Overview
Kästle isn’t what it used to be, and that’s a good thing.
Not to dis the current Kästle’s ancestry, but Kästles of yore could be clumped in two camps: race skis it took a god like Zurbriggen to bend, and kooky creations that should have been euthanized in development, like the Echo Thesis and B-52. All of which has little intersection with the Kästle of today except that both have a dominant strain of Austrian DNA and the new Kästle has re-occupied the founding factory in Hohenems.
The current Kästle camp relies on modern execution of a traditional construction, with a signature damping system called Hollowtech adorning every tip. Colorful Hollowtech inserts catch both the eye and the snow, as they’re meant to dissipate shock faster than a conventional shovel. Not many brands are concerned with early contact any more, but a ride on the latest iteration of the venerable MX83 – in 2025, its moniker toggles back to MX84 – will remind you not only of what camber does, but why you ski.
Kästle has moved back into the facility in Hohenems where Anton Kästle created the first skis to bear his name, where its engineers can concoct prototypes and execute small production runs. But this detail, while redolent with misty-eyed history, buries the lede: Kästle’s new owner, ConsilSport, has its own plant in the Czech Republic to handle the brand’s production. The 20/21 season was the first in over two decades to see in-line Kastle skis produced in a Kastle-owned facility.
As recently as six years ago, the core of Kästle’s Alpine line was segmented into three series: the cambered MX series of Frontside carvers, the abundantly rockered FX series of all-mountain skis and BMX Big Mountain models. In 2020, the BMX name was eliminated in favor of extending the FX family into its turf.
Once upon a time, Kästle made a women’s ski named Vogue; in 2020, it revived the Vogue name to serve as an umbrella for three women-specific models, the DX73 W, DX85 W and FX96 W. For the 23/24 season, this troika was retired in favor of a fresh threesome entitled Terra, comprised of the Obsidian (92), Quartz (72) and Marble (84). All use a similar, part-cap, part-sidewall construction; the Obsidian sports an all-wood core, while the Quartz and Marble are built with a hybrid PU/wood core to reduce weight and improve handling ease.
The seeds of the 2023/24 season were planted in 2018, when ConsilSport, a Czech manufacturer owned by former ski racer Tomáš Němec, acquired a majority stake in Kästle. Five years ago, production moved to the Czech factory in Nové Město na Moravě, while Kastle maintained offices and a limited production capacity at the brand’s original site in Hohenems, Austria.
Building one’s own skis may not sound like a bold move, but the MX84 and MX88 aren’t just well remembered by the skiers who once rode them; they’re revered. If the new versions didn’t live up to expectations, the ramifications for the brand weren’t likely to be pretty. So Kastle fans should be reassured that the latest MX models to issue from the Czech facility are first-rate in both design and finish.
If you’ve never skied a Kästle before, any of the MX’s will make an excellent first impression. The MX series’ current construction uses poplar in lieu of silver fir in the core, so they’re a bit lighter now, but two stout layers of Titanal and fully cambered baselines keep them welded to the snow. Because of their Old School design, the MX’s have a different snow feel than the rockered baselines and tapered sidecuts that dominate current all-mountain ski design. For skilled skiers who don’t need help with their technique, demoing a Kastle MX model is a dangerous thing to do, for once you experience their exquisite connection to the snow, you will have to have it.
Four years ago, the big news at Kästle was its reconceived FX off-trail series. The construction was classic Kästle: poplar and beech in the core’s center, Paulownia instead of beech over the edge, all sandwiched between twin layers of Titanal and glass. What makes this amalgam suitable for off-trail pursuits is an amply rockered baseline (320mm of rise in the tip, and 230mm at the tail of the FX96 Ti), a low camber line and a tapered tip and tail. Each of the 3-model series was partial to the loose snow found off trail, with the FX96 Ti exhibiting the best balance between bite on hard snow and drift off-piste.
Kästle is keenly aware that its prices are above the market norm, so five years ago it created the ZX108 so skiers who aren’t fiscally flush could afford to ride a Kästle on powder days. The ZX108’s MSRP of $799 is right in line with other top Big Mountain models, bringing Kastle quality within reach of the less affluent. Four years ago, Kästle added the ZX100 to the series, a more useful shape for everyday skiing and a gas to ski aggressively. Last year, Kastle extended the ZX series to include a ZX92, also priced at a budget-conscious $799 retail.
No series in the Kästle alpine collection has been more central to the brand’s success than the MX series, so anytime R&D tinkers with an MX model, Kästle’s legion of fans tingle with anxious anticipation. How will they manage to improve on perfection? Implicit in this pondering is the unspoken plea: for heaven’s sake, don’t screw it up!
Fear not, the latest MX74, MX84 and MX88 are tangibly better than all the iconic iterations that set the high-performance bar the new kids easily cleared. The foundational changes include the new Infini Core, derived from a race-room construction that blends slender poplar and beech vertical laminates to create the optimal flex pattern, which is stiffer and more responsive than the previous MX cores. The new Hollowtech Evo is a multi-layered affair that keeps the tip quiet and in contact with the snow, even on the slightly rockered MX88.
Kästle aficionados should note the passing of the wonderful but perhaps too exotic MX98, now cranking big arcs in Ski Valhalla.
To bolster its presence across a broader range of price points, Kästle added two sheets of Titanal to its ZX series and behold, the 3-model Paragon series was born. Classic wood-and-metal construction delivers a strong edge that powers through sloppy crud like it was margarine. At an effective retail of $849, you get an all-terrain ski with a high performance ceiling at a relatively bargain-basement price.
The 2026 Season
If Kästle had a magic wand, every ski in its line would ski as well as the MX series, and, just as importantly, command the same elevated MSRP’s. In an effort to create an irresistible value proposition, Kästle has re-purposed the MX molds to fit considerably lower price points. For example, the exquisite MX88 is priced at $1099, flat; the new M9, which also has two sheets of Titanal in its guts, aims to go out the door at $849 (flat) and only $949 with a Tyrolia binding. Of course, the M9 isn’t built with the same classic chassis of the MX88, instead using a semi-cap construction paired with a different iteration of the brand’s signature Hollowtech damping system.
Getting more mileage from the MX molds and occupying more competitive price points both sound like great ways to build the brand, but I’m unconvinced that these tactics will by themselves significantly change Kästle’s fortunes in the American market. I’m not just idly speculating; if we roll the calendar back a dozen years, Kästle was a high-end darling, with an FX line of Chris Davenport signature models that were every bit as rich in construction and smooth on the snow as the MX line. It’s closest competition in the premium market was Stöckli, a small, mismanaged brand whose every model seemed to handle like a Super G race ski. Since then, Kästle’s FX line has gone through considerable tinkering without generating the sales of the Davenport series, while Stöckli sales have skyrocketed.
Today, Stöckli is the hero brand of the high end (and as a result, a retailer favorite) because it stayed with a line priced well above the norm, and its sales have gone steadily upward. (This is in large part due to its policy of not selling its skis directly to consumers, which hasn’t hurt its sales to dealers one bit.). Looking at the new M-Line through this lens, every M9, M8 and M6 Kästle sells cannibalizes its potential sales of the more profitable MX collection. In my opinion, Kästle would do better to emulate the small Swiss brand that once languished in its wake.
The 2025 Season
No series in the Kästle alpine collection has been more central to the brand’s success than the MX series, so anytime R&D tinkers with an MX model, Kästle’s legion of fans tingle with anxious anticipation. How will they manage to improve on perfection? Implicit in this pondering is the unspoken plea: for heaven’s sake, don’t screw it up!
Fear not, the new MX74, MX84 and MX88 are tangibly better than all the iconic iterations that set the high-performance bar the new kids easily cleared. The foundational changes include the new Infini Core, derived from a race-room construction that blends slender poplar and beech vertical laminates to create the optimal flex pattern, which is stiffer and more responsive than the previous MX cores. The new Hollowtech Evo is a multi-layered affair that keeps the tip quiet and in contact with the snow, even on the slightly rockered MX88.
Kästle aficionados should note the passing of the wonderful but perhaps too exotic MX98, now cranking big arcs in Ski Valhalla.
To bolster its presence across a broader range of price points, Kästle added two sheets of Titanal to its ZX series and behold, the 3-model Paragon series was born. Classic wood-and-metal construction delivers a strong edge that powers through sloppy crud like it was margarine. At an effective retail of $849, you get an all-terrain ski with a high performance ceiling at a relatively bargain basement price.