The Stance 84’s most stunning achievement isn’t its podium finish among our Finesse Favorites, or even its elite, on-trail performance; the headline story about Salomon’s Stance 84 is its off-the-charts value. The Stance 84 is slotted to sell at $549; there’s a slew of models slated to retail at $699 or more that can’t hold a candle to it.

There’s always a reason why a modestly priced model punches above its weight.  In the case of the Stance 84, it’s because Salomon trimmed its most expensive elements without eliminating them altogether. The Stance 84 retains a single topsheet of Titanal, with the distinctive Stance cut-out in its forebody filled with carbon instead of Salomon’s signature super-fiber, C/FX.  It turns out to be more than enough to keep the Stance 84 calm on edge when it’s rocking the groomed terrain it prefers.

Unlike most hard-snow oriented carvers, the Stance 84 doesn’t have a built-in bias for a complete, cross-hill turn finish. Instead, its comparatively narrow tail relaxes its grip right after the turn transition, maintaining the momentum that makes cruising groomers effortless. The forebody remains supple and easy to curl into a series of short turns that crisscross the fall line.

We weren’t able to test the Stance 84 in off-trail conditions, but there’s no reason to think it wouldn’t do well.  As a practical matter, the typical Stance 84 customer doesn’t ski off trail unless he gets lost. He’s more likely to need help mastering the basics on-trail, where the Stance 84 proves to be that rarest of gems, a true bargain.  Every brand will tell you that its $549 model skis amazingly well – for its price. The Stance 84 skis amazingly well, period.

“For the category, this is the benchmark for the industry,” notes Bobo’s ski buyer, Paul Van Sickle. “At $549, nothing compares. Great job, Salomon.”

For elite performance that takes no effort to extract, we again award the Stance 84 a Silver Skier Selection.