After things really slowed down during the Covid years, I really expected a backlog of new exciting skis to come down the road. But for next season, carry over and New Graphic Technology (NGT) dominate. Don’t get me wrong, there are some pretty cool skis coming, but not the windfall of product that we were expecting. A new model here … a mid-range collection there ... but overall, not the influx of skis we expected. There are a few standout skis that are worth noting, and we will talk about them. But first we will start with boots and the big changes there before circling back to the ski discussion.
Lange is abandoning their Dual Core RX collection for an all new Shadow (which still retains Dual Core) collection, which, when you start peeling away the layers, is a pretty big departure for Lange. We will talk about this boot in its own article soon. Head is reimagining their volume leader, the Edge series, and Nordica is redesigning their race Doberman series. But, the big buzz is BOA, the mechanical cable closure mechanism which helps contain the forefoot. Brands like Atomic, Fischer, K2 and Salomon have all jumped aboard the BOA bandwagon and have added a plethora of models with both alpine and back/sidecountry features. It will be exciting to see how these new models perform and how our readers accept them. If the early discussion within the community is any indicator, it might take some time.
Now back to the skis. We will focus on what is significantly new with the brands, and we might touch base on the carry overs, but since all of our readers prefer shiny objects, let's get it started with the new stuff.
What’s all new in the ski world.
Past the NGT and carry over skis from last year, here are a few early ski takeaways that I think will indeed be making some waves for this season.
Dynastar is re-creating their 80-some offerings, skis that should make a splash in the 80-90 mm category with two all new models, the M-Cross and E-Cross. While they are constructed in the focus 82 and 88 widths, narrower mid performance levels will be included too. The M tag refers to the men's/unisex and the E, the women's. Dynastar is staying with their tried and true gradual tip rise here, but it is their Hybrid Core 2.0 that really sounds interesting. I am sure we will be seeing some of these new Cross skis in SkiTalk’s long term test fleet very soon.
Armada is finally updating their staple ARV collection with all new ARV 88, 94 and 100 in both men’s and women's, and we are sure that we will see the other sizes to follow. This new construction as well as the size offerings do modernize these collections.
Augment/Van Deer-Red Bull still have presented no solid plans on returning to the US market, other than a statement that they will delay re-entry into our market until 24/25. This is making their used skis a hot commodity. We are receiving an e-mail every week or so asking if we are interested in selling any of our demos. Sorry, still no.
Head is embracing the blues and has abandoned the yellow in favor of a new blue, both in accents and new graphics in their race collections. While this could easily be dismissed as NGT, these are new skis plus it is a major move for a company so identifiable on the race podium. As far as other significant changes, the Joy collection has been completely revamped with all new shapes and even some new models. Expect Tyrolia Protector bindings to be the offering of choice.
While Atomic has a good amount of carry over and some NGT, like the beautiful new Bent collection, they will be bringing Volant back into the US market with a small boutique collection that will be available at select premium retailers. Stay tuned for a complete overview of the collection in the near future.
Nordica is bring back an old name in the Steadfast, and making it a frontside-ish all mountain collection from the upper 70 to mid 80 mm range, pretty much replacing the Navigators. If you are a Navigator fan, start stockpiling, because the new Steadfast is much more hard snow oriented and from what I previewed, is very different and will debunk the old “Steadfast Rule." Nordica has also revamped their pseudo consumer race Dobermans and Spitfires.
Elan is going prime time with an all new frontside collection called, you guessed it, Primetime, with three offerings for both men and women. The Slovanian brand is also coming out with two new jibby freeride skis, the Playmanker 91 and Playmaker 101.
Last year K2 redesigned their Mindbender Ti skis and now the little brother the C series (for carbon) gets the attention. With the Ti’s moving up both the performance and power side of the SkiTalk scale, I expect the new C constructed skis to fill the void for the fans of the original Mindbenders.
Blizzard has gone back to the drawing board with their Rustler and Sheeva collections and moved a lot of numbers around in waist widths and constructions. We expect good things from these new skis.
Stöckli is doubling down and doubling the offerings with their Montero collection by adding a women’s version of the AX, the AW, with a different construction and smaller sizes, as well as a narrower 76 mm Montero, the AS. IMHO, this will bring back some of the spirit of the original Laser AX that was lost when the Montero AX’s waist hit 80mm.
Fischer is expanding their very good Ranger collection with a new Ranger 84 which will be a very competitive narrow wide ski in this highly contested category. I expect good things from this skinny Ranger.
Like some other brands, Kästle has been working on boots, and their new boot for a first year project deserves a solid B+. I think boot development took priority over their recreational ski development, and if you noticed, I said recreational, because they have been very busy developing top level World Cup skis which are appearing on the feet of top 30 racers. As far as the consumer models, the mid level DX skis, a collection that falls between the stellar PX skis and the reference MX models, are new. There is also a Terra collection, consisting of the Quartz 72, Marble 84 and Obsidian 92 which are all female focused.
Völkl has been focusing mostly on the front side of the mountain of late, but looking at the Revolt series for this year, it appears the race engineers left the offices early and the athletes took over in both design and graphics and had some fun in the process. Expect a lot of spinning, jibbing, big air and whatever else the kids nowadays are doing. Whatever it is, it is fun and I am jealous that I am too old for that shit. Völkl also added two bookend-sized Blaze offerings, a 84 mm ski in a both a men's and women's version, and a unisex 114.
While focusing much attention on their new Strive binding and BOA Supra boots, Salomon did a little house cleaning and condensing of their skis, but did add a new light sidecountry offering from their QST series, the Echo 106. While the Echo is not in our wheelhouse for review, we did get out on it at Snowbasin and were blown away, stay tuned for the review. Salomon's Stance men's and women's collections both receive new constructions to make the skis more accessible without losing the top end that performance skiers expect from the series. Oh, add in some Bold New Graphics (BNG) here, too.
Rossignol is looking forward with their Essential ski, a full push into sustainability, and we will say this is not a ski you would expect your typical pine cone eater to gravitate to. The Essential is a serious sub 70 mm frontside carver. Rossignol has also replaced the React series with a carver collection called Forza with DNA goes back to some of our favorite modern Rossignols, the Classic 70 and 80. We expect the Forza 70* V-Ti to be a reference ski on the power side of the scale, especially in its 78mm waist, since it is available with the race-derived R22 plate.
Line has been focusing on their new Bacon and Cronics with an all-new Bacon 108 and 115, and of course the Shorty, and the 94 and 101 in the Cronics. Both of these are familiar names/collections, but are all new skis.
Bindings
Now how do you attach those cool new skis to your boots? That's right, bindings.
Salomon has already expanded their new Strive collection with a MultiNorm or AT ISO 9355 verson of the Strive with a 16, which was actually a late additon for this year. There is also an MN version of the Strive 14 which will be available alongside the GW or Gripwalk ISO 23223 version, and a Strive 12 GW which shares the heel of the Stage 11 GW.
Tyrolia is expanding their commitment to the Protector collection, the only bi-lateral release heel on the market by coming downmarket with the SLR 10 and SLR 11, both of which are GripWalk compatible.
Marker has created a segment than has either been ignored or addressed depending on your perspective, and that is an AT binding that is specifically designed for a junior boot. This is the all new F5 JR Tour, a junior frame binding that will accommodate boots from 235 to 300 mm for the kids to go start hiking and get into the back- or side country.
Look remains pretty much unchanged except for some new colorways.
We will go into more depth on many of these products, both on the site and our YouTube channel, so stay tuned, and we hope you enjoyed this little glimpse into the coming season.
Lange is abandoning their Dual Core RX collection for an all new Shadow (which still retains Dual Core) collection, which, when you start peeling away the layers, is a pretty big departure for Lange. We will talk about this boot in its own article soon. Head is reimagining their volume leader, the Edge series, and Nordica is redesigning their race Doberman series. But, the big buzz is BOA, the mechanical cable closure mechanism which helps contain the forefoot. Brands like Atomic, Fischer, K2 and Salomon have all jumped aboard the BOA bandwagon and have added a plethora of models with both alpine and back/sidecountry features. It will be exciting to see how these new models perform and how our readers accept them. If the early discussion within the community is any indicator, it might take some time.
Now back to the skis. We will focus on what is significantly new with the brands, and we might touch base on the carry overs, but since all of our readers prefer shiny objects, let's get it started with the new stuff.
What’s all new in the ski world.
Past the NGT and carry over skis from last year, here are a few early ski takeaways that I think will indeed be making some waves for this season.
Dynastar is re-creating their 80-some offerings, skis that should make a splash in the 80-90 mm category with two all new models, the M-Cross and E-Cross. While they are constructed in the focus 82 and 88 widths, narrower mid performance levels will be included too. The M tag refers to the men's/unisex and the E, the women's. Dynastar is staying with their tried and true gradual tip rise here, but it is their Hybrid Core 2.0 that really sounds interesting. I am sure we will be seeing some of these new Cross skis in SkiTalk’s long term test fleet very soon.
Armada is finally updating their staple ARV collection with all new ARV 88, 94 and 100 in both men’s and women's, and we are sure that we will see the other sizes to follow. This new construction as well as the size offerings do modernize these collections.
Augment/Van Deer-Red Bull still have presented no solid plans on returning to the US market, other than a statement that they will delay re-entry into our market until 24/25. This is making their used skis a hot commodity. We are receiving an e-mail every week or so asking if we are interested in selling any of our demos. Sorry, still no.
Head is embracing the blues and has abandoned the yellow in favor of a new blue, both in accents and new graphics in their race collections. While this could easily be dismissed as NGT, these are new skis plus it is a major move for a company so identifiable on the race podium. As far as other significant changes, the Joy collection has been completely revamped with all new shapes and even some new models. Expect Tyrolia Protector bindings to be the offering of choice.
While Atomic has a good amount of carry over and some NGT, like the beautiful new Bent collection, they will be bringing Volant back into the US market with a small boutique collection that will be available at select premium retailers. Stay tuned for a complete overview of the collection in the near future.
Nordica is bring back an old name in the Steadfast, and making it a frontside-ish all mountain collection from the upper 70 to mid 80 mm range, pretty much replacing the Navigators. If you are a Navigator fan, start stockpiling, because the new Steadfast is much more hard snow oriented and from what I previewed, is very different and will debunk the old “Steadfast Rule." Nordica has also revamped their pseudo consumer race Dobermans and Spitfires.
Elan is going prime time with an all new frontside collection called, you guessed it, Primetime, with three offerings for both men and women. The Slovanian brand is also coming out with two new jibby freeride skis, the Playmanker 91 and Playmaker 101.
Last year K2 redesigned their Mindbender Ti skis and now the little brother the C series (for carbon) gets the attention. With the Ti’s moving up both the performance and power side of the SkiTalk scale, I expect the new C constructed skis to fill the void for the fans of the original Mindbenders.
Blizzard has gone back to the drawing board with their Rustler and Sheeva collections and moved a lot of numbers around in waist widths and constructions. We expect good things from these new skis.
Stöckli is doubling down and doubling the offerings with their Montero collection by adding a women’s version of the AX, the AW, with a different construction and smaller sizes, as well as a narrower 76 mm Montero, the AS. IMHO, this will bring back some of the spirit of the original Laser AX that was lost when the Montero AX’s waist hit 80mm.
Fischer is expanding their very good Ranger collection with a new Ranger 84 which will be a very competitive narrow wide ski in this highly contested category. I expect good things from this skinny Ranger.
Like some other brands, Kästle has been working on boots, and their new boot for a first year project deserves a solid B+. I think boot development took priority over their recreational ski development, and if you noticed, I said recreational, because they have been very busy developing top level World Cup skis which are appearing on the feet of top 30 racers. As far as the consumer models, the mid level DX skis, a collection that falls between the stellar PX skis and the reference MX models, are new. There is also a Terra collection, consisting of the Quartz 72, Marble 84 and Obsidian 92 which are all female focused.Völkl has been focusing mostly on the front side of the mountain of late, but looking at the Revolt series for this year, it appears the race engineers left the offices early and the athletes took over in both design and graphics and had some fun in the process. Expect a lot of spinning, jibbing, big air and whatever else the kids nowadays are doing. Whatever it is, it is fun and I am jealous that I am too old for that shit. Völkl also added two bookend-sized Blaze offerings, a 84 mm ski in a both a men's and women's version, and a unisex 114.
While focusing much attention on their new Strive binding and BOA Supra boots, Salomon did a little house cleaning and condensing of their skis, but did add a new light sidecountry offering from their QST series, the Echo 106. While the Echo is not in our wheelhouse for review, we did get out on it at Snowbasin and were blown away, stay tuned for the review. Salomon's Stance men's and women's collections both receive new constructions to make the skis more accessible without losing the top end that performance skiers expect from the series. Oh, add in some Bold New Graphics (BNG) here, too.
Rossignol is looking forward with their Essential ski, a full push into sustainability, and we will say this is not a ski you would expect your typical pine cone eater to gravitate to. The Essential is a serious sub 70 mm frontside carver. Rossignol has also replaced the React series with a carver collection called Forza with DNA goes back to some of our favorite modern Rossignols, the Classic 70 and 80. We expect the Forza 70* V-Ti to be a reference ski on the power side of the scale, especially in its 78mm waist, since it is available with the race-derived R22 plate.
Line has been focusing on their new Bacon and Cronics with an all-new Bacon 108 and 115, and of course the Shorty, and the 94 and 101 in the Cronics. Both of these are familiar names/collections, but are all new skis.
Bindings
Now how do you attach those cool new skis to your boots? That's right, bindings.
Salomon has already expanded their new Strive collection with a MultiNorm or AT ISO 9355 verson of the Strive with a 16, which was actually a late additon for this year. There is also an MN version of the Strive 14 which will be available alongside the GW or Gripwalk ISO 23223 version, and a Strive 12 GW which shares the heel of the Stage 11 GW.
Tyrolia is expanding their commitment to the Protector collection, the only bi-lateral release heel on the market by coming downmarket with the SLR 10 and SLR 11, both of which are GripWalk compatible.
Marker has created a segment than has either been ignored or addressed depending on your perspective, and that is an AT binding that is specifically designed for a junior boot. This is the all new F5 JR Tour, a junior frame binding that will accommodate boots from 235 to 300 mm for the kids to go start hiking and get into the back- or side country.
Look remains pretty much unchanged except for some new colorways.
