Stormrider 107
Average test scores don’t always align in lock-step with the on-snow behavior they’re intended to reflect, but if you look at the highs and lows of the Stöckli Stormrider 107’s scores, a clear – and accurate – image appears.
Looking at the lows, slow-speed turning has never been a Stöckli priority; you only have to ski a pair once and you’ll discover why. Short-radius turns are tough for any 107mm ski and the multi-level metal structure doesn’t make the Stormrider feel any quicker. It would be earlier to the edge if Stöckli hadn’t rockered the 107’s tip in a rare kowtow to conventional wisdom for the Swiss.
Prodigy
Twin-tips can take some getting used to, particularly if they’re symmetrical as several Factions are. But the Prodigy isn’t a typical twin, although it retains some of the surfy sensations often associated with skis with turned-up tails. Noticeably lightweight, the...Santa Ana
Upon re-examination this past winter, our panelists’ scores and comments regarding the Santa Ana continued to illustrate an instructive point: when a wide-waisted ski has a small meter-radius measurement, which trait will dominate? As we’ve asserted in these pages for...Soul 7 HD W
Rossignol recognized some years ago that their off-piste unisex skis came out of the mold ready for the women’s market. What hadn’t Rossi already done to the Soul 7 (or Savory 7, as renamed for womankind) to make it female-friendly? The tip and tail were fashioned from Koroyd in see-through patterns reminiscent of stained glass, so swing weight was already low as basso profondo. Every shred of metal not named “edge” was omitted a priori.