LX82
Strictly speaking, Kästle’s LX82 isn’t a women’s ski. It exists, in part, because Kästle’s stock on-piste ski for many years, the exquisite MX83, had the mass of a collapsing star. To broaden its appeal in central Europe’s most important market segment, Kästle created the 2-model LX series, so lightweights of either gender could experience the liquid flow of the MX’s.
If the LX82 has a point of view, other than favoring less avoirdupois applied to its midsection, it’s that carving is cool and other pursuits are peripheral. Its character is written in its baseline, a fully cambered affair with a Fast Grip Shovel, so the instant it’s tipped it begins to carve an arc that seems to last from takeoff to landing.
FX95 HP
The Kästle FX95 HP isn’t just an all-terrain, all-condition ski; it’s also an all-attitude ski. This odd elocution means that the FX95 HP doesn’t care if your style is docile or dominating, the FX95 HP is going to hold on to every medium-to-long radius arc as if the fate of Austria hung in the balance.
There is one caveat: it helps to go lickety split . This is never more true than in still-crystalline, crisscrossed crud, when the Dual Rise baseline of the FX95 HP feels most appreciated as an aid to maneuverability over and around submerged obstacles. The trade-off is that its rockered tip and tail feel less motivated when confronted with crystalline groomage. Because of its two layers of Titanal, the FX95 HP never feels unstable at speed, but its baseline unquestionably favors variable terrain as long as it’s not the consistency of haggis.
MX84
Anytime a ski as ridiculously good as the Kästle MX83 is retired, a ripple of concern spreads through Kästle’s cadre of fanatically loyal followers. Will its replacement, the MX84, be as good? Dare one hope it will be better?
We’re relieved to report the MX84 is every bit as good as the MX83, but whether it’s better or not is a more a matter of taste than technicity. The MX84 retains one of its predecessor’s principal virtues, a fully cambered baseline, but the softer forebody of the MX84 puts up less resistance to pressure.
MX89
It’s tough being the offspring of a genius. Someone is always comparing you to Dad and it’s impossible to measure up. So it must be for the new MX89, taking its place in the Kästle line in the tracks of the MX88, indisputably one of the greatest skis ever made.
It’s not that the MX89 is a slacker; if anything, it might be an over-achiever, trying so hard to earn top grades for technical merit that its social skills suffer. There was an effortless quality to its predecessor associated with how quickly it tucked the skier into the turn; the slightly softer forebody of the MX89 doesn’t engage as aggressively, leaving it to the skier to seek a higher edge angle with a more aggressive move of his own. This phenomenon, we surmise, lies at the root of the new ski’s dip in Finesse scores compared to illustrious antecedent.