2021 Kastle MX98

The last time Kästle made an MX98 it was the burliest All-Mountain West ski extant. If the skier didn’t commit to the turn, the ski would sense weakness and assume control. If you weren’t a strong, technical skier, you were more prisoner than pilot. This personality profile didn’t change with the advent of the MX99 two seasons ago; the ski’s non-negotiable approach to turn shape – the fewer the better – limited its potential owners to those experts willing to submit to its terms. The 20/21 MX98 incorporates several design changes that together flip the ski’s personality from stubborn to compliant. The tip is a tad wider in order to accommodate the larger Hollowtech 3.0 insert, and its slight early rise returns to a fully cambered baseline further up the ski. Note that the tail is square and flat, so the MX98 can hang onto the bottom half of a carved turn better than any other ski in the AMW genre. One property that hasn’t changed about the flagship MX model is its pedigree: it comes from a line of carving models, the only ski in the All-Mountain West to do so. When other AMW models confront a foot of new snow they’re predisposed to ride near the surface, while the MX98 bulls it to the side. Getting knocked off course feels not only unlikely, but impossible.