Testing 2023 Salomon Skis at Alta Ski Area with SkiEssentials.com
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- Опубликовано: 13 апр 2022
- We headed to Alta, UT to test some 2023 skis with Salomon's Alpine Marketing Manager, Joe Johnson. Big thanks to Joe and Salomon for making it happen!
Written Recap: www.skiessentials.com/Chairli...
Good stuff. You should do more of these. Go to different resorts and do this around the country.
I think just switching up our routine makes it all the more interesting for sure.
Thank you Joe, thank you Salomon. The Q 106’s really tamed the chop when you went back to them in the afternoon. Excellent camera work Jeff. Chair chatter & lots of ski footage at an awesome resort. More of this format, please. Bravo.
Thanks for the feedback, James! We're going to try to work videos like this into our content more regularly.
More videos of u guys skiing like this please, this is great!
Fun video! I enjoyed it. Those morning groomers looked amazing
The pitch, width, and consistency of snow were off the charts awesome.
At a certain point in the day ,did you guys stop and look at the beauty of this gorgeous sight? Wow ,what an experience that must have been.
From first light in the morning until total darkness, I couldn't stop thinking about how amazing that canyon is.
Yeah… not a snowboard in sight
Love this, hope more of this to come. Love seeing the skis perform on various terrain.
It does make a lot of sense to ski these 106's and Stance 102's in wider spaces with different types of snow. It was easy to find dry stuff as well as more chunky snow to compare, and that was very interesting to do.
one of your best of the season, well done!
Thanks, John!
Loved it, nice review, but even better watching the great footage of amazing spring skiing conditions. Do more!
Ok! It's great to get out of our bubble and expand the view for sure.
The best testing video! Great way to present the 2023 Salomon QST 106.....what a nice place and weather! I'm going to Alta now! Alohas from Maui!
Totally our takeaway as well. Next we'll be testing super-fat skis in a snowcat/heli trip (hopefully).
What a fun video, love watching you guys rippin’ it up!
Thanks Caroline!
New terrain, great snow, and a wonderful guide made for two fantastic days of skiing for sure.
Great vid, I've only skied Alta a couple of times but this makes me want to go again. Maybe next year.
Great video! Great skiing! Great skis! Thank you 👍😀
Glad to do it!
Nice vid. Good to s see another hill through a few days spring skiing.
Nice to be there for sure. It ended up snowing two feet a few days after we left, but it was great to be able to see where we were going in an unfamiliar place.
So fun to see you guys skiing in familiar terrain! Took my QST 98’s out this week to Alta and they just keep getting better the more I learn how to push them. Can’t wait to try them out next season in Vermont!
Great skis, no matter where you take them!
I know this channel doesn't normally talk goggles, but those Sweet Protection Interstellar goggles Jeff is wearing are really awesome. I also find their RIG lens tech brings out contrast better than Chromapop or Prizm.
Love these type of videos
Appreciate the feedback, Joe! We're going to do more in the future.
I've watched this video at least 6 times. We were at Alta the first day you guys were there and fully understand what a fun day it was. And now I have a pair of QST 106's arriving shortly lol.
Nice! Those were two great days for sure, and then it snowed feet right after we left. It was great to be able to see everything, though! Have fun on the 106's!
SE
Great video, more like this please.
Thanks, Jim!
It's amazing what a simple change of scenery (even if it means taking multiple airplanes to do it) does for the ski psyche.
Cool to see you guys skiing one of my home areas (Snowbird being the other)!
The terrain and overall vibe there was more than impressive.
Glad you guys made it to Utah! I know I mentioned it before “hey are you guys coming to Utah this year?” Funny you guys ended up making it happen! I’ll be skiing Alta-Bird next year right now im a employee at snowbird! I’d love to see you guys come rip snowbird next year!
Based on our experience and the success of the trip, my guess is that more will be in store.
You guys did well to ski 2 days “bell to bell” at that altitude. Nicely done. Hope you get out there some more... How about a few runs off the Wild Cat chair the next time? Best snow on the mountain. I have fond memories of “having” to ski, on a pair of skinny 176 Salomon X Screams, off of that chair over and over again during an 18” snow storm. Amazing how skis have changed since those were new.
We saw some XScreams out there! We skied Wildcat a handful of times and loved the terrain, but the snow conditions while we were there wasn't too conducive to filming. It reminded us a lot of the fun trees we have here in VT, though!
That was epic ! 😁 Every condition....from colder dust to cool slush. Bob was hammering you with spray when he was on the 84's and you were filming to his right ! 😜😂
It was a great trip. Lots of fun skiing and a remarkable ski resort.
SE
I just think this is an amazing way to present a test and review. You should consider incorporating this method into all your reviews.
Thanks for the feedback! It would be tough from a logistics perspective to do this kind of video every time, but we're definitely going to try to work more of this style into the mix.
Nice to see the skis on more open terrain. It'd be really interesting if you could put out a detailed video as to the processes you go thru to evaluate one ski against another (& checking such isn't influenced by extraneous factors like demo bindings & ski boot stiffness).
Time is the key factor with that sort of stuff. It's a good idea, though, as there's a lot of factors that go into a full ski review that may or may not show up on video or in the corresponding written article.
Hell yea, man I felt like I was skiing with yall. 😂
That was great! Nice change of pace. Would love to hear your updated thoughts on both the Stance and QST lines now that you've spent more time on them, especially the updated QST 92!
The new 92 is a lot of fun. Super agile. Very similar shape to the 98 and 106, but being so much narrower you really feel the edge to edge quickness. We'll almost definitely do a full review of the 92 over the summer sometime.
wow… bob opens up. yay
Working on it!
Thank you Salomon!
This ^
Who on earth was the Black Crows guy? Repping Animas in all conditions is kinda awesome!
Willie is a lot of fun to ski with. His ski skills are only surpassed by his fun-loving attitude.
Great video, hope you do more of these. US, Canada maybe in Europe or Japan somewhere. Would love to see you "test" powder skis in actual powder conditions :)
Thank you! Will do!
Loved this format. What about a European trip comparing some of the classic resorts to East and West coast skiing and your take on how the equipment may suit one or the other.
We'd love to, especially since so many of the YT followers and commenters ski in Europe.
Nice video , miss Utah skiing! Seemed to not be too crowded either!
Nice mid-April, mid-week skiing for sure. No liftlines whatsoever.
What a beautiful mountain… not a snowboard in sight
Great to watch you guys at Alta which was my home mountain for seven seasons. The Enforcer 100 was my everyday driver and the Volkl 100 Eight my deep snow ski. Also got a Rustler 9 that Is really versatile. For those skiers watching if you have not skied Alta it has 2,614 skiable acres. Once you go through the Avalanche gates it really opens up into vast areas. It helps to ski with a local like Jeff and Bob did. People should keep in mind that Alta has a vast backcountry that surrounds the resort. They have some real hard core backcountry skiing. Alta is closing with an 106 inch base on April 17. However you can still ski backcountry. Snowbird ( 2,500 acres) which is right next to Alta runs the lifts through May of you want to extend you season.
Such a fun place to ski! We're going back next year to ski Snowbird. I spoke with Snowbird's Marketing Director (a college friend) and we're going to make something happen.
Great skiing and camera work. Could you guys review some 2000-2010 Solomon Screams?
Thanks Paul! That would be a ton of fun.
You requested comment so...
Show more Joe. His right hand bracage slide at speed after the surfy left at 3:28 is inspirational
A valuable tool in a skier's arsenal!
It was 1979 and I took a job up at Alta. I was able to ski six days a week from opening of lifts to Memorial weekend. By the end I was rated expert expert and was skiing the back country. I could find untracked powder seven days after the last dump. I skied thru one avalanche and my biggest free fall was into East Greeley a 60 foot drop. 6 stories. Five people died that year at Alta. This was the average for the season. I saw one girl die personally. It was Baldy chutes. When the powder is deep they are a dream to ski. When the snow is packed they are an invitation to death. It was packed and she dropped in on the third turn she lost control and hit he rock side at full speed. Her body slid for a quarter mile after it left the chute.
Damn!
It's a crazy place. So steep with so many hidden features. We made sure to know what was on the other side of unknown zones for sure.
Hey Jeff and bob. Watched a lot of your vids this fall. Great work. Currently on some RMU apostles with full metal. They are super stiff, heavy, and demanding. So looking for something more fun, forgiving, but can still hold its own. I’m between the QST 98, QST 92 and Rossi sender. Have skied the QST 106 in the past (orange then green top sheets). Live in Denver and ski around the west. 6’1 200 lbs and an expert skier. Thoughts on the 98 vs 92s would be awesome. Thanks guys.
Thanks, Paul!
The quickness of the 92 really stands out, especially in a tree and bump format. The 98 is considerably more rockered, so it's a very good floater for the width. They both have pretty short turn radii in comparison to the competition, so I'd size up on either of these in order to get some more stability at speed. Overall, I would say the 92 is a better option on a daily basis. I'd say the 184 is the way to go in that ski. Have fun!
SE
my home mountain! so sick to see you guys tearing it up
Great home base! Was awesome to be there for sure.
More videos like this especially if you can get the product managers or brand experts on snow with you. It would create a more thorough and dynamic review video.
We're normally in contact with those people throughout the year, so a lot of the information we discuss does come from product and brand individuals.
Great video what do you use to film these?
Mostly GoPro 10's on the follows, and a 360 for the POV/Helmet cam.
How does the QST 92 compare to the Rustler 9? I’m looking for a ski to go inbetween an old hard charging Head iTitan 80 under foot and the Atomic BC 100. Ideally between trees and bumps and chutes. Ideally playful and easy to turn on steeps.
The nice thing about the QST is that it's pretty much on auto-pilot. You still have to drive the Rustler a bit more, and while that does translate into a slightly higher-performance ceiling, the QST is just a whole lot of fun--super easy to maneuver in tight spots, especially with the tightened-up turn radius for the 2023 model.
Please do more What's in my Quiver video! If you guys are running out of stuff to post during the summer :P
We've talked about that and we'll likely try to work some in. Both Bob and I have slightly different skis in our quiver compared to last year, which might be interesting. We can also highlight some other skiers on our staff.
By all the noise it seemed as though there was alot of ICY conditions and variable crust? SOOO the question is off the groomers what was bob's, joe's and your favorite of the line, (and did the time of day change that ) did Willie trade off so that he could ski salomons, perfect time to do it? And last but not least after all your skiing at alta, and all of the other skis that you test, and own, did any of you say something like " you now the blizzard 9's or dynastar M-free99 , nordica enforcer, or etc would have really kicked ass in these conditions" even more than these salomons??? Great video of the skiing and of alta!!
I found the Stance 102 to be my overall favorite for the conditions and terrain that we found ourselves in, but if there was more snow, I think the 106 would have risen to the top. A few times Jeff noted that he wanted to ski his Enforcer 104's, but for me, I think it'd be hard to beat the Stance 102 for the two ski days we had. Willie seemed perfectly happy on his enormous Black Crows.
now that i have looked at the video a couple more times, it seems that there was softer snow up higher on the mountain, and when it was NOT in the shade, did you like the QST better than the stance when you were up higher on the mountain and softer snow, or did the stance just feel better when you were in the bowls and coming thru the variable snow? I am looking for a ski that is can cut through the variable snow (dampened) but is still poppy and agile, would you say the QST or the Stance is the best at that. I know you liked the stance but i think from hearing you on your videos, you like a ski with more power and dampening than light and poppy, is that right?
Looks like new chairlifts since i was there have to check out the map. Fish eye lense made it hard to remember lines .
The Collins lift is quite efficient. There's also a detachable triple on skiers right, which was a new one for us!
FUN
SO FUN!
Great video guys. I'm thinking more and more that the QST 106's would be the perfect 1 quiver ski for Japan. Could you please let me know the main differences between the 106 and the Blank as in how they perform in crud, powder, bumps, on-piste and trees. Thanks again.
With the 106, Salomon kept a lot of the things that the athletes liked, most notably, the longer turn radius. The Blank has a pretty short arc, so it's a fun turner in a variety of formats. The 106, then, becomes a better choice for straighter skiing through crud, chop, and non-powder conditions. The 106 is a better bump ski, as the width of the Blank can certainly feel sluggish when it comes to shorter and quicker turns. If there's not super-deep snow, I'd think the tree performance of the 106 is superior as well. Overall, I'd go 106. Have fun!
SE
@@SkiEssentials Thank you for that. May I please also ask how the Elan Ripstick 106 Black compares with the QST 106 in the above conditions?
@@alancochrane1748 Ripstick feels a touch stronger, but not as playful or as dynamic in variable snow IMO. The biggest difference is the amount of taper and rocker, particularly in the tail, which gives them different characteristics in how they finish a turn and/or their willingness to slash, slarve, etc.
Awesome do Elan have any new skis for 2023
Hi David!
Other than Ripstick graphic changes, the only new model is a Ripstick Black 94 W.
SE
Hey! Im looking for some skis with twin tip, i would mostlly use them to ski on piste, but also some backwards skiing and some free park. What do you recommend?
Hi Fernando! Tons of good options for that application. I would stay somewhere in the 90 mm width range since you'll be mostly on piste. The new Atomic Bent 90 comes to mind as a great all-mountain ski with some park capabilities. Nice price too.
I'll be getting my first ski's in the 2025 summer sales, don't know what make I'll be getting but Salomon's Stance 80 will be on my short list.
Nice! Stance 80 is one of the best bang for your buck skis out there.
Will be a review on the new montero ax?
Sometime this summer, most likely.
Yo my home mountain!
Pretty stellar place to call your home mountain!
Which are a more balanced ski, the QST 99 or 98? On trail and off, agile and stable, hard charging and cruising? Or is there a more middle of the road ski in the 100mm and 2000g range, that you would recommend to fit between my Ranger 94FR and Mindbender 108Ti?
HI Rob!
The 99 has more of a traditional feel, while the 98 feels turnier and more playful. The 99 has it beat by a bit in terms of hard-charging and cruising, but the 98 is considerably more floaty. In terms of complementing your current skis, I think I'd take the 98, just because you have the chargier 108 already.
SE
Does anybody know what run that was at the beginning of the video? that looked like some sweet bowl terrain! Thanks!
And what lift were they riding in the first clip? This is all looks like such awesome terrain!!
Alta's Harold's off of the Collins Lift.
Hi, I have a pair of atomic bent 90s as my east coast all mtn ski. I want a ski for pow/ west coast. Would you recommend the atomic bent 110? I’m a mainly directional freeride skier with a more traditional background. I like to ski more playful and poppy. Would you say the atomic bent 110 could work?
HI Nathan!
The 110 is definitely on the playful side of the spectrum for 110's. You may want a bit more substance? Check out Dynastar M-Free 108 or the Salomon QST Blank for a good combination of play and power.
SE
Is the QST 106 unchanged for next year? I want one but am scratching my head over the sizing...181 or 188.
HI CB!
It has changed for 2023. Check out our full-review here: ruclips.net/video/dsEmKrEB-M0/видео.html
I found it's okay to size up on them due to the awesome maneuverability.
SE
That was great. True reviews. QST92,eh? 106,eh?
The 92 is a very smooth operator--very impressive skis!
Love the video and Alta. Surprised you didn’t use the safety bar on the lifts.
They did a good job blending in by not using the tourist bar
We discussed it. It's state law here in VT, so was a bit of an adjustment in UT. You can tell from the video that Jeff and I are definitely leaning back more into the seat versus Joe and Willie who are a lot more comfortable going bar-free.
Bringing back my trauma of when I broke my arm a month ago 3-14-2022 on the Salomon QST 106 188.. The conditions were pretty similar except it was Spring Break and tons of people.. Those skis were too much for me to handle.. Maybe the 180s would have been my fit..
I'd also say that the 2023 version is a bit easier to handle, so the combination of the new ski and the shorter length could make good sense. Heal up!
Welcome to Utah. Ski all day and repeat the next day. Then try to walk😅
Felt surprisingly good each day, although those traverses at the end of day 2 became quite challenging.
We need to know more about Willy!?!?
Great skier. Local Alta celebrity status for sure.
They are pros cause they don't put the bars down on the chairlift 🤣
The contrast between east vs west on putting the bar down is so fascinating. Here in Vermont, we always put it down. Out west, my instincts are still to put it down, but it almost goes as far as offending some people, even if I ask first. I'm generally okay with riding without the bar down, although sometimes I don't like it. In certain situations, I'll be the one who says I'm more comfortable with the bar down, especially on windy days and stuff like that. Someone should do a country-wide investigation over chairlift safety bar preferences.
Here I was thinking they loved me…musta lost my invite.
Maybe next year?
You boys need to get different color jackets so we can tell you apart when you are skiing
Right?! My plan was to get a "maple" color in that jacket, but then Orage sold out, and I ended up in all black. We already have a solution in place for next season so we won't both be all blacked out.
why do I see so many americans riding charlifts without the safety bar down?
Where we're based in Vermont, it's a state law to put the bar down, and we do so almost automatically. Nobody uses the bar out west, it seems, so we were just trying to fit in. A handful of chairs do not even have safety bars at all.
Most of the Lifts we rode growing up never had safety bars so not used to using them also feel very comfortable riding up without them
Wee
Slide your tails much, nice flat runs you are taking. Not even the hard run down Katherines.
Were they flat for Alta? We were basically just following Joe and Willie around their home mountain. High Boy was fairly steep in sections and Eagle's Nest had some pretty fun pitches to it. Nothing puckering. Sorry you dislike our skiing!
Set a good example for your followers. Put your safety bar down. From a technical perspective, you might want to change "Testing" to "Skiing on" or "Trying out". Even when you were making turns on the smooth, groomed and corduroy surfaces, very few turns were made "Technically Correct." There was a lot of Ab-Stemming where you were standing on your inside ski while pushing your outside, turning, ski away from you, or tail thrusting both skis. You can't "Test" a ski unless you are standing and balancing on it while you allow the skis to make the turns.
I'm not saying that you guys are incapable of skiing TC, I'm just saying that if you are going to "Test" skis, the skiing should be TC. The older guy who has been skiing there since 1992, was the most technically correct of the group. Maybe the older guy at the end but he reverted back to AB-Stemming.