As is the case for most central European ski makers, Stöckli considers building a better race ski central to its mission. Trying to beat the clock is a year-round preoccupation, so Stöckli adopted the practice of putting new designs in production as soon as they demonstrated a nanosecond of superiority. Perhaps this is why last year it adopted a means of improving terrain and shock absorption in its top Stormrider models by inserting polyamide inserts in 3-piece sections in the tips and tails of the Stormrider 95, 107, 115 and 100 Motion.
Sometimes products that perform brilliantly during testing prove difficult to industrialize, and so it proved with the pesky polyamide inserts. So Stöckli decided to scrap the idea after only one season; as this decision entailed making new molds, Stöckli went ahead and modified the construction of the men’s models and excised the 100 Motion from the line.
Stöckli R&D needed to find another solution to soften the tips and tails of its widest, heaviest and burliest Stormriders, so it feathered the thickness of the Titanal topsheet and thinned down the bottom metal laminate for good measure. The changes have made the new 95, 105 and 115 smoother than ever without losing an iota of their innate ability to hold an edge so secure it feels impossible to fall off it.
Elsewhere in the 2018 Stöckli line, the Laser GS and SL also use a tapered Titanal laminate in new iterations, and the Laser SC, made for the lighter weight skier, has been tweaked so the tail releases more readily.