For those interested in upgrading their ski equipment this year, The Gear Junkie, Stephen Regenold, wrote a great article for ForbesTraveler.com about the coolest ski gear.

Here are a few highlights. Read the entire article here.

Take the new Volkl Tigershark 12 Foot skis as example. While they're not literally 12 feet long, these all-mountain boards have a technology that physically alters ski stiffness with the literal flick of a switch: The company's patented "Power Switch" is an actual on/off switch mounted on the ski's top sheet.

Volkl's Power Switch technology moves springs and carbon rods inside the body of the ski. This process manipulates ski-tip flex on the fly to accommodate multiple types of mountain conditions - from a bullet-hard trail to moguls to glade runs on soft snow.

For boots, we went with the Atomic Hawx 110, which the company touts with such superlative claims as "the most significant innovation to downhill boot technology in 25 years" and "the next revolution in skiing is not a ski." (It's a boot.) But what the Hawx does is significant: This boot promotes natural forefoot flexibility and movement by incorporating a shell that bends in unison with the metatarsal zone of the foot.

The Hawx technology allows a skier to balance and transfer power through the ball of the foot, which is the body's natural balance point. Further flex and power with the Atomic Hawx 110 comes from a rebounding spring set underfoot in the boot's sole.