For the 19/20 season, Kästle completely re-formulated its FX series of wide, off-trail models. To create its first-ever women’s model in the FX family, Kästle choose to work off the FX96 template, as the 96mm waist width optimizes the strengths of the new design for female skiers.
One of the goals of the new FX series was weight reduction, so Kästle engineers concocted Tri-Tech, a trifecta of design features all aimed at keeping weight off. Tri-Tech is essentially a core-within-a-core; a central channel of high-density woods is wrapped in a glass torsion box and braced on either side with lighter wood laminates. The torsion box rides higher than the outer sections, creating a 3D top surface, which is the first weight-saver. Second is the concentration of hard woods in the center, so lighter woods can be used in the remaining 2/3 of the core. Third is using a thicker core profile in the central torsion box, which gives it more power without adding more materials.
K2 completely changed every core model in its 19/20 line, without straying one centimeter from its core values. True, the new Mindbenders are built differently than the Pinnacles of yesteryear, using all wood cores in their Ti incarnations (say ta-ta to Nano-tech), and more Titanal in the tail section to increase rear support compared to the passé Pinnacles.
Even though the new Mindbender Ti series, of which the 90Ti is the narrowest, aims for a better class of skier (if you’ll pardon the expression), they’re not so stout they can’t be controlled by adventurous intermediates. The Mindbenders’ Ti Y-Beam construction puts Titanal over the edge in the forebody but moves it away from edge in the tail. This adjusts the skis’ torsional rigidity requirements to create more bite in the forebody and easier release of the tail, without affecting their even, balanced flex longitudinally.
The Mindbender 108 Ti tries to win the war against crud by caressing it instead of crushing it. It has a gift for rolling to the edge that makes it feel quicker than the norm among skis of its 108mm girth. To execute a truly tight radius turn requires overruling its roughly 30m-sidecut radius and foot swiveling a flat ski, a move the Mindbender 108Ti has down pat. Its impressive 9.25 score for drift speaks to its ability to brake according to the current style that uses skidding as the primary form of speed management.
It takes only one section of uncut powder to realize that this unsullied canvas is where the Mindbender 108Ti would prefer to display its artistry. Who wouldn’t rather ski unblemished freshies? By afternoon what was once pristine is now a mogul field. Remarkably, its soft, rockered forebody allows the 108Ti to conform to gnarly bumps – I’m looking at you, snowboarders – as if they were only a minor inconvenience.
You can tell a lot about a ski by its immediate family. Rossi’s Hero Elite Plus Ti is closely related to the Hero Elite LT Ti and ST Ti, both legit non-FIS Race models, even though the Plus Ti’s plus-sized shape (78mm) is many mm’s more ample than the 71mm waist of the LT Ti and 68mm midriff on the SL Ti. The Hero Elite Plus Ti not only uses the same construction as its gate-bashing sibs, its sidecut radius is the same as the ST’s in the167cm size preferred by slalom specialists.
Last year Rossi converted all of the Hero Elite clan to a new damping system, Line Control Technology. (LCT). Instead of using horizontal sheets of Titanal, as has been the case for decades among race models, LCT uses a vertical Ti laminate down the center of the ski so the forebody is more resistant to deflection. Torsional rigidity is softened a tad to allow the deep sidecut to engage gradually and progressively as the ski is tipped and pressured. “Stable and forgiving into the turn,” assures Scott Sahr from Aspen Ski and Board, “without compromising edge contact.”
The Experience 88 has been a fixture in the Rossignol line and an award-winning player in the All-Mountain East genre since it first materialized back in the days when I was a rank-and-file tester for SKI magazine. Up until last season there was no “Ti” in its name or in its guts. The E88 played perpetual second fiddle in a series headlined by the Experience 98 for the first few seasons and later by the Experience 100 and 100 HD.
Last year Rossi leveled the playing field, introducing Line Control Technology in both the Experience 94 Ti and 88 Ti. A vertical strip of Titanal runs down the 88’s midline helping to absorb vibration and maintain snow contact. The E88 Ti also had its sidecut trimmed by a substantial 7mm’s at both ends, essentially converting it from a Frontside orientation to a more off-trail disposition. The straighter shape allows the ski to ride at a more consistent level in track-riven crud, without diluting its ability to hold an edge on hard snow.
Even though the E88 Ti is the beneficiary of several generations of upgrades, it retains the ease of operation that made its ancestors the go-to ski for thousands of Finesse skiers looking for one ski to do it all. Its highest scores are for sustained edge grip and forgiveness, which fairly encapsulates its core competence. The E88 has always been good at making lower skill skiers feel comfortable, encouraging better technique without requiring it.
