While it’s possible to quibble over the MX89’s Finesse score, there’s no equivocating when it comes to its Power rating. It’s clearly the most carve-centric ski in its class, responding to a high edge angle by tearing a new aperture into whatever terrain it encounters on its bull-rush to the bottom. Skiers who can execute turns with a lot of upper/lower body separation will indeed find the MX89 relaxing because the ride is so secure the skier doesn’t have to work as hard to maintain a clean trajectory.
Like a benevolent despot, the new Kästle LX85 has power in its bloodlines but mercy in its heart. A look at its components suggests a ski with all the rigor of a race ski, with a vertically laminated wood core encased in glass and twin sheets of Titanal. The cap construction of the earlier LX’s has been replaced with the square sidewalls associated with more powerful skis. But its tip and tail are tapered to take the edge off their reactions and the forebody has the slight elevation that is considered essential on an off-trail ski.
One peek at the baseline of the Nordica Enforcer 93 tells you all you need to know about the ski’s terrain preferences: this is an off-piste utensil with an elevated snout that on hardpack looks like it could be sniffing for snow. If fed its preferred diet of crud, the shovel gets busy absorbing the sudden impacts of broken snow, more than making up for its uninvolvement on the groom. It more than holds it own on hardpack, popping off its cambered midsection as if it can’t wait to get to the next turn.
Just because a ski has a sidecut suitable for carving doesn’t mean it must be pigeonholed as a groomer-only ski, any more than having a mustache means you’re a cad and a bounder. Presented with a foot of fresh powder, the E 88 HD doesn’t realize it’s not supposed to be particularly good at navigating freshies and dives into the fluff without hesitation or a hiccup. It doesn’t flinch when crossing old tracks and if it gets to go first, all the better.
While the QST 92 isn’t daunted by firm snow, flat terrain isn’t its native habitat. It’s most at home in about of foot of new, or at least recent, snow, where its tapered tip and double rockered baseline do their best work. As I mentioned in last year’s review, that it’s as light as a salad for lunch makes the QST 92 all the easier to toss around in tight quarters like trees and chutes.
