With a forebody that’s both amply rockered and tapered, the QST 99 is screaming, “I wanna go off-trail!” as loudly as a sugar-addled urchin ululating from his parent’s shopping cart. What it’s craving is a large dose of cut-up crud or wind-crusted berms it can chop into mincemeat. Taking it off trail is the best way to get the QST 99’s tips to settle down.
While hefty lads and hard chargers might crave more metal than the dollop Salomon places underfoot, skiers with a slightly more mellow attitude will appreciate how maneuverable the QST 99 is for a ski in this category.
Making lighter weight skis has been a Salomon specialty since it concocted the first commercially successful monocoque skis many moons ago. Now Salomon has made what is probably its best women’s powder ski ever, the QST Stella 106 and, rich with irony, it proudly rides on “Full Sandwich Sidewalls 360o,” or in more conventional terms, square sidewalls.
The Salomon QST 118 is all about the drift. It likes to smudge the top of the turn, swivel a smidge in the middle and pivot as it drifts to the finish. If a turn were a performance of Hamlet, the QST 118 would show up near the end of Act II and leave before Act IV.
Aside from its smear tactics, the most noticeable trait of the QST 118 is its light weight, less than 2kg in a 185cm, which is a blessing considering its surface area, roughly the same square mileage as Montenegro. All you have to do to guide the QST 118 through powder is push it around; advanced technical skills aren’t required.
If the Cira were a young heroine in a Disney movie, her tale would begin with an underprivileged youth. Judged by how she appeared on paper, with her simple components humbly assembled, Cira faces an uphill battle for acceptance. She’s told to do the jobs other skis won’t, like spend time carving out the inside of a slow-motion arc. People begin to notice that she’s a natural.
A skilled technician pulls Cira aside and offers to mentor her. While her gently rockered forebody made her hesitant at first, Cira quickly adapted to being tipped and pressured like a sophisticated carving ski with expensive appurtenances like Titanal and carbon fiber. The plucky Cira, undeterred by her presumed disadvantages, goes on to compete against the best women’s Frontside skis in the world and, while she doesn’t win, she proves to everyone what’s she made of: spunk, skill and a heart of gold. Curtain; roll credits. Oscar, please.
