Twenty years ago, the concept of Carving skis had assumed such dominance that Intersport, the continent-wide sporting goods chain, demanded all manufacturers mark their skis with the Carving genre to which it belonged, such as Race Carve, Super Carve, Free Carve and Fun Carve (I kid you not). Today, what few true Carving skis remain cling to relevance in the market outpost Realskiers defines as the Technical genre. Salomon’s X-Max X12 is every centimeter a Technical ski, the modern day reincarnation of a Race Carver. At a probable price of $799, with a Salomon Z12 binding, the carbon-and-Titanal fueled X-Max X12 is a relative bargain in a genre loaded with tony rides.

Dave Garner is a particularly appropriate evaluator for the X-Max X12 as he not only served several decades as a specialty retailer (Reno Mountain Sports), he also owns so many Masters trophies that if he melted them down he’d have enough metal to build a double-hulled tanker. Here’s his take, verbatim, on the X-Max X12: “Lively, quick, precise. Would be a fine ski for the on-piste, firm snow conditions – excellent for someone trying to polish his carving technique.”