QST 106
If Salomon’s brand identity over the past forty years could be summarized in a single word, it would be “innovation.” The driver behind its history of successful new product introductions is a corporate culture grounded in extensive Research and Development (R&D). Salomon’s Annecy Design Center continues to launch breakthrough products capable of disrupting a market, such as last season’s Backcountry/Alpine Shift binding.
The same relentless devotion to R&D that made the Shift possible has spurred Salomon to re-design the QST 106 for the second season in a row. The list of the latest changes may sound like a handful of minor alterations, but together they turbo-boosted the QST 106’s Power score and its 20/20 Finesse score is even higher.
I confess I’ve been maintaining a soft-snow-days only liaison with a QST 106 since we first met, so my bias in its favor is engrained. I’m now seeing a 181cm 106, which strikes me as the perfect blend of flotation for soft snow and grip on hard snow. Instead of dreading the latter, I find the new QST 106 to be so natural and imbued with fluid fortitude that I stop noticing its width and simply ski. Even as the rpm’s ascend it stays the course, laying down long turns as if to the manner born.
Mantra 102
Not since the first Cochise rolled off the production line some eight years ago has there been a Big Mountain ski like the new Völkl Mantra 102. You can feel the power percolating under the hood before you have it out of first gear. Even though it’s “only” 102mm underfoot, it feels more substantial. At slow speeds, its triple-radius sidecut (long-short-long) encourages the Mantra 102 to stay close to the fall line so it can pick up enough inertia to show its other moves.
Once you’ve shown it you care by injecting speed into its veins, the Mantra 102 becomes more compliant. Even though it’s double rockered, its Titanal Frame design, which puts more mass around the tip and tail, keeps nearly the full length of the ski engaged. While not exactly nimble – its lowest score is for short turns – it doesn’t have to be, for whatever lies in its path better get out of its way or face extinction.
As I noted on my test card, “The ends are a bit loose but otherwise its phenomenal security makes you feel as powerful as King Kong, like you can drive through anything. I would hate to be a pile of frozen snow between me and the bottom; the last thing it will ever see is the Völkl logo bearing down on it.”
100EIGHT
The Völkl 100EIGHT grew up in a crowded neighborhood. Not only did it have to compete for attention with the well-established V-Werks Katana (112mm), there was also the One (116mm), Two (124mm), Confession (117mm) and Bash (116), all vying for the affections of the powder skier. Now it has the Mantra 102 muscling into its territory. Where does the 100EIGHT fit into this murderers’ row of off-piste behemoths?
The last time we skied the 100EIGHT and the V-Werks Katana – its closest relative in the Völkl line – side-by-side, the differences in their personalities were striking. The Katana felt lighter in the hand and eager to carve a continuous arc that never lost connection, even on hard snow. The 100EIGHT felt more powerful at a lower edge angle, more comfortable in loose snow and, if given a stab of pressure, will come right off the snow between turns.
It might sound odd, if not outright untrue, to ascribe liveliness to a ski with zero camber in its baseline, but fiberglass will always spring back to its molded position regardless of whether it’s arched or not. It’s the extra zip created by compressing the glass box around its core that gives the 100EIGHT its distinctive blend of stability in the turn and energy coming out of it.
Soul 7 HD
The one traditional ski trait that is still largely absent from today’s ski market in general and the Big Mountain category in particular is rebound. Before rockered baselines became standard equipment on any ski meant for powder, the end-to-end camber line of an all-glass ski created a giant spring. In the down-up-down weighting rhythm then in vogue, the skier de-cambered the arch of the ski at the apex of the turn and allowed the stored energy in the glass to recoil and send the skis and skier back near the surface to transition to the next turn. Skis without any rebound stayed submerged, where the tips would inevitably cross, dooming their owner to ignominy.
Ten points to the first reader who guesses which classic characteristic is so intertwined with the identity of the Rossi Soul 7 HD it could be said to own it. The Soul 7 HD is the Prince of Pounce, the Raja of Rebound, the Powder Porpoise – you get the idea. As long as it has snow to settle into, it provides a ride that’s as effortless as powder skiing gets. Take away the medium that gives it life, and it does as well as a dolphin on a dock.