While it’s possible to quibble over the MX89’s Finesse score, there’s no equivocating when it comes to its Power rating. It’s clearly the most carve-centric ski in its class, responding to a high edge angle by tearing a new aperture into whatever terrain it encounters on its bull-rush to the bottom. Skiers who can execute turns with a lot of upper/lower body separation will indeed find the MX89 relaxing because the ride is so secure the skier doesn’t have to work as hard to maintain a clean trajectory.
No question the Navigator 80 is softer than its burlier kin, but that’s hardly a demerit to the skier who just wants an everyday tool that lets him dine from the all-the-groomers-you-can-eat menu. What’s groomed in the AM is often bumped up by afternoon, when the Navigator 80 can bend its way around bumps with aplomb. While the Navigator 80 is perfectly attuned to the Finesse skier who prefers to ski in an upright stance, it’s ready to tip into big, laid-over arcs whenever duty calls. For its unbeatable ease of operation, accurate steering and category-killing value, the Navigator 80 is a Realskiers Silver Skier Selection.
There’s no way that Kästle can build a bad GS ski. In fact, it would almost be impossible for it to make anything less than a superb one. That’s because Kästle’s stock construction – vertically laminated poplar and beech core, prepreg fiberglass and top and bottom sheets of Titanal – starts race ready. Add a tip and tail design meant to wrench every last millimeter of edge contact possible and a cambered baseline that’s on the same page, swirl in Kästle’s signature Hollowtech to smooth out the forward suspension, and you have a winning formula.
Like a benevolent despot, the new Kästle LX85 has power in its bloodlines but mercy in its heart. A look at its components suggests a ski with all the rigor of a race ski, with a vertically laminated wood core encased in glass and twin sheets of Titanal. The cap construction of the earlier LX’s has been replaced with the square sidewalls associated with more powerful skis. But its tip and tail are tapered to take the edge off their reactions and the forebody has the slight elevation that is considered essential on an off-trail ski.
The Enforcer 100 remains one of the most powerful skis in the All-Mountain West category, a fall-line charging engine with a penchant for pulverizing crud. Of course it’s great in powder; what Recommended ski in this genre isn’t? Powder is never the problem. Battered, inconsistent crud, particularly when it’s as heavy as lava, is the problem. The Enforcer 100 tears through a corrugated crud field like it was an old cotton sheet.
