Pandora 110
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If the Line Pandora 95 had a theme song, it would be “Surfer Girl.” When she isn’t surfing she’s swimming sideways, setting up for the next wave. Asking it to carve a clean arc on hard snow is like compelling an adolescent to stay after school and clean the erasers. It will do it, but only at her own pace and she will resent you forever for it.
MX89
It’s tough being the offspring of a genius. Someone is always comparing you to Dad and it’s impossible to measure up. So it must be for the new MX89, taking its place in the Kästle line in the tracks of the MX88, indisputably one of the greatest skis ever made.
It’s not that the MX89 is a slacker; if anything, it might be an over-achiever, trying so hard to earn top grades for technical merit that its social skills suffer. There was an effortless quality to its predecessor associated with how quickly it tucked the skier into the turn; the slightly softer forebody of the MX89 doesn’t engage as aggressively, leaving it to the skier to seek a higher edge angle with a more aggressive move of his own. This phenomenon, we surmise, lies at the root of the new ski’s dip in Finesse scores compared to illustrious antecedent.
MX84
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.