Like most powerful Big Mountain skis, the Salomon Q-Lab isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but those who tumble to its charms fall hard.  A handful of testers rated it their favorite over 100mm underfoot, which is a strong indicator that the Q-Lab should find a following among strong skiers who are lucky enough to regularly explore big mountains.

The Q-Lab’s warm reception by our veteran testers should be especially gratifying to Salomon, for Q-Lab’s first assignment was to win back the loyalties of specialty shop personnel, upon whose recommendations the fate of all ski brands rest. Note that the Q-Lab isn’t a monocoque like the rest of the Q series, but a square-sidewall, two-sheets-of-Titanal, Austrian warhorse built to subjugate every crud field on earth.

Salomon applies this traditional sandwich construction to a modern baseline with a dab of tail rise and a long, tapered tip that’s become the de facto standard tip shape for the category.  (The tapered tip is presumed to be less twitchy in choppy off-trial conditions, and is sometimes referred to, as Salomon does, as “Hook Free.”)

While the Q-Lab is tailor made for chargers, in its longest length (190cm) it also grows in girth to 109mm underfoot, making it one motivated mother getting from point A to point B, where point A is the mountaintop and point B is the bottom.  If you’re planning to step up to this size, don’t skimp on your off-season workouts.