OVERVIEW
In the interests of full disclosure, both the Founder and current Editor of realskiers once served in product management roles at Salomon, although our tenure was so long ago that the company we toiled for bears little relation to the Salomon brand of today. All that remains on our end is a lingering respect for Salomon’s meticulous R&D methodology, which resulted in a series of landmark product introductions that completely upended the established order. Their first boot, the rear-entry SX 90, introduced to modest applause in 1979, morphed into the SX 91, which led the brand to overtake Nordica in total dollars by 1985. By the end of the decade, there were hardly any overlap boots left in the market: the Nordica line was down to one 4-buckle boot and even Lange made a couple of half-hearted stabs at a rear-entry configuration. Meanwhile, Salomon’s SNS Nordic boot-binding system caught the sleepy XC market by surprise, running up a dominant market share. When Salomon debuted their monocoque skis they made such an impact that within two years, if you were a ski brand without a cap ski, you didn’t sell any skis.
Today, while Salomon remains a dominant player in the alpine boot market, their mantle of market leadership in skis has lost some of its luster. Their last shot at a game-changing ski, the BBR, didn’t achieve the traction they hoped for; instead of creating a whole new genre of surf-inspired skis they were treated as curios and largely overlooked by ski buyers. Salomon error-corrected with their second- generation BBR 10.0, a more relatable ski for the traditional, technical skier, but it still got lost in the well-stocked, viciously competitive 100mm-waist market. So in 2013 Salomon introduced a 98mm All-Mountain ski that didn’t try to outperform the world in some newfangled way. Instead, Salomon shot to outmaneuver the market by street pricing models like the Q-98 at $499, $200 below the leading models in the category. It was like getting a free binding, always a powerful sales incentive.
The Salomon product development juggernaut of the 1980’s was financed by a simple idea: make a ski binding easy to step into and out of. If there is a unifying trait underlying almost all Salomon gear, it’s an emphasis on convenience and ease of operation. The accent on ease, coupled with an aggressive pricing policy, continues to be the primary Salomon ski family trait.
The 2017 Season
Salomon had one, eye-on-the-ball mission this past season, and that was to ensure the market acceptance of its replacement for the Q series, the all-mountain suite of 5 men’s and 4 women’s models christened QST. The French have always had an affinity for skiing hors piste, a passion not shared by most of central Europe. It shows in the QST line, which seems to get better as it grows wider, as if growing into its role as a powder and crud specialist.
The QST cohort is not a peerage. They aren’t all built the same, nor do they all match up with skiers of similar skills. In contrast, Head makes all their off-trail Monster models the same way and sells them at the same price. Salomon intends QST to serve all recreational skiers, not just experts.
Where you feel the sweet spot in the collection lies depends on whether one is procuring a second ski or a single ski that must serve all masters. As second skis consecrated to powder days, the QST 106 and QST 118 have few peers. They smooth out rough terrain like Botox; no matter what’s going on beneath the surface, all you feel is white velvet.
The best QST for the single-pair owner is unquestionably the QST 99. There’s a perceptible step down in power properties as the line drifts to the QST 92 and QST 85; there’s a reason each model shaves another $125 off its MSRP. Skiers who until now only dabbled off-piste should vault over the discount options and strap on a QST 99. You won’t find an easier ski to inform the uninitiated in how to tame rambunctious off-trail terrain.