Laser SC
[The test results and review for the Laser SC are from 2016; its only changes for 2017 are cosmetic.] The Laser SC loves its turns short, its accelerator pegged, its runs smooth and its pilot skilled. You can’t fault the Laser SC for knowing what it likes for what it...Laser AX
How to describe perfection? Is it a list of all the ingredients the perfect thing contains? Is it the meticulous construction that assembles all the pieces into a fluid whole? Is it the action the product makes possible, the interconnection between man, snow and gravity?
It’s all of these elements, of course, but to Matt Finnegan of Footloose, perfection entails the alchemy to make their amalgam evaporate, leaving only sensation behind. “This ski just disappears underneath the skier,” he marvels, capturing the sense of unfettered freedom the Laser AX inspires. Nothing is impossible on an invisible ski.
Stormrider 83
The newest edition to the Stormrider family is also its narrowest, but don’t get the idea in your head that the 83 is Stormrider Lite: it still built with 2 ½ layers of Titanal and is heavy enough to knock down castle walls.
In Stöckli-World, the frontside of the mountain is Laser country; Stormriders belong off-trail or somewhere out in the backcountry. That the Stormrider 83 performs so admirably on groomed runs is testament to Super G genes; Stöcklis always seem to ski like every run is being timed.
Stormrider 85 Motion
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.
But the Stormrider 85 Motion has trimmed down since that era and the current incarnation is, if anything, too flexy in the forebody for some of our crew who’ve essayed the Motion for years. But comparing the 2017 Motion to previous editions isn’t as useful to the current ski buyer as comparing it to the rest of today’s market and in that context, the Stormrider du jour comes across as a powerful carving machine.