Like all race Atomics, the Redster DD XT is made to accelerate. As soon as it’s laid over, it hits the after-burners and rockets into a simulated race run. All you have to do to feel like Marcel Hirscher is hang on.
Once up to cruising speed, anything seems possible, even staccato slalom turns. The sense of unlimited power percolating under the skin of this Redster gives the skier the confidence to push it, secure in the knowledge that the DD XT can’t be flustered. To keep it on an even keel, the DD XT likes to be driven at a high edge angle, virtually obliging the skier to widen his stance and commit to every turn.
A good ski tester, like any conscientious evaluator, ought to retain an emotional detachment while on duty, but we’re only human. Try as we might to submerge our feelings, on occasion we fall hopelessly, exuberantly in love. One spin around the dance floor with the Völkl Racetiger Speedwall GS UVO and this veteran of a few thousand test runs was ready to commit to a long-term relationship.
The Völkl GS proves that not only is power an aphrodisiac, but absolute power is irresistible. So what if it’s impatient with short turns and thinks of going slow as a waste to its precious time? If you were wooing a super model, would you expect her to do the dishes? Just let the Racetiger be itself and its UVO shock-damping device will reward you with spectacular security at speed.
As nimble as teenage gymnasts, these Völkls nonetheless never act nervous. Their imperturbable calm is attributable to the UVO dampening element affixed to the forebody, allowing the skis to maintain snow contact through any turn shape. “Turns like a sports car,” notes a Viking Ski Shop tester. “Loved to bank turns and the grip is unreal,” he adds, concluding with the ultimate compliment: “More than a race ski.”
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.
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.
