The Technical category isn’t completely dead, but it’s not exactly alive and kicking, either. Let’s call it suspended animation, as every 2019/20 Recommended model is a replica of its predecessor. To honor the category’s undisturbed tranquility, all the unisex reviews below are likewise retreads of our 19/20 coverage.
While these reviews don’t include them, there were a couple of new entrants into the Technical fold this year. Kästle added Titanal to its previous LX73 to create the DX73 and Rossignol introduced a new series call React. It’s a sad measure of the commercial viability of the segment in America when neither the DX73 nor the React R8 Ti could attract a single tester to even try them.
America is a nation of optimists. How else to explain why we buy wide skis on the faint hope we’ll encounter fresh snow, when Technical skis perform so much better on the groomed runs we ski every day? If skiers in the market for a second pair bought a precise carver instead of a fat swiveler, they’d not only be acquiring a more useful tool, they’ll be far more likely to improve their skills.
I realize it’s delusional to hope for Technical skis to make a swift return to market relevance, but if we fail to celebrate the best of them, how will the U.S. skier ever know they even exist? It’s in this spirit that we present the finest Technical skis in our market, listed in order of total score.