No. 1 LINE MOTHERSHIP FROM £299

"Do you need a truly fat ski, or just a versatile do-everything machine? The real issue is this: does the Mothership cheat? Not in the sense of making you ski better (though it does) but does it cheat you of the knee/thigh-deep, over-your-head experience simply by floating better than an inflatable banana off the Balearic Coast?

If you can ski well but want to push your deep snow experience, the Mothers will grow on you and you on them: first turns are easy - you need all the float you can get, allied to a softish flex - and then they take you deeper by the day. Traditional powder skiers will miss that swooping, bouncing feedback on anything but the fluffiest snow.

The solution, whatever your size, is to get with the programme and move on a couple of decades, and ski in such a way as to invalidate the warranty on everything from your helmet downwards: it’s a whole new, slightly-blurry-at-the-edges view of the world, whether slicing and dicing a field of crud or burying yourself in white smoke.

If you think photogenic, massive slashing turns at snow-melting speeds then these skis are absolutely just the job. And that’s before you’re even started to go switch. Shouldering them is difficult too, either on the way to the car park or booting along a ridge - and that’s something you’re bound to do in your quest for steeper, deeper, untracked-er powder.

The conclusion? Don’t bother unless the snow is over your boots, but if you’re headed for powder the Mothership makes life ridiculously simple - and they’re built to do it forever."

Click here to read all about the 04-05 Mothership skis.

Other contenders:

No. 2 - NIKE ACG COMMWEAR JACKET £400

No. 3 - Rome 'The Canteen' £15

No. 4 - Da Kine Split Roller 120 Litre £100