by Jackson Hogen | Jun 22, 2021
The reason the market hasn’t been awash in lightweight skis since the dawn of time is because mass is part of what makes a ski damp, or able to absorb vibration. Lighter weight formulae have been tried for decades, always with the lamentable downside that they couldn’t hold an edge any better than Florence Foster Jenkins could hold a note.
Then along came the Kore 93, shattering preconceptions about a lightweight ski’s ability to perform at an elite level. The Kore 93 was universally praised the moment it hit the market. The 21/22 incarnation is better than ever, with a few subtle changes that together give the new Kore 93 superior snow feel.
Along with the new flex pattern and more wood in its guts, all the Kores changed their size run, so length selection can be more targeted. The 21/22 Kore 93 comes in six sizes, from a teensy 156cm to a beastly 191cm. Capping the changes across the Kore collection is a chamfered top edge with two welcome benefits: the ski can be foot-steered laterally with less resistance and the top surface is less likely to be damaged above the edge, where it’s most vulnerable to wear and tear.
At some point, you stop noticing how light the Kore 93 is and just enjoy the ride. There’s nothing to adapt to; you just ski. It’s the epitome of forgiveness and ease, the qualities for which it earned its highest marks.
by Jackson Hogen | Jun 22, 2021
Little Liberty out of Avon, Colorado distinguished itself from scores of other small-batch brands when it made two momentous decisions a few years ago, one commercial, one technical. On the brand-building front, it opted to establish a viable network of specialty shops, despite all the hassle and expense compared to selling direct to the consumer. On the technical, ski-building side of the business, it created a new design that used vertical aluminum struts, in lieu of horizontal sheets of Titanal, to dampen vibration and maintain snow connection.
My most perspicacious Dear Readers will note that last year the evolv 90 earned recognition as a Finesse ski, while this year it exhibits the traits of a Power model. Since all that changed between the two iterations was the addition of a third aluminum element, it’s plausible to assume the 21/22 version’s additional accuracy on edge is directly attributable to the power provided by the third strut.
When you put the evolv 90 through its paces, its carving characteristics predominate. In a category chock full of skis with disconnected tips, its VMT struts keep it glued to the hill for nearly every cm of its length. If you look closely at its shape, its sidecut is very similar to that of the Kästle MX88, another AME anachronism that would rather carve than drift.
by Jackson Hogen | Jun 22, 2021
Let the record show that no ski made as giant a leap forward last year as the Salomon QST 92. In its two earlier incarnations it barely met our Recommended minimum standards, hanging by a thread on the tail end of the Finesse ski standings. Now it resides near the top of our Finesse rankings, and the result is no fluke.
When Salomon introduced the QST line, it needed to hit multiple price points, so the wider skis got the best tech while the lower-priced QST 92 was built less expensively. In 2020, the QST 92 got the same treatment as its wider mates, the QST 99 and QST 106, and the difference was evident from the first edge set.
The current QST 92 has more of everything you want – edging power on trail, a better shape for off-trail, a more solid platform – and less of what you don’t want: tip chatter, indifferent grip, overall looseness. Salomon pulled off this coup by reconfiguring how it used its primary components, flax, basalt and, of course, carbon. The basalt and carbon are woven together in an end-to-end matrix, while the flax gets its own mat directly underfoot. An all-poplar core is reinforced by a patch of Titanal in the mid-section and finished with new cork inserts in the tip and tail.
by Jackson Hogen | Jun 2, 2021
If you digest all the brochure copy expended on All-Mountain East models, you’ll find somewhere in every model description that it’s a “50/50” model, meaning it’s equally suited to skiing on-trail or off. What this seemingly innocuous shorthand term for a versatile ski masks is that no ski can ever truly be half-and-half, for every model is part of a design family that’s inherently biased to one side of the mountain or the other.
This prelude explains why Salomon felt compelled to create a second off-trail line, named Stance, when they already had a successful freeride series in the QST’s. The latter are unmistakably meant for the off-piste, so the QST 92 has the shape and construction of the series’ flagship, the QST 106. This means, among other things, that the AME QST 92 strives to be wide beam-to-beam along its entire length and aside from a mounting plate it has no metal in it.
The Stance 90 tilts the 50/50 equation in favor of Frontside features, beginning with two sheets of Titanal and a shallower sidecut with a more slender silhouette (126/90/108) that’s quicker edge to edge. Its square tail in particular is appreciably narrower than the norm in the AME genre, which keeps its orientation down the fall line.
by Jackson Hogen | Jun 1, 2021
The EXP 86 Basalt has been created to serve a new breed of in-bounds skier, which Rossi refers to as “All-Resort.” Skiing is an important part of the overall resort experience, but it’s not the whole ball of wax for this resort visitor. While this person is an avid participant, he’s not going to go wandering out of bounds and most of his powder runs will be on the side of the trail. It’s probably safe to say he’s not going out in the worst conditions (by his definition), nor is he going to push very hard on the performance envelope.
In commercial terms, the EXP 86 Basalt is a “step-up” model, most likely a first-time purchase for a skier who has survived until now on rentals and second-hand fare. Its double-rockered baseline promotes a go-along-to-get-along attitude that encourages skills development without insisting on it. If the skier applies a little tip pressure, its supple forebody transfers energy with gentle insistence, coaching the skier up on an edge that feels confidence-building underfoot.
The true measure of a ski like the EXP 86 Basalt isn’t simply how easy it makes the sport for the target skier; it’s how well it performs once he’s attained a higher level of proficiency. It’s notable that the EXP 86 Basalt earned identical marks for Power and Finesse properties, just what one would hope to see in a ski intended to help skiers improve in a stress-free environment.
