Meet Ms. Mid, aka the K2 Luv Sick 80Ti. Her waist width is in the middle of the Frontside bell curve. Her tapered tip and tail and all-terrain rocker gently disengage her extremities so she can concentrate her efforts on the middle. While her sidecut is capable of making a tight radius arc, she’d rather ride at a lower edge angle and peel off medium-radius turns to keep her speed – you guessed it – moderate.
Anytime a ski as ridiculously good as the Kästle MX83 is retired, a ripple of concern spreads through Kästle’s cadre of fanatically loyal followers. Will its replacement, the MX84, be as good? Dare one hope it will be better?
We’re relieved to report the MX84 is every bit as good as the MX83, but whether it’s better or not is a more a matter of taste than technicity. The MX84 retains one of its predecessor’s principal virtues, a fully cambered baseline, but the softer forebody of the MX84 puts up less resistance to pressure.
This year’s jury was unequivocal: the Power Instinct Ti Pro belongs on the Power podium. Its everything-including-the-kitchen-sink construction isn’t impressed with any snow condition found on this planet, tearing into terrain like piranha with edges. A wide circle of skier types is able to steer it, in part because it adds a dab of Graphene™ – how do you measure a material reduced to atoms? – through the midsection of the ski, making the tip and tail more pressure-sensitive.
Völkl’s RTM 84 UVO is a gentleman’s carving tool, a secure ride that can summon acceleration when a dollop of pressure is applied to its camber zone underfoot. Its rockered tip and tail are already partway bent into an arc, so the pilot doesn’t have to exert a lot of oomph to extract a smooth, continuous carve.
While the RTM 84 UVO enjoys rocketing down the hill as much as any other elite Frontside ski, it’s better at slalom turns than our short-radius score suggests. It also deserves more praise for its Finesse qualities for it isn’t hard of steering and its light enough to toss around a turn if need be. (Without its Marker bindings, the RTM 84 UVO weighs in at 1958g.)
The RTM 81 was made for marauding groomers and while its composition has evolved over the years, its preferred pathways and mode of transport haven’t. The RTM 81 is every centimeter a carving ski; well, make that every centimeter minus a sliver of tip and tail rocker to maintain street cred as a do-it-all model.
At one point in its journey, the RTM 81 was flat underfoot, and flat best describes how it skied. While it’s comforting to have some smear-ability on board even in a carving ski, if drift is its dominant trait then the ski is in the wrong genre. Last year the camber genie re-appeared, granting the RTM 81’s wish to be a real carving ski again. It’s been ripping up the Frontside ever since.