It isn’t easy playing second fiddle.  Consider the fate of Kästle’s FX series, forever the bridesmaid to the perennial bride, the MX series. The top three MX models are all avatars of excellence in their respective categories and have been for years. If it were child’s play to make a series as good or better, more of Kästle’s competitors would have already managed the feat.

The challenge isn’t just to make another legendary ski, already a steep hill to climb, but to make a MX-quality ski that’s clearly not like an MX.  In its first incarnation, several product cycles ago, the FX models used a tapered tip and double-rockered baseline – essential elements in any off-trail oriented model – to differentiate the series.  Otherwise, the MX and FX models of yore skied similarly because they were constructed similarly.

Kästle decided the two families weren’t different enough, so they wisely kept the MX models intact and made the next generation of FX models with a radically different baseline that seemed to be 90% rockered, and even took the Titanal out of half the tribe. No question this epoch of FX skis didn’t ski like a fully cambered MX model, but neither did it knock anyone’s socks off.  The FX HP models at least had Titanal to stabilize them, but they were relatively lifeless.

Back to the drawing board. Out came the Titanal in the interests of lighter weight, replaced by a very sophisticated (read: expensive) construction, essentially a carbon-and-glass-wrapped, wood core torsion box housed inside a laminated ski. While an impressive piece of engineering, the on-snow comportment of the most recently retired FX96 HP was uninspiring.  Which brings us to the present and the new FX96 Ti.

You’ll note from the name that the Titanal laminates are back, which is almost always a performance upgrade. Carried over from the last generation is a three-wood core comprised of strips of poplar interspersed with Paulownia on the outside of the core and harder beech in the middle. The changes make for a slightly heavier ski, but the added stability in all conditions is well worth the roughly 50 extra grams.

Now that the FX96 Ti has returned to something closer to its original self, its performance ceiling has doubled. Sawyer Alford from Bobo’s fell so hard for the FX96 Ti that he beseeched Kastle for sponsorship. His notes on the FX96 Ti reveal the ardor of a young man in love. “This ski is the perfect directional 95-100mm underfoot ski. It’s damp yet stiff enough that any energy you put into the ski will be given right back, which makes it a more fun and harder charging ski than the Stöckli in this category. This ski undoubtedly is king of its class and is easier to ski than, say, a Mantra M6. I’m impressed and obsessed with this ski,” he breathlessly concludes.

Sawyer is perhaps modestly overstating the case, but there’s little doubt that within the new FX family, the FX96 Ti is the star product. Not surprisingly, it’s quicker on and off the edge than the plumper FX106 Ti, but what is eyebrow-raising is it feels more tenacious on edge and responsive off it than its narrower sibling, the FX86 Ti. It still doesn’t ski like, say, the MX98, which feels more connected and imperturbable than the FX96 Ti, because its balance between on-piste and off-piste attributes has been tilted in favor of off-trail virtues. A peek at its test results confirms its off-piste predilections, as its score for Drift out-points its edging accuracy in every phase of the turn.

A skier like Sawyer may tear directly downhill on the FX96 Ti to test its limits, but it doesn’t need to be driven in overdrive to be appreciated. It performs perfectly predictably at medium speeds when fed a steady diet of medium-radius turns. Because its lower camber line makes it easier to bow and its well-rockered baseline is simplicity to steer, we confer upon the new FX96 Ti a Silver Skier Selection.