Archives

Salomon XDR 88 Ti

Written by: Peter Kray

Salomon’s All-Terrain Rocker 2.0 profile gives the ski a really nice mix of ease of initiation and edge-hold, resulting in a ski that is super responsive, especially in short swing turns. The ski has a livelier feel than a lot of other skis in this category thanks to a single layer of Titanal, combined with Read more ›

Therm-a-rest ProLite

Written by: McKenzie Long

The Therm-a-Rest Prolite is a lightweight self-inflating sleeping pad. This means that when it is time to sleep, the only preparation required is to unscrew the valve and lay the pad out on the ground. Then the pad inflates on its own. Before sleeping, we found that most users will want to top it off Read more ›

Volkl Kendo

Written by: Peter Kray

Every test card reviewing the Volkl Kendo starts out something like this, “Damp, quiet, stable, and easy to carve, especially for medium radius.” That’s also what we wrote about this ski last year, when the Kendo kicked butt in the carving portion of the Frontside Category. Moderate tip and tail rocker, a woodcore mix of Read more ›

Rossignol Experience 88 Ti

Written by: Peter Kray

The new Rossignol Experience 88Ti is one of the easiest turning, versatile, effortlessly initiating skis we’ve ever tested in the Frontside category. The amount of tip rocker makes it roll into deep arcs like a powder ski, while the new Line Control Technology and its center balancing Power Rail give it instant hold and stability Read more ›

Elan Ripstick 86

Written by: Peter Kray

Thanks to Elan’s Amphibio technology, which integrates both rocker and camber profiles into dedicated left and right skis, our testers found the Ripstick 86 to be super smooth and easy to initiate, responsive, and able to quickly shift into a variety of short to medium radius turn shapes. For such a smooth ski, with such Read more ›

Atomic Vantage 90 Ti

Written by: Peter Kray

Atomic had one of the top scoring skis in the Frontside category last season with the Vantage 90 CTI , which featured 20 percent tip rocker. This year, the brand offered up the new Vantage 90 TI for this category, with several brand new construction techniques that resulted in a ski that performed much better Read more ›

Dynastar Legend X88

Written by: Peter Kray

The new and improved Dynastar Legend X88 feels lighter, more playful, and much more versatile than many of the other skis in the Frontside Category. That’s thanks to Dynastar’s Powerdrive Free construction featuring five-point sidecut, which helps create a more progressive flex and a tight turn radius. That and a lightweight poplar woodcore are why Read more ›

Head Kore 93

Written by: Peter Kray

Head’s Kore 93, the thinnest of the brand’s Kore line, which was introduced last season, aims to be one of the lightest skis in the category by utilizing unique, weight-shaving materials such as Graphene, Koroyd and Head’s “topsheet free construction,” which eliminates the traditional plastic topsheet. It also features carbon fiber construction and Karuba woodcore Read more ›

Nordica Enforcer 93

Written by: Peter Kray

The Nordica Enforcer is a damp, well-engineered ski that will lay twin carves on just about any All Mountain condition you can find, and do it until the lifts stop. Like the Head Kore 93, this ski was tested in our All Mountain Category last season (the Nordica Enforcer 100 is in that category this Read more ›

Armada Invictus 89TI

Written by: Peter Kray

The Armada Invictus 89 Ti’s recent redesign, which includes a new metal-laminate construction, feels like a ski that’s been working out in the offseason, hitting the hill with power, authority, and an easy-to-access sweet spot which provides a vastly increased sense of control. Testers found it damp and reliable, fun to ski off-piste, with plenty Read more ›

Blizzard Brahma

Written by: Peter Kray

Blizzard’s Flipcore Technology is in all likelihood the most recognized, successful application of rocker in the ski industry, offering an ease of turn initiation that makes it lots fun to start ripping long turns on very damp skis. That’s definitely the story with the Brahma, a hard snow destroying Frontside machine that some of our Read more ›

Black Crows Orb

Written by: Peter Kray

Black Crows was invited to our annual test for the first time last season. This year they continued to score positive results across the board for the brand’s quality and innovative take on ski construction. While the Orb features many of the woodcore, twin Titanal layer characteristics of many of the other skis in the Read more ›