The one condition that separates the best All-Mountain West skis from the merely excellent is crud. It’s the dream of perpetual powder that drives the category – there’s no other reason to have a ski this wide – but the reality is uncut powder is over and done within the first few minutes after any big mountain’s opening bell. Then you have to navigate a wildly variable condition that continues to deteriorate hour by hour. The skis no longer have a clean surface to plane over and the tracked–up terrain tugs them in multi-axis directions. The only way to prevail is to gun it, which on a weak reed will feel like very bad advice.
The Stöckli Stormrider 95 gets it. It knows that the winning strategy is to pummel crud into submission. You don’t have to pick a line, for the Stormrider 95 will create its own path through the rubble. All the pilot has to do is move his feet across the fall line and otherwise remain calm, poised and aimed downhill.
Not everyone is constitutionally equipped for this exercise. If the idea of blazing down a 40-degree pitch covered in total crap sounds more insane than idyllic, there are plenty of Finesse skis in the AMW genre to serve you. But for those who revel in busting through wind berms, there’s only a fistful of models that feel comfortable in the chaos of high-speed crud skiing. The Stormrider 95 is among the best in the world at this game.
Take away all the powder and replace it with hardpack and the Stormrider 95 transforms into a GS ski, reeling off long-radius turns that are as secure as a Swiss bank account. It can even execute tight, short-radius turns with full edge contact because it doesn’t feel wide or ski wide. Of course, it can also smear like a putty knife, but a lot of wide skis can manage that feat; it’s the knife-edge grip on firmer surfaces that’s rare. Listen to what veteran ski tester Rick Stalker wrote after his test session:
“Skied on this model beginning of the day in very firm conditions and later in variable spring conditions. It felt sure-footed from the get-go and always trustworthy. The balance and turn radius were incredible and always felt spot on. I never felt I had to manipulate or adjust my stance in the turn. The 95 treated me like a horse that knew its rider and fully accepted what you wanted. Definitely a ski I could take for a lot of conditions and feel totally at home. Maybe a little heavy for much over a foot of fresh, but a fantastic choice for skiing all over the mountain. Overall, just a great ski! I want one!”
The key to the Stormrider 95’s breathtaking performance range is its willingness to go with the flow. It has a remarkable repertoire: it can do turns of any radius, its soft tip curling into a tight turn on hard pack or floating up and over broken terrain as if it were smooth. It feels substantial without weighing all that much, allowing it to be more agile than the norm in this genre. Perhaps most importantly, it’s a supremely well balanced ski, which allows the skier to steer it from any stance.
One performance trait that is increasingly hard to find in all-terrain skis is rebound, or energy off the edge at the bottom of a turn. If skied passively, the Stormrider 95 mimics its master’s tempo; the pilot would never know he’s sitting on a powder keg. But if you let it run then bury the edge in a laid-over arc, the SR 95 springs to life, shooting the skier out of its trench and across the fall line with the reactions of a mamba’s strike.
Anyone contemplating a Stormrider this season has three choices, the 88, 95 and new 102. The SR 95 is clearly the pick of the litter. Its stability on edge is vastly superior to the SR 102 and its energy off the edge makes it feel more maneuverable than the narrower SR 88. There are few decisions in life you know you’ll never regret. Owning a Stormrider 95 is one of them.