An Inside Look at Outside’s 2025 Winter Editors’ Choice Testing Trip

For our Winter 2025 Editors’ Choice trip, Outside’s gear team needed a trail system that was equipped for a wide variety of cross-country ski equipment testing. But we also wanted terrain that would challenge a battery of snowshoes, winter boots, and apparel with icy climbs and deep powder. For our wish list of wintery conditions, there was no better place to test than the Appalachian Mountain Club’s 100-Mile Wilderness in northern Maine.

AMC’s Maine Woods Initiative is responsible for permanently protecting the Wilderness area’s 114,000 acres of forest and transforming it into a multi-use recreation hub with conservation at its heart. It lies deep in the center of the largest contiguous expanse of undeveloped forest in the eastern United States. In short, it’s extremely remote. Even when flying into Bangor, the nearest city with an airport, accessing the remote trail system is an adventure that involves long drives on snow-covered backroads—some of them primarily meant for snowmobiles. But with that isolation comes some of the most beautiful natural landscapes in the Northeast, and killer stargazing. (It is New England’s first certified International Dark Sky Park, after all.)

Our team basecamped at Medawisla, AMC’s largest off-grid lodge, and slept in the wood-framed behemoth’s smaller surrounding cabins. Each comes equipped with a woodstove, real mattresses, and running water—unexpected luxuries so far from civilization. At the main lodge, warmed by a roaring fire, the team planned its weekend of adventuring while a snowstorm dumped several inches of fresh powder outside.

With help from cross-country ski category manager, Kelly Bastone, the Outside team planned routes along the region’s 30 miles of groomed cross-country ski trails, some of which crossed the area’s frozen-over lakes and ponds. Over two days of non-stop skiing, we hardly broke ground on the additional 80 miles of groomed trail connecting Medawisla to the other lodges, Little Lyford and Gorman Chairback. Heading south to Shaw Mountain, we unclipped from our skis and strapped on snowshoes for a six-mile, 1,000 foot climb in deep powder with panoramic views of the 100-Mile Wilderness at the top.

Along the way, we tested dozens of cross country skis and boots and a wardrobe’s worth of winter apparel and footwear. Only the very best gear earned our coveted Editors’ Choice badge after the weekend of testing. Top marks in the cross country ski department went to Rossignol’s X-Ium Premium+ Skate SX, an expert-level classic ski that’s fun and fast enough to place on the podium. We were equally taken with the Flylow Mia Jacket, which replaced just about all other midlayers in our gear closet thanks to its versatility, and the Mountain Hardwear Airmesh Long Sleeve Hoody, a shockingly fast-wicking and warm fleece that weighs in at around six ounces.

Our winter editors’ choice trips sometimes end up being week-long sufferfests in sleet and driving wind, so we were pleasantly surprised by our experience at Medawisla, where we enjoyed brilliantly blue skies and sunshine. Apart from the luxury of having 30 miles of trail groomed multiple times a day, the staff served up two daily hot meals (with packed brown bag lunches), and between testing trips, we made good use of the lodge’s wood-burning sauna. But even if we were snow camping on the ground for the entire trip, the 100-Mile Wilderness would be worthy of repeat visits from our crew: from pristine trail conditions to unmatched solitude amid deep pines, this slice of northern Maine is a true winter gem.