A few weeks back, Robb, BT, TonyZ, and I made our way over to Afton Alps in Minnesota for the dealer ski demo. Most of the big names were there with next year’s gear, and for five hours straight, we put dozens of skis through their paces to make sure the gear we offer you next year is the best possible skis on the market.
While we each walked away with a list of personal favorite skis on the day, all four of us agreed on two as clear standouts: for the second straight year, the Salomon Q98 was a clear winner. Smooth, stable, able to ski anything by any type of skier – this ski just rips. The other favorite? K2’s Rictor 90XTi. An unbelievably stable ski, we couldn’t make it loose it’s grip in even the hardest of turns. That said, it was super easy to make turn any radius turns we threw at it, while remaining smooth the entire time. It was hard not to smile riding this ski.