The Thule 668ES - Frontier - 11 Cubic Foot Cargo Box is an excellent choice to transport skis and snowboards while still leaving room left over on the load bars for other gear.  In the summer use the Frontier for paddles and pdf, while having room left over on the bars to carry a kayak in a Thule vertical kayak carrier.  Thule packs in top-of-the-line features and advanced engineering to make the Frontier box easy to use, durable and secure.

Ease of Use
An Frontier box can be installed from start to finish in about 10 minutes.  The Frontier box is relatively light and easy to maneuver to a vehicle's roof top.  Once on board, Thule's EasySnap™ mounting system grip securely to the cross bars.  This mounting hardware is inserted into a set of pre-drilled holes in the interior of the box, a U-bolt captures the load bar from the outside and inserts through the holes to the EasySnap™ closures.  The box lid opens from the passenger side of the vehicle providing easy access to the mounting hardware and gear.

Durability
The Thule Frontier is constructed of high grade ABS plastic, the same plastic used in automotive manufacturing.  The material is light weight, rigid, and temperature resistant.  It's an ideal material for automobile exterior parts and cargo boxes which are subjected to many of the same stresses.  Thule starts with the best materials and adds advanced engineering.  The Frontier box has a corrugated base which greatly enhance the boxes stiffness but also control air flow in a linear path from the front to back.  The various components of Frontier box is riveted together at the factory, there are no nuts and bolts to vibrate loose.  Thule's state of the art testing facilities in Hillerstorp, Sweden subjects Thule prototypes and random production units to simulations of a 100,000 miles worth of vibrations, to intense UV rays, salt water, heat and humidity.  All this to insure the materials and design meet up to Thule's and the ISO's rigorous standards.  The Thule Frontier cargo box is covered by the Thule lifetime warranty for assurance that the product is free of defects.

Security
Thule One-Key™ locks are included, if you have other lockable Thule products it is possible to have all your lock cylinders match up for easy key management.  When the box is locked, the contents are locked inside and there is no access to the EasySnap™ mounting hardware.  The lid is locked to the base at three points and is unlocked with the key from one central point.  Car top boxes may even offer better security than the vehicle's interior.  With gear stowed inside a box it is out of site, which means a box may be less tempting to break into than a vehicle with gear in plain sight though the windows.

Style Matters
X-Cargo Snail boxes from Sears have been around for years and they do have their place but hopefully it's not on your vehicle.  Boxes don't have to be boxy, and they shouldn't be.  A box needs to be aerodynamic, it needs to move through the air with minimal drag to reduce fuel consumption and wind noise.  Ascent boxes are designed with aerodynamics as a priority.  The low frontal area, the linear base channeling, even the texture of the surface area contribute to the efficiency of an Ascent cargo box.  The Ascent looks sleek and stylish but in this case it's function followed by the form.  To take full advantage the Ascent cargo capacity it is suggested to pack in soft duffel bag that can conform to the various shapes of the boxes interior, or at least load rigid items in the center and pack around them with soft items.

Additional Notes
As always confirm vehicle fit with Thule's fit guide.  With certain vehicle and box combinations rear hatch interference is unavoidable., the Thule fit guide can not specify this.  All Thule cargo boxes are rated to carry up to 110 pounds of cargo, weight should be distributed according to the manual.  Don't use a cargo box and a fairing at the same time, aerodynamics is most efficient when air can pass under the box.  To store the box, loosen the hardware from the cross bars, then re-tighten the hardware before storing the box flat.

Product Technical Information