Like all Kästles, the BMX 105 HP comes alive when it’s raked over, giving it all the motivation it needs to knock crud to the side and pummel wind drifts to pieces. Just because its baseline allows it swivel sideways doesn’t mean that’s how the BMX105 HP prefers to get the job done. In the clash of personalities, the carving character has the upper hand.
Part of its cachet is the allure of the unavailable. As a Sport Loft regular sighed, “I’m so happy. I wish I was made of $.” We always overrate what we know we can’t have, right? Maybe it’s the fully cambered, no rocker, no early rise, no crutches-for-the-technically-infirm baseline that devotes its full attention to holding one arc, then another, then another, all in perfect harmony with the terrain, in a string as endless as this sentence. It leaves the skier feeling, as another Sport Loft tester confided, like “I’m the best skier in the world.”
There are plenty of choices in the market for skiers who want a shorter camber zone, something easier to swivel, maybe a little fatter so it will float better. The MX84 is the antidote to all that. Its absurdly high Finesse score isn’t because it’s easy for anyone to ski; it’s because the experts who tested it fell in love with its line-hugging power and imperturbable calm. This is why testers who rarely write comments start decorating their test cards with hearts.
While it’s possible to quibble over the MX89’s Finesse score, there’s no equivocating when it comes to its Power rating. It’s clearly the most carve-centric ski in its class, responding to a high edge angle by tearing a new aperture into whatever terrain it encounters on its bull-rush to the bottom. Skiers who can execute turns with a lot of upper/lower body separation will indeed find the MX89 relaxing because the ride is so secure the skier doesn’t have to work as hard to maintain a clean trajectory.
One way to make a fundamentally strong construction more docile is to rocker it, which reduces the amount of ski that operates on hardpack conditions. Because the ski tip and tail bend away from the snow surface, for there to be ski/snow contact in these areas the snow must rise up to meet them. This makes a ski like the Kästle FX85 HP feel more at home in a patch of day-old crud than it does on an acre of crystal carpet.