The Best Cross-Country Skis of 2027, for Beginners to Racers

What to know: Testers in the Midwest and Maine put more than 56 demo cross-country skis to the test. They named the Salomon Escape Outpath 65 Grip Cross-Country Skis with Prolink Bindings as the most versatile for skiing in and out of tracks. For skiers who like to go fast, they named the Fischer Speedpro 50 Skate as the best budget race ski.

Cross-country skiing is surging in popularity in the U.S. That expansion is due, in part, to the broad range of ski styles that suit every fitness level.

We tested all three styles of cross-country skis, including skate, classic, and backcountry. From a pool of 56 demo models, we evaluated skis that are optimized for beginners as well as models capable of helping accomplished skiers push their limits. From the most versatile in tracks to the best pairs for racing, these six cross-country skis impressed our testers most.

Best Cross-Country Skis: At a Glance

The Reviews: Best Cross-Country Skis

With a tip that’s barely narrower than the machine-set, 68-millimeter cross-country ski tracks grooved into Nordic trails, the versatile Escape Outpath impressed testers in all situations shy of deep snow. “It feels snappy and efficient,” reports our Maine tester after logging 20 miles on groomed and ungroomed terrain. “Very energy conserving.”

This narrow-waisted ski is a true jack-of-all-trades: It climbs, descends, easily breaks trail, and reliably floats atop several inches of fresh snow (though it became overwhelmed in more than 4 inches of powder). “It doesn’t feel squirrely on the downhills like most other skis I’ve used,” reports one novice skier.

Several design factors explain this ski’s multi-faceted performance. The three-quarter-length metal edge has a softer flex, particularly in the tip—which is built around a core made of lighter, bendier recycled ABS material that facilitates flotation on ungroomed snow. Those soft tips also adapted to other terrain features (such as the curves on classic tracks) and made this ski feel unusually easy to control in tracks and out.

A wood core and ample camber in the rest of the ski achieves a winning balance of energy and stability. “I loved the edge grip I felt on icy descents,” said one tester (who used this ski with the backcountry-oriented Salomon Escape Outrack boot). Novices appreciated its low-effort responsiveness; advanced skiers praised its playful personality and long, speed-preserving glide. In deeper snow, the Fischer S-Bound 98 Crown bested its performance, but for enjoying groomed conditions and light-duty trail-breaking, the Escape Outpath 65 was our definitive winner.

Best All-Conditions Midfat Ski

Rossignol BC85 Positrack Cross-Country Skis

Sidecut: 85-61-75
Weight: 5 lbs 8 oz (per pair)
Length: 165-195 cm

Pros and Cons
+ Handles mixed conditions, from firm snow to powder
+ Easy to turn
– Heavy for a midfat

On tours that include the full range of snow conditions across mountain terrain, this ski shines. It’s narrow and stiff enough for efficient glide on flats (something that pack-laden testers appreciated as they logged miles-long commutes over frozen lakes). Its stiffness smooths the ride over chunky surfaces and provides reassuring grip on firm, wind-scoured descents. And its almost-fat width (85 millimeters at the tip) provided capable flotation in snow depths up to 10 inches.

Some of its success in mixed conditions comes from the tried-and-true pairing of a wood core with full metal edges, which bite into firm snow and provide a stable platform on chunky, cut-up slopes. Yes, that layup emphasizes stability over weight savings: It’s heavier than the Fischer S-Bound 98 Crown, for example, but more reassuring when sidehilling or descending through chop. The scaled bases delivered a likeable balance of grip and glide, and for steep climbs, attaching kicker skins ($150, sold separately) delivers skimo capability.

If cruising through touring centers is all you’ll do, the BC85 might be overkill. But if you need a versatile, all-conditions ski that performs reliably on off-piste mountain routes, here’s your winner.

Best Lightweight Wide Ski

Fischer S-Bound 98 Crown/Dual Skin Xtralite Cross-Country Skis

Sidecut: 98-69-88
Weight: 4 lbs 9 oz (per pair)
Length: 159-189 cm

Pros and Cons
+ Light enough for longer tours
+ Best-in-test grip
– Lacks stability on firm conditions

If fresh pow is what lures you onto the hills, here’s your joystick. This perennial favorite still earns high scores for being floaty yet light—and its bases dazzled testers with their best-in-test performance. “The scales gripped great in all conditions, even refrozen granular, and they never clumped up when I hit mixed-temperature snow that caused icing problems for other skis,” reported one tester.

Though it’s not the floatiest of them all, the S-Bound 98 Crown proved easier to turn in deep snow. Its lightweight paulownia wood and fiberglass core has hollow air channels throughout. Not only does the fiberglass reinforcement make the ski stronger than one with a solid wood core, but the air chambers distribute pressure better, too. A rockered tip preserves the ski’s underfoot camber while also floating to the surface and facilitating turns in deep, untracked snow. On our testing trip near Maine’s Medawisla Hut, narrow steel edges helped one novice skier feel confident on smooth, groomed descents, while the wide tips provided good flotation in 18 inches of freshies.

For touring on steeps, Fischer’s two compatible mohair and nylon skins—the short “EZ Skin” or the full-length “Super Skin”—create a lightweight skimo setup.

Best Budget Race Skate Ski

Fischer Speedpro Skate 50

Sidecut: 41-44-44
Weight: 2 lbs 6 oz (per ski)
Length: 168-204 cm

Pros and Cons
+ Light, stable, and affordable
+ Edgehold remains on uphills
– Best for beginners

Learning to skate ski requires coordination, making stability especially important in a beginner ski. But a stable beginner ski is often heavy, which can lead to fatigue. That’s why our testers gravitated toward Fischer’s entry-level race ski, the Speedpro Skate 50, as their beginner pick. It’s light and stable, but still affordable—all helpful ingredients for a first-timer.

To shave grams, Fischer built the Speedpro Skate 50 with the same “air core” construction used in its elite-level skis. Think of the ski’s core as a rectangular box made of ultralight wood. Inside, thin, wave-shaped walls of basalt-reinforced resin run the length of the ski, with air pockets in between. A lightweight fiberglass laminate reinforced with basalt fibers wraps the core, adding strength and torsional stiffness without much weight.

To improve stability, Fischer widened its contact areas and used a World Cup-level base that provides easy glide in a wide variety of snow temperatures. To add a hair more speed, they shaped it with a narrow, 41 millimeter tip that gave it an edge, especially on uphills.

Two testers used the Speedpro Skate 50 in varying snow conditions—sometimes all in the same day. During one 10-kilometer ski at Duluth’s Spirit Mountain Nordic Center after a late-spring storm, they started out in slushy, mashed potato snow at the bottom then climbed a few hundred feet to where the skate track was still frozen and riddled with chunks of ice that had fallen from trees. But the skis made it possible to steadily glide through the crud without a twist of the knee or ankle.

Salomon Equipe Pro Skate

Sidecut: 44-43-44
Weight: 2 lbs 2 oz (per pair)
Length: 177-192 cm

Pros and Cons
+ Super stable
+ Binding is adjustable on the fly
– Not as playful as other skis in its class

Salomon’s new Equipe Pro replaces the S/Max. The improved ski is 20 percent lighter, a feat accomplished by replacing the foam core with the brand’s in-house “Innowave” technology. Salomon’s air core, previously reserved for elite-level race skis, is engineered from paper and glue and encased by ultralight wood sidewalls—visualize a sidecut from the corrugated wall of a cardboard box, but exponentially stronger.

Even with the ski’s dramatic weight savings, it still feels grounded and stable underfoot, a hallmark of Salomon. The almost-always-in-control feeling is largely a result of the ski’s stiff flex profile (or the stiffness of the ski’s camber), which influences speed and turning. The Equipe Pro’s outer laminate is fiberglass from tip to tail, which is heavier than the thin-ply carbon used on elite-level skis, but it also provides stability while edging.

Our testers had fun using the Equipe Pro during a leisurely ski at Wisconsin’s Superior Municipal Forest, a mostly flat course interspersed with beautifully-groomed, fun, steep, and fast rollers. On their next time out, they took it up a notch on the 25-kilometer “Picnic Loop,” a series of seemingly endless and unforgiving hills deep in the Superior National Forest. Thanks to soft new snow and the comfort and stability of the Equipe Pro, they returned with limbs intact, which isn’t always the outcome on this remote and tiring loop.

Best All-Around Recreational Classic Ski

Atomic Pro C2 Skintec med + Shift CL

Sidecut: 44-44-43
Weight: 665 g (per ski, 196cm, with the binding installed)
Length: 178-205 cm

Pros and Cons
+ Works well in almost every condition
+ Comes with a durable, 100-percent mohair skin
– Quick studies may quickly outgrow this beginner-to-intermediate ski

The Atomic Pro C2 Skintec has been a top seller in Atomic’s lineup for ten years. But in late 2025, Atomic gave it a substantial makeover, shaving its weight by about eight percent, improving the camber to make it easier to kick, and simplifying the lengths and flexes.

The core is lightweight polyurethane foam (Densolite 300). Above and below that foam layer are fiberglass laminates. Carbon laminates are the go-to on higher-end skis, but fiberglass offers its own rewards—skiers can flatten the ski’s camber with less effort, which makes the kick easier. Fiberglass is also less springy than carbon, so the skis feel more stable and grounded, an attribute that stood out to both of our testers.

Of the six pairs of classic skis our tester sampled, the Pro C2 Skintec was best in all kinds of crazy backward conditions, from springtime slush in February to sub-arctic single digits in March.

As a bonus, the Pro C2 Skintec includes a set of 100 percent mohair skins, which offer the best combination of durability and water resistance and is simple to replace when it wears out (generally after 1,000 kilometers of skiing.)

How to Buy the Best Cross-Country Skis

Olympic racers compete in two dominant forms: Skate, in which skiers use a V-shaped stride that maximizes speed, and classic, using a parallel ski stance that looks like walking but with more glide. Both ski styles are intended for groomed cross-country ski trails, and both are accessible to newbies as well as elites.

A third type of cross-country ski is dedicated to off-trail adventure. Backcountry skis are generally wider for better flotation in uncompacted snow, with fish-scale texture on their bases that provide enough grip to stride uphill and glide down. While some classic skis have scaled bases, most—and all skate skis—rely on wax to deliver the desired balance of grip and glide.

When buying cross-country skis, it’s easy to get intimidated by Nordork speak, a tech-heavy vocabulary including terms like flex pattern, torsional stiffness, camber, grind, sidecut, and adjectives like soft, medium, stiff, extra stiff, cold, warm, and universal—all of which can apply to a different version of the same ski. Even Nordic ski manufactures admit it’s a little much, and the reason the industry is making a concerted effort to simplify the jargon for the sake of confused consumers.

Before you invest in new skis, take a ski lesson. If none are available in your area, there are some good tutorials online, including REI’s “Classic Cross-Country Skiing for Beginners” and “How To Skate Ski.” A good ski coach can break down technique in a way that makes it fun and easy to learn right off the bat so you can spend your remaining ski career feeling joy rather than frustration.

And before you buy a ski, it’s ideal to test it first—either at a race, festival, or shop that offers demo skis. It’s also a good idea to pick the brain of the Nordic manager in the ski shop who can direct you to the best ski for your weight and ability level (usually categorized as beginner, endurance/intermediate, and race).

How We Test the Best Cross-Country Skis

• Number of Testers: 14
• Number of Products Tested: 98
• Number of Kilometers Skied: 920
• Warmest and Coldest Days: 42 degrees and -5 degrees (but felt like -20)
• Earliest Start: 4 am
• Number of Faceplants: 3
• Number of Blisters: 4

For the backcountry test, Kelly Bastone organized two large-group testing sessions in February and March in Maine. One took place on trails around Carrabasset Valley. Some testers skied to the Poplar Stream Hut, part of Maine Huts and Trails network, for a mid-afternoon warmup with the hut’s complimentary tea and cocoa by the fire. Conditions were beautifully cold snow: five inches of fresh, compacted in places, with no ice or crust. The other session took place on a tester’s family property in central Maine in conditions that presented sun-warming snow on top of cold, fresh snow—a perfect recipe for clumping, which were also good conditions for testing. Bastone then tested skis closer to home in Yarmouth in variable conditions, involving crust layers and refrozen slush. It wasn’t ideal snow, but it was telling.

Stephanie Pearson and fellow tester Brian Hayden took the long approach to testing classic and skate skis, skiing over the course of four months in every condition. On weekdays, they rotated between five trail systems in Duluth and nearby Superior, Wisconsin. On weekends, they ventured farther north and east. It turned out to be a banner snow year in the upper Midwest with some of the best, most consistent snow in the country, from cold Styrofoam snow in December and January to perfect corduroy decks in February to corn snow in March. Even in early April, Pearson and Hayden were still skiing.

Meet Our Testers

Category Manager Kelly Bastone moved to the Colorado Rockies in 1998 and has pursued outdoor sports ever since. A freelancer who writes about gear and other outdoor topics for publications such as Backpacker, AFAR, and The Red Bulletin, Bastone has contributed many gear reviews to Outside over the years. An avid skier (resort, Nordic, and backcountry), fly-fisher, mountain biker, and mushroom forager, she gets the news she needs from the weather report.

Category manager Stephanie Pearson grew up in Duluth, cross-country skiing out her backyard. Realizing her skate skiing needed a tune-up, this season she took skate-skiing lessons with Kara Salmela, a former Olympic biathlete who coaches through Duluth XC Ski Club. Pearson started at Outside as an intern in 1995 and has worked on staff and as a contributing editor for three decades. She is also a National Geographic Explorer.