The S/Force Bold is an unapologetic Frontside carver. If you want to find out how deep a new snowfall is, take a run on the S/Force Bold and you’re almost certain to find the bottom. Any ski this stable can make its way through off-trail porridge, but it will send out the occasional reminder that you’re running against its grain. The reason the S/Force Bold is laden dampening agents and associated avoirdupois is to maximize edging power and stability on hard snow, which is its happy place.
When it’s running fast and loose in its element, the S/Force Bold is “damp, stable, with very strong edge hold,” says Bobo’s Pat Parraguirre, identifying its dominant traits. “If you like speed and grip – this ski is for you! Great high-speed carver.”
Salomon as always had a soft spot for soft skis with a short turn radius. Some of its more popular series, like X-Scream and X-Wing, were sought out by skiers who liked their ability to maneuver in tight corners, like those found in the never-groomed moguls on High Rustler at Alta. Which brings us to the XDR 84 Ti, which depends on a weave of carbon and flax fibers (C/FX), square sidewalls and a patch of Titanal underfoot to provide enough substance to handle firm, Frontside conditions, with an emphasis on ease over aggression. Pat Parraguirre from Bobo’s, who might know more people in Reno on a first-name basis than any public official, is a lightweight expert who prefers skis that have a high response to low-pressure input. “Very predictable and smooth feeling on snow. It’s like putting on an old pair of leather gloves: damp and smooth,” says the de facto Mayor of Reno.
Just last season Salomon improved the hard snow performance of the QST 99 by adding basalt to its foundational carbon/flax (C/FX) fibers. For 20/20, Salomon has re-configured its primary elements, mixing the basalt and carbon elements and using the flax in its own layer under the binding zone. The net effect is to augment the sense of support, not just underfoot, where there’s also a slice of Titanal, but all along the baseline.
Two other changes to the ski design contribute mightily to the QST 99’s infusion of power and improved snow contact: 4mm’s of width have been pared away from both the tip and tail, so the new version doesn’t automatically try to steer out of the fall line, and the substitution of cork for Koroyd in the shovel. Salomon asserts that the “Cork Damplifier” is 16 times more proficient at absorbing shock and even lighter weight. With its new, trimmer silhouette, a 181cm QST 99 weighs 65g less this year compared to the 2018/19 version, while improving its Stability at Speed score from 7.80 to 8.43, the best score in the genre for a non-metal ski.
Let the record show that no ski made as giant a leap forward in 2020 as the Salomon QST 92. In its two earlier incarnations it barely met our Recommended minimum standards, barely hanging on the tail end of the Finesse ski standings. Now it resides at the top, and the result is no fluke.
The new QST has more of everything you want – edging power on trail, a better shape for off-trail, a more solid platform – and less of what you don’t want: tip chatter, indifferent grip, overall looseness. Salomon pulled off this coup by reconfiguring how it used its primary components, flax, basalt and, of course, carbon. The basalt and carbon are now woven together in an end-to-end matrix, while the flax gets its own mat directly underfoot. An all-poplar core is reinforced by a patch of Titanal in the mid-section and finished with new cork inserts in the tip and tail.
