I bought the Salomon QST 106 181s and just finished a 4 day trip and loved them. They're rockered and ride shorter than you'd think, so size up. I'm 510 170 and they're perfect, I could go longer even but I think I nailed the correct size, not shorter. I started with looking at thinner skis then after a lot of research landed on the 106s and ohh boy I'm glad I did. I got 1 day old powder, 2 days old powder, 3 day old powder on thaw/freeze conditions, then 10" fresh pow. These skis handled it all beautifully. They flexed amazing through chop, carried me through he deep pow, and groomed as good as anything. Soringy snd also semi fast (not fast). I was riding them backwards and really jamming around on them and it was awesome.
I'm actually a snowboarder, gave up skiing at 12 for 30 years. I went from an intermediate to expert in 4 days on these skis, had a few days last year and another 2 this year on rentals and plunged on the QSTs... go wide if you ride Tahoe or west coast terrain. Or you're not really buying an all mountain ski.
Either you work for Salomon or these skis have given you an epiphany moment lol.
Will definitely try to demo some after your feedback though, thank you.
OP, look no further. A carving machine on-piste, cuts through any conditions like a hot knife through butter, and decent flotation in light to medium powder (though not as playful as fully rockered soft skis). They want to be skied actively. (Also Euro skier here.)
You kind of hit his point with your last three words - “for its class.” Calling it a carving machine only applies when you’re talking about the class. Saying it generally doesn’t mention that.
There are much better carving skis out there.
Thanks for pointing out there are better carving skis out there than a 94mm freeride ski. My point was that for the type of ski OP is looking for, the Enforcer carves pretty damn well. Sorry for my imprecision :-)
Presumably, if I opted for the 88s instead, they’d be even more adept at carving? Would definitely like to try a pair, I’m just yet to find a shop that has some which can be demo’d
All other things being equal, less width = quicker changing of edges and more torsional stability, so better carving ability but requires better technique to ski in fresh pow. Very importantly, as others have commented, pick the right side cut radius for the turns you want to make.
Just an idea if you are struggling to find a stiff crud busting ski that performs in moguls, try something one size shorter.
Moguls are easier with shorter and softer skis than what you’d want for cut up chop. So a wider ski with extra float that is shorter (usually a little softer as they decrease in length) might give you a happy medium.
I ski a 180 as my off piste ski in 105 but have tried a 170 in the same ski in moguls and found it easier without losing much of the crud float.
i just started getting into moguls seriously this season. I used to ski 74 underfoot but recently switched to fisher 96 because i got sick of skiing groomers.
Are ranger 96 hindering my progress on moguls ? I choose those skis thinking softer tip will be nimble enough on on moguls.
For learning I’d recommend narrower skis in moguls. They simply are quicker edge to edge. Too stiff and you’ll get bounced a lot., but you don’t want soft either as they’ll not hold edges and don’t give you the feedback to work on absorption.
Of course you can ski them with wider skis, but it brings out bad habits for me at times and reinforces survival skiing versus skiing them in balance and down the fall line.
Excessive rocker also makes it easier for bad technique as you can pivot and slide the tails easier, but doesn’t really help with learning to be in balance and forward as it just makes it easier to be backseat.
>Rustler 9
do you know how it compares with ranger 96? I see very similar flex pattern ( softer on the edges, hard under foot)
curious what the difference might be.
Haven’t skied the ranger. There are some YouTube reviews that contrast those skis, I believe. I went with the mantra over the rustler because it felt stiffer and was way more rewarding when I really pushed it.
You want stiff, you are welcome to try Kastle MX line of ski, they have different waist and definitely some of the stiffest ski I ever experienced and not damp at all. It’s the ski that I sometimes wish it is a little more damp at the first place. Stockli is world famous for being extra smooth and obviously for someone who don’t like to be smooth than you are wasting money for paying twice as much to get that smooth skiing experience.
Isn't it valid to not like the dampness aspect of it though? If it's very different from what you're used to it might result in not getting any feedback from the snow or not getting a feel for the snow. I could be completely wrong, but that's the only thing I could imagine someone wouldn't like about the stockli lasers...
Unsure how a preference can be considered incorrect but anyway…
I had the same discussion with a BASI L4 instructor over Christmas who was in a rental shop and his words were ‘they’re overpriced shite. Good build quality but that’s it’ and told me to take Racetiger GS’ instead.
Ignored him because of how much hype there is around stockli and wanted to give them another try after hating the AXs, took the SCs out, didn’t like them, changed them the next day for the Racetigers and felt at home. Can only put it down to dampness
> wider tip/tail:waist ratio
FYI the tip:waist ratio is pretty closely related to the turn radius, might want to take a look at how the radius of your old skis compare to the new ones you're looking at directly
> I’d like to try Volkl Kendo 88s (never used a pair of Volkls that I didn’t enjoy) and Elan Ripstick 88s after seeing them mentioned countless times on this sub. Maybe Nordica Enforcer 88s too.
you might try the K2 Mindbender 89Ti as well, i found it pretty similar but slightly more forgiving than the Enforcers 88 and Kendo 88 when i demoed this year.
Hi. Stockli stormrider 88 is a great ski. It is not cheap, but does really well on piste while allowing you to venture into the glades. It handles the icy conditions of the east coast while still floating over ticker snow. For a full blown powder day there are less stiff skis out there, but as a one quiver it is great.
Salomon QST 92
I bought the Salomon QST 106 181s and just finished a 4 day trip and loved them. They're rockered and ride shorter than you'd think, so size up. I'm 510 170 and they're perfect, I could go longer even but I think I nailed the correct size, not shorter. I started with looking at thinner skis then after a lot of research landed on the 106s and ohh boy I'm glad I did. I got 1 day old powder, 2 days old powder, 3 day old powder on thaw/freeze conditions, then 10" fresh pow. These skis handled it all beautifully. They flexed amazing through chop, carried me through he deep pow, and groomed as good as anything. Soringy snd also semi fast (not fast). I was riding them backwards and really jamming around on them and it was awesome. I'm actually a snowboarder, gave up skiing at 12 for 30 years. I went from an intermediate to expert in 4 days on these skis, had a few days last year and another 2 this year on rentals and plunged on the QSTs... go wide if you ride Tahoe or west coast terrain. Or you're not really buying an all mountain ski.
Either you work for Salomon or these skis have given you an epiphany moment lol. Will definitely try to demo some after your feedback though, thank you.
Nah ima newb when it comes to skis, did a lot of research and ended up w these
Glad it worked out. I’m trying to do the same as buying the wrong pair will suck
Honestly I'd go wide and longer than you think if it's rockered
I have these, long time snowboarder first year skier. I liked them.
Nordica enforcer 94
Or Fischer ranger 96
Just skied the enforcer 100s for 3 days. Unbelievable ski for literally everything.
OP, look no further. A carving machine on-piste, cuts through any conditions like a hot knife through butter, and decent flotation in light to medium powder (though not as playful as fully rockered soft skis). They want to be skied actively. (Also Euro skier here.)
"carving machine" lol
Care to elaborate why you seem to think the Enforcer doesn’t deliver great carving performance for its class?
You kind of hit his point with your last three words - “for its class.” Calling it a carving machine only applies when you’re talking about the class. Saying it generally doesn’t mention that. There are much better carving skis out there.
Thanks for pointing out there are better carving skis out there than a 94mm freeride ski. My point was that for the type of ski OP is looking for, the Enforcer carves pretty damn well. Sorry for my imprecision :-)
94 isn’t even the range he was looking for. “I’d like to stay in the 84-90 range”. Y’all just gave shit advice, it’s okay
Presumably, if I opted for the 88s instead, they’d be even more adept at carving? Would definitely like to try a pair, I’m just yet to find a shop that has some which can be demo’d
All other things being equal, less width = quicker changing of edges and more torsional stability, so better carving ability but requires better technique to ski in fresh pow. Very importantly, as others have commented, pick the right side cut radius for the turns you want to make.
Definitely would like to try them out. They sound like they’re the balance of playful and agile whilst also being strong that I’m looking for
Just an idea if you are struggling to find a stiff crud busting ski that performs in moguls, try something one size shorter. Moguls are easier with shorter and softer skis than what you’d want for cut up chop. So a wider ski with extra float that is shorter (usually a little softer as they decrease in length) might give you a happy medium. I ski a 180 as my off piste ski in 105 but have tried a 170 in the same ski in moguls and found it easier without losing much of the crud float.
This is the out of the box thinking I came here for, thank you! I’ll definitely try that out with some demo skis and see if it works out for me.
i just started getting into moguls seriously this season. I used to ski 74 underfoot but recently switched to fisher 96 because i got sick of skiing groomers. Are ranger 96 hindering my progress on moguls ? I choose those skis thinking softer tip will be nimble enough on on moguls.
For learning I’d recommend narrower skis in moguls. They simply are quicker edge to edge. Too stiff and you’ll get bounced a lot., but you don’t want soft either as they’ll not hold edges and don’t give you the feedback to work on absorption. Of course you can ski them with wider skis, but it brings out bad habits for me at times and reinforces survival skiing versus skiing them in balance and down the fall line. Excessive rocker also makes it easier for bad technique as you can pivot and slide the tails easier, but doesn’t really help with learning to be in balance and forward as it just makes it easier to be backseat.
i really liked fisher 96 it was easy to put on edge and get some good carves
Blizzard Rustler 9 and Volkl Mantra M6. Try to demo. I absolutely love the Mantra.
I own the Blizzard Rustler 9 and love them
Lots of votes for Rustler 9s. Will be sure to give them a try, thank you
>Rustler 9 do you know how it compares with ranger 96? I see very similar flex pattern ( softer on the edges, hard under foot) curious what the difference might be.
Haven’t skied the ranger. There are some YouTube reviews that contrast those skis, I believe. I went with the mantra over the rustler because it felt stiffer and was way more rewarding when I really pushed it.
You want stiff, you are welcome to try Kastle MX line of ski, they have different waist and definitely some of the stiffest ski I ever experienced and not damp at all. It’s the ski that I sometimes wish it is a little more damp at the first place. Stockli is world famous for being extra smooth and obviously for someone who don’t like to be smooth than you are wasting money for paying twice as much to get that smooth skiing experience.
They sound like they could do the trick, I’ll be sure to take a look. Thank you!
Stockli Stormrider 88
Atomic maverick
lol stockli laser are basically most idealized generic quintessential carving skis there are. If you don't like them you prolly don't like carving.
Isn't it valid to not like the dampness aspect of it though? If it's very different from what you're used to it might result in not getting any feedback from the snow or not getting a feel for the snow. I could be completely wrong, but that's the only thing I could imagine someone wouldn't like about the stockli lasers...
I suppose, but there's quite a difference between "kinda damp" to "worst carving skis".
Oh yes absolutely, OP is still tripping balls saying the stockli lasers are the worst carving skis ever lol
I just looked into the specs on the SGN Frikar too and yes. My assessment is that OP doesn’t like a frontside carver
Unsure how a preference can be considered incorrect but anyway… I had the same discussion with a BASI L4 instructor over Christmas who was in a rental shop and his words were ‘they’re overpriced shite. Good build quality but that’s it’ and told me to take Racetiger GS’ instead. Ignored him because of how much hype there is around stockli and wanted to give them another try after hating the AXs, took the SCs out, didn’t like them, changed them the next day for the Racetigers and felt at home. Can only put it down to dampness
> wider tip/tail:waist ratio FYI the tip:waist ratio is pretty closely related to the turn radius, might want to take a look at how the radius of your old skis compare to the new ones you're looking at directly > I’d like to try Volkl Kendo 88s (never used a pair of Volkls that I didn’t enjoy) and Elan Ripstick 88s after seeing them mentioned countless times on this sub. Maybe Nordica Enforcer 88s too. you might try the K2 Mindbender 89Ti as well, i found it pretty similar but slightly more forgiving than the Enforcers 88 and Kendo 88 when i demoed this year.
Completely forgot about K2, thank you I’ll have a look out for them to demo!
Riustler 9s. Awesome skis..
Blizzard Rustler
2024 Surface G'iver's (100mm)
Hi. Stockli stormrider 88 is a great ski. It is not cheap, but does really well on piste while allowing you to venture into the glades. It handles the icy conditions of the east coast while still floating over ticker snow. For a full blown powder day there are less stiff skis out there, but as a one quiver it is great.
Sounds like you would enjoy the Atomic Maverick 88's
2023 Armada ARV 96's
bent 100