Anytime a ski as ridiculously good as the Kästle MX83 is retired, a ripple of concern spreads through Kästle’s cadre of fanatically loyal followers. Will its replacement, the MX84, be as good? Dare one hope it will be better?

We’re relieved to report the MX84 is every bit as good as the MX83, but whether it’s better or not is a more a matter of taste than technicity. The MX84 retains one of its predecessor’s principal virtues, a fully cambered baseline, but the softer forebody of the MX84 puts up less resistance to pressure.

Lighter skiers, like Stephanie Humes of Jans, are likely to approve. “A nice change,” she writes, “I found softer initiation than before but enjoyed it more. It was more playful than the old 83 but still had the stability one would expect.”

Even skiers nicknamed Moose won’t find any complaints about how the MX84 slices and dices groomage. It’s as nimble as a pre-teen acrobat, somehow able to wrap its classic wood core, metal laden construction around teensy turns, then floor it full bore like every run is the Autobahn.

The only quibble the aggro skier might raise is in the area of off-piste performance. In heavy, set-up snow, its softer tip gets a little more manhandled by the manky conditions. This isn’t a condition many Frontside skis care to encounter, but it’s relevant here as the MX83, while hardly a powder-friendly floater, was a more implacable battering ram.

But this is a gnat-sized footnote to what is otherwise an almost perfectly balanced ski, with ideal doses of Power and Finesse. Owning an MX84 is one of the nicest ways you can reward yourself for mastering the craft of technical skiing.