Last season the Stormrider 88 perched atop our All-Mountain East Power rankings; this year it slipped a bit, a sophomore slump attributable to the initial euphoria inspired by 2017’s significant improvements wearing off. The giddy scores of last year were inflated by the excitement of skiing a model that was more than a pound lighter than its predecessor of the same name, yet still retained Stöckli’s legendary stability. If you’ve ever driven a high performance luxury sedan, you know that 85mph feels as mellow as 45. That’s the Stormrider 88.
Most of the skis in this genre lean more to the off-trail side of the terrain ledger, but the Stöckli Stormrider 85 Motion is partial to hard packed powder. Skiers familiar with Stöckli’s history know that its roots are in racing, so much so that for several seasons some of their Stormriders skied more like obese Super G skis than freeride models.
A test card from South Lake Tahoe’s Powder House paints a telling portrait of the Laser SL’s strengths and limitations. The written remarks could not have been more complimentary: “Awesome! Best ski I’ve ever skied.” But the accompanying scores were deeply divided between Finesse and Power properties, with no score above 3 for off-piste performance, low-speed turning, forgiveness and drift and no score below 9 for carving accuracy, rebound, stability at speed, short turns and Finesse/Power balance.
