Power Picks: Shredding the Gnar
Any ski over 113mm underfoot can be thrown into a skid, but some would prefer it if the pilot knew how to point ‘em. Our Power picks not only aren’t afraid of speed, they live for it and to one degree or another, require it. Imagine you’re heli-skiing on a pitch...The Naturals: Brilliant Balance
As I was sorting the Powder skis I’d essayed at Snow Basin and Mammoth into Finesse and Power piles, three models emerged that resisted categorization. To pigeonhole them as Power skis would obscure their exceptional willingness to operate from any stance and remain...QST 118
I posted a video last spring on the current state of the Powder ski genre. My principal argument was that despite being made for the same purposes, every ski in the category has its own distinct personality. Some beg to run hot, staying close to the fall line until they hit their tipping point. Others are loosely linked to the snow and are much better at smearing than carving.
The Salomon QST 118 resides somewhere in the middle, a Finesse ski that hides its power reserve in powder, where it drifts lazily through a mid-radius turn on its own volition. When the powder is kaput, so are a lot of made-for-powder models, but the QST 118 handles the transition to carving conditions as if it were a gentleman’s cruiser. It doesn’t take much edge angle or pressure to engage it, so there’s no need to exaggerate the degree of edge elevation in order to get it to hold.
Catamaran
To the degree that there’s a generational rift splitting the Powder category in two – Boomers still holding onto the idea that technical skiing can translate to bottomless snow, while Millennials’ idea of powder technique is to get airborne as often as possible – the Catamaran lands squarely (switch, of course) on the side of the kinder. The Catamaran’s signature asymmetric sidecut presumably helps keep this natural drifter from getting in its own way, but the forebody is so rockered the imbalance between inside and outside effective edge length is disguised.
The Catamaran’s tail is also rockered, but not to the point where it can’t support someone tossing a gainer into a couloir. This is, after all, an athlete-driven ski, with Sean Pettit and Pep Fujas lending their street cred to its popularity. How well what they regard as de rigeur is adapted to your personal, inimitable style, I leave entirely up to you.