tracks.
How We Built the Beginner / Budget Ski Kit
If there’s one thing that skiers of all levels are afraid of, it's getting too cold on the slopes. Nobody wants to freeze their butt off, but people who are learning how to link turns are usually more at risk: They might be standing around listening to a ski instructor, fiddling with their gear more often, or just moving more slowly in general. (We’re not judging! Learning is a process! But all of that is generally true for beginners.) Additionally, there’s little reason for somebody who’s hitting the slopes for the first time to buy the most expensive gear available—or even a bunch of mid-range products, to be honest. There’s a possibility that they might not vibe with the sport overall, and if they’re building their kit from scratch, buying everything at once gets really expensive, really fast.
Thus, the apparel pieces we chose for our Beginner Ski Kit all have two things in common: a healthy amount of warmth, but without a price tag that’ll give you the chills. The REI Powderbound Insulated Jacket and Pants are two great examples of those traits; they cost less than $400 combined, which is a smaller investment than many of the premium ski jackets in our gear guide by themselves. (The Helly Hansen Alpha 4.0, for example, will run you $485.) However, both Powderbounds contain enough synthetic insulation to keep you warm when temps are in the high 20s (and if it gets colder than that, you can always don thick layers under them). REI’s 2-layer Peak membrane is reliable in cold snow but less so in warm, wet slop—if you want outerwear that offers better protection, get something with Gore-Tex. Just remember that you’ll be paying more for the privilege.
Having said that, our glove pick, the Dakine Titan Gore-Tex, has that sweet, sweet name-brand waterproofing and costs only $94. Yes, you can go cheaper in the glove department—the Flylow Tough Guy costs $50, and The North Face’s Montana glove comes in at $65—but the former lacks waterproofing and the latter can’t match the Titan’s feature set. With a removable fleece liner glove, integrated goggle and nose wipes, a pocket on the back of the hand for holding small items or a hand warmer, and insulation that stays toasty into the mid-20s, this glove has just about everything you could want from a piece of gear that’s less than a Benjamin. (The Titan also comes in mitten form, but since beginners are more likely to fiddle with their gear, we thought it’d be best to opt for the more dexterous option.)
To round things out, our base layer choice, the Helly Hansen Lifa Stripe Long-Sleeve Crew, is the cheapest model we tested in its category. Base layers are often an afterthought for even the most hardened ski veterans, though, and the Lifa Stripe wicks well enough and feels fine enough that you’ll probably forget about it while you work on your form. Plus, if the mercury dips below what the Lifa Stripe and the Powderbound can handle, you can throw on a warm, affordable midlayer to stoke the furnace—the synthetic Rab Cirrus Flex Insulated Jacket ($165) is one of our favorites.
As with apparel, beginner skiers also don’t need top-of-the-line models when it comes to boots and skis. However, the reasoning behind that nugget of advice has more to do with performance than price (though the latter is still important, and our boot and ski picks cost hundreds of dollars less than high-end alternatives). Simply put, people who are learning how to ski will benefit most from a ski boot with a soft flex and a roomy fit rather than one with a stiff and low-volume build, and will find it much easier to progress on a narrow ski than a wide one.
Let’s get into boots first. Beginners should target a boot with a low (or “soft”) flex rating, which is roughly between 70 and 90. A soft boot means less to fight against as they get a feel for the snow, the connection between their boots and their skis, and how to shift their weight and flex their legs, ankles, and feet to initiate a proper turn. Put somebody who’s sticking to greens in a stiff model—experts go up to 130 flex—and they’ll likely be unable to adequately power the boot enough so that it flexes and moves with them, thus ending up in the back seat. That feeling will make learning to link turns uncomfortable at best and impossible at worst. Preventing it is one of the main reasons we chose the K2 BFC 80, which has a beginner-friendly flex rating of 80.
As you advance as a skier, you can—and absolutely should—buy boots that are stiffer and will respond to your input by transferring more power to your skis. Those boots might also be low-volume (which grants more precision), but beginners will benefit more from a wide, accommodating model that won’t pinch their feet and is relatively easy to put on and take off. Comfort is once again the name of the game, and the BFC’s 103-millimeter last (the measurement at the boot’s widest point) grants plenty of wiggle room, which matters whether you’re skiing bell to bell or using ski boots for the first time. There are other boots out there with generous (or “high-volume”) widths—check out Tecnica’s HV across its various boot lines, as well as Nordica’s 104-millimeter-wide Cruise series, which also features an 80-flex model.
Our rationale for prioritizing user-friendliness over performance also applies to our ski pick, the Rossignol Arcade 78. It has a narrow waist (the width at the skinniest part of the ski, directly under your foot) that makes initiating a turn and getting a feel for your edges a whole lot easier than if you were using a wider ski. Beginners might wonder why their skis look like toothpicks compared to the fat, powder-hungry models they might see in the lift line, but trust us: You’ll have a lot more fun on those kinds of skis if you put in the work learning how to properly turn on narrow skis. (Plus, novice skiers will likely be sticking to groomed slopes, and thus don’t need the increased flotation of wider skis.) For more on the topic, see our article: Ski Width, Explained.
Reliable and effective. That’s what you want from all your ski gear, but especially the hard goods that help get you through your ski day in one piece—in the context of this guide, that means your helmet, goggles, and poles. The first of those, the Giro Ratio MIPS, protects your noggin with MIPS tech, which has become the industry standard for safety. MIPS (which stands for Multi-directional Impact Protection System) is a plastic layer inside the helmet that moves separately from the shell, guarding against angled blows to the head. Combined with the Ratio’s hard ABS shell, MIPS will make sure you remember all of the progress you’re making on the slopes (including the times you fell). There are less expensive ski helmets out there, but they don’t have the Ratio’s combination of safety, adjustability, and breathability.
On the other end of the tech spectrum, the Smith Transfer lacks many of the features that make Smith’s ski goggles some of the most popular on the mountain. It doesn’t have the brand’s high-definition lens construction, or a field-of-view-expanding shape, or a particularly trendy aesthetic. But you know what the Smith Transfer does have? Smith’s customary build quality, a lens that you can swap depending on light conditions, and double-layer foam that improves on the single layer found in the majority of goggles at this price point. For less than $60, that’s a whole lot of features to like, especially considering that many high-end goggles soar above $300.
Finally, there’s not a ton to write about our pole pick, and that’s a good thing. Beginners don’t need to worry about swing weight, telescoping lengths, or extended grips. They need a pole they can use and abuse as they learn the ropes, including how to get on and off a chairlift and store all their gear correctly in their car. The minimal, aluminum Evo Merge can handle multiple seasons of just that, all for less than it’ll cost to get your skis tuned and waxed. (Well, unless you know someone in the shop. Here’s one more tip for beginners: Get to know your local ski techs, and bring a burrito or a six-pack if you want to get in their good graces.)
Is the Beginner Ski Kit for You?
Skiing can be intimidating, from both a skill and a financial standpoint. This kit features gear that won’t make you feel overmatched if you’re just starting out on the slopes, and it also won’t leave you feeling completely broke. Our picks all have an appealing blend of accessible but functional performance and reasonable prices, whether you’re easing into the sport or perhaps only hit the mountain a few times per year.
If you’ve worked your way up to blues and single blacks and are interested in leveling up your gear, check out our Intermediate Skiers Kit. Advanced and expert skiers should dive into our Freeride Kit or Backcountry Kit. There’s a wealth of awesome ski gear out there; let us be your guide to the highlights.
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