A typically dense spring snowfall two years ago afforded the perfect opportunity to test the mettle of the BMX105. The time was mid-morning, the venue Squaw Valley, the run Headwall, where wind-hammered steeps bleed into bumps and more bumps. By then the snow was wildly variable, in some places no more than a rippled crust, in other spots loaded in thick and deep. The BMX105 dove in with the appetite of an otter assaulting an oyster bed.

The prow on the BMX105 makes it impossible to impale it, so there’s no need to hesitate. The BMX105 is strong enough torsionally to hold an edge even when that’s all you’ve got in the snow, yet not so rigid that lifting it to a high edge feels like you’re operating a dredge. Although the BMX105 doesn’t feel particularly massive for a Big Mountain model, it’s nonetheless undaunted by the impenetrability of Sierra cement. Of course it would prefer it if the snow were lighter, deeper and uncut, but then, who wouldn’t?