2024 Salomon Stance 90

To understand where the updated Salomon Stance 90 fits in the All-Mountain East pantheon of Recommended models, it’s helpful to first understand its role within Salomon’s line, where it is cagily categorized as All-Mountain Frontside, a mash-up of two adjacent Realskiers categories.  The blended genre succinctly captures the intent of the Stance series, to create what are essentially Frontside skis with wanderlust, always interested in what lies off-trail yet easily persuaded to lay down a neatly carved turn on corduroy.  It’s the Frontside orientation that differentiates the three Stance models from Salomon’s other all-terrain series, QST, with its decidedly off-trail bias. Within the cross-brand context of the All-Mountain East genre, the Stance 90 stands apart from the crowd in several respects. While its twin Titanal laminates put it toe-to-toe with the eminent Power players in the genre (think: Blizzard Brahma 88, Völkl Kendo 88), it responds to a light rein, emphasizing ease over brute force. While it’s positioned as having a Frontside bias, unlike other carving-centric AME skis - such as the Fischer RC One 86 GT, for example - it isn’t built on a Frontside chassis, but an all-mountain, double-rockered foundation.  Salomon made a few alterations to the Stance construction this year, to further differentiate it from the crowded field. Already a comparatively light design, the Stances shed a few more grams by mixing ultralight Karuba with the earlier Stance’s all popular makeup. More importantly, the top layer of Titanal has been modified to minimize full-length metal laminates’ tendency to lock onto the turn. The goal of the new TwinFrame 2 design is a little looser connection to the snow that feels more playful and maneuverable in off-trail conditions. Testers detected a definite improvement in the Stance 90’s ease of operation. “Surprisingly improved ski,” said one tester who pinpointed the upgrades’ impact. “The modification of the core makes this ski extremely versatile, easy to ski while maintaining high performance ski feel and characteristics.”