2020 Women’s Big Mountain
The women’s Big Mountain genre has bedeviled us since we began covering these super-fat models as a separate category seven seasons ago. Part of the problem is that skis this wide require some semblance of new snow to be given a fair evaluation, limiting their appeal...The 2020 Women’s Big Mountain Field
The women’s Big Mountain field is inextricably entwined with its unisex cousins, as this infinitesimal slice of the market doesn’t consume enough units to merit women-specific spin-offs. Fortunately for all concerned, men’s Big Mountain skis have already been put on a...The 2020 Big Mountain Field
Last season the model turnover rate in the Big Mountain category was so low, it seemed suppliers had accepted the fact that the market for fat powder skis was limited to a trickle of sales per season. Perhaps the snows of two seasons ago spurred them into action, for...QST Stella 106
Even though Salomon gave the QST Stella 106 a significant boost in edging power last season, the French brand again raised its performance ceiling for 19/20. It reconfigured its construction by switching the roles played by basalt and flax, so basalt is now entwined with carbon in a bundle of braids while the flax flies solo in its own mat underfoot. This switcheroo creates a ski that’s at once lighter and stronger on edge than ever. To give it even more on-trail stability, Salomon trimmed its tail flare and tightened up the Stella’s turn radius (from 20m to 17m @ 167cm).