Skies come in a wide variety of models and materials.  The easiest way to purchase a pair of skies is to take them out and try them on the slopes.  Skies allow you to slide on the snow and are obviously the basic part of your skiing equipment.  Skies come in various lengths and are produced by companies all around the world.

Boots are the most important part of your ski equipment.  They help you maintain balance and enforce the turning power to the skis.  Boots are made up of a shell, the exterior part of the boot that you can see, and an inner boot.

A binding is the part of the ski that lets you attach the boot and the ski together, so you can go over little dips on the slopes.  But, it lets go and separates you from the skies when you get in trouble.  Building something like this is extremely difficult, but with high technology they found a way to build strong hardware.

Most bindings have two parts: a toe, and a heel.  All bindings include a ski brake, which is a prong-like device that prevents a ski from sliding down the mountain when the binding releases.  All toe pieces release in a lateral plane, and many have a upward release.  The sole of the ski boot must be designed with a certain shape that lets it fit into the toe piece.

Heel pieces come in two varieties, which are the step-in heel piece, and the manually latching heel piece.  Each type works well, but for the step-in binding you don’t have to bend over.

Ski poles are often an overlooked part of a skiers basic equipment.  People will sometimes purchase the cheapest poles to cut back on the costs of skiing.  However, cheaper poles are generally heavier and much more prone to bending or breaking.  Poles either come with the old-style strap grips or the new saber style.  Saber grips leaves you with less movement in your wrist, and forces you into an awkward arm movement to place your pole in the snow.  So, in this case older is better.

Never ski without a basket on your pole.  The basket is designed to keep your pole from burying itself in deep snow.  If you lose a basket immediately get it fixed.  You can be seriously injured using a pole without a basket.