All Mountain Ski Review: 95-98mm - Sierra Jim
See the 2015 All Mountain Ski Comparison Here
Our most popular category at the Start Haus is all mountain skis around 98mm under foot, a generalist, daily driver or quiver of one for many western skiers.
There is a trend these days to say that the plus or minus 98mm skis are the perfect ski width for everyone in the west - and that is simply not the case.
There are plenty of skiers out west that are well served by frontside skis, and a lot more (maybe even most) that are best suited by the roughly 88mm skis in our skinny all mountain ski review.
Naturally a quiver of skis is the best of all, and more is always better. But, for the skier with one ski, roughly a 50/50 priority towards packed vs. soft snow usage, and the capabilities to ski that terrain, yes, the 98mm all mountain skis skis may be the one.
As always, this category is loaded with talent and also with differences. Those differences can range from relatively dramatic to very subtle - and generally not about the width. The 3mm width difference from the narrowest to the widest of the skis we’ll review here are not a deciding factor when picking between them.
The Theory is a new model for us this year, and we picked it up in order to have a softer flexing ski with a little more playful nature in this category. Although the Theory sports a substantial kicktail, we wouldn’t call it a true twin because the sidecut is set back and the taper is greater than a typical twin.
The Theory skis exceptionally well in soft and mixed conditions for lighter skiers, and is very nimble in any kind of broken snow or mixed terrain. While not a true twin, there is enough kick in the tail for all but the most dedicated park skiers, and they are not the target for this ski anyway.
The Theory has a carbon fiber spine embedded in the core, and this gives some stability and grip in the middle of the ski.
On the other hand, the real forte for the Theory is for lighter skiers aiming for softer snow, and maybe with a few tricks in the park on their agenda. For a skier under say 140-150 pounds, this is a great choice for a soft snow biased ski.
An average weight skier might choose the Theory as an “intro” ski to off trail conditions. A heavyweight skier with expectations for stability at speed should look elsewhere.
This is one of the best in this width range for bumps, and would also suit a mid-teen ski racer as a second pair of skis for when he/she is not on their race skis.
The Blizzard Bonafide returns to the lineup unchanged for 2014. This ski has been a runaway best seller and consensus winner in critical reviews for the last two years.
We classify the mid-high 90’s skis such as the Bonafide as 50/50 skis, meaning they're best for skiers with an equal priority between hard snow and soft, on piste and off.
At 98mm in width, the Bonafide is right in the wheelhouse for the western all mountain expert skier. This is the most competitive width category on the market. And this year, there are over a dozen excellent skis available in this range.
You can find stiff skis that shine on hard snow, and softish skis that shine in soft snow. You can also find skis with a variety of of rocker configurations.
Within the 50/50 skis, the Bonafide leans toward the stiffer end of the flex range, and while everything in this range has some tip rocker, this is one of a very few that has some tail rocker as well.
I started skiing on the Bonafide in the spring before the general release, so I have almost three years on it now. During this time, I am in constant comparison mode between various skis, and this remains as one of my personal favorites.
One of the most revealing tests that I did on the Bonafide was over a year ago now, at an industry event at Mammoth. In that instance, I got the Bonafide into some chalky refrozen crud that had a little bit of wind-blown, wintery snow over the top of it.
The Bonafide initiated easily in this very rough snow, and released without getting hung up on the coral heads. Although I normally ski a 180, I tried the 187 length in those conditions and found that it felt very nimble and maneuverable, considering the length, and it rolls in and out of crud, junk and powder with the ease that you’d expect from a ski with tip and tail rocker.
When skiing out of the mixed snow and onto the groomers, the Bonafide grips as well in the cambered section as any conventionally cambered ski in this width range, and feels very damp and stable. There are a ton of great skis in this width range and personal preferences will vary, but the Bonafide still hits closer to the center of the target for my tastes than anything else.
The new Annex from K2 is their replacement for the venerable K2 Hardside model, and for many skiers, this will be a distinct improvement.
In the past, many of the Hardside versions were a little soft in the tip and then quite stiff from the rocker point to the tail. This made for a stable enough ski, but it was hard to get the entire ski to flex without pressuring it a lot.
Then, when you did that, the middle to rear would bend well but the tip felt like it was folding up while the rest of the ski was solid.
The Annex 98 addresses this flaw very well in that the flex runs pretty evenly from the rockered tip to the flat tail. An even flex is one of the key factors in a ski for variable snow and the Annex nails that very well in falling into the medium-soft end of the spectrum for this category.
I didn’t test the Annex on the really hard snow at Winter Park because I generally reserve the wider all mountain skis for the western conditions at Mammoth and Alpine Meadows.
I got the chance to ski the Annex several times during the late winter/spring, and in all cases, it performed very well regardless of conditions. Of particular note was how well the Annex performed on the crusty and wind blown sidehill under chair #1 at Mammoth.
While stability is not the highest of the Annex attributes, nimbleness and forgiveness are. On that weird snow, the Annex 98 was one of the most forgiving skis that I tested. The Annex slipped between the tight bumps easily for this width of ski, and swooped through the mixed stuff nicely at medium speeds.
There was never a hang up or a hint that the ski was not going to come around. Out on the groomers and skiing back to the corral, the Annex was very nimble in short turns and secure in medium turns.
In the longer turns and the highest speeds, the Annex was not completely at home, but on the other hand, the skis that were most solid and beefy at those speeds were not as easy or nimble in the tighter spots and slower speeds. T
he Annex is a superb ski in this category with a bias toward softer snow and medium speeds.
Dynastar Cham 97 and Dynastar Cham 97 HM (High Mountain)
Now that rocker has become nearly ubiquitous in the world of all mountain skis, much of what you see sort of blends in and looks the same.
Sure, every manufacturer has their story of how much rocker is just right, and where on the ski it should be and all that ... but these are really variations on a theme.
The Cham series has some of the rocker story that others use, but it also has an innovative shape. The combination of these factors produce a very different package that was named “Gear of the Year” by Outside magazine for the ’13 season.
The Cham 97 has a sharply rockered and tapered tip profile, combined with a conventional cambered ski body, and the camber runs all the way to the tail. In addition, the tail has a very pronounced taper that creates a defined rear contact point.
The construction of the Cham 97 is fairly conventional in that it uses a normal wood/metal sandwich, while the “High Mountain” versions don’t use metal and are notably lighter. The combination of shapes, camber, rocker and flex creates a ski with a very different and unique feel.
My first exposure to the Cham was at Winter Park Co. last year for the SIA national introduction.
Normally, I don’t test wider skis there because the conditions are almost always firm to hard, and the hill is best suited to testing frontside types.
Still, I did test a few wider models there, and the Cham 97 was one of them. The look of the Cham speaks freeride all the way, and for sure that is the primary characteristic. However, the camber and the firm flex generate good solid grip at the contact points, and a secure feel when the ski is on edge.
One of the main differences with the Cham vs. softer or more heavily rockered skis, is that you can feel pressure all the way to the tail when the ski is on a high edge. The performance of the Cham on that cold, chalky, winter snow was among the best in this width category and was quite a pleasant surprise.
Later last year, I got more time on the Cham in softer mixed conditions, some boot-top deep crud, and some chalky and crusty wind blown snow at Mammoth.
Through all this, the Cham was amazingly quick and it was among the most nimble feeling skis in this width. The Cham is so nimble that is actually feels shorter than it’s real length. In many of the conditions that I skied, I think I might have preferred a 184 rather than the test pair of 178’s that I had.
Interestingly, for as quick and turny as it is, the Cham 97 feels quite powerful when busting through crud and it takes a bit of speed or effort to finish the turn. As speeds pick up a little higher, you can really feel the solidity of the tail, and that is really different than some softer or more rockered skis.
The High Mountain 97 was the most nimble feeling of all the skis in this width range in the scored off halfway bumpy terrain. Marketed as a backcountry ski, many of our testers liked it at the resort over the metal version, thanks to its more moderate flex.
While Salomon has played strongly in the widest categories for some time, and they have also had good offerings for the frontside skier as well, they have not had a lot of success in this mid-nineties segment.
They did have a very good ski in the Sentinel model a few years back, but for some reason, it never sold really well (even though it should have).
For this year, Salomon is expanding and rebranding the Rocker2 collection into the “Quest” series in an effort to penetrate this mid-width segment a little better. Like many brands, Salomon is slowly backing away from heavily rockered skis in the all mountain segments and so, while the new Quest 98 does have some rocker, it is moderate.
We have done well with the wider Salomon skis so we were anxious to test this new Quest 98, because it falls right into our best selling category and the area where Salomon has been a little weak in the past.
I didn’t ski the Quest 98 on the really hard snow at Winter Park, so my first experience came when the western swing of the demo tour came to Alpine Meadows.
I skied my normal packed snow tests there, but I did find a run that had a fair bit of soft snow scraped off to the edges, and was able to ski quite a ways in some sugary soft snow that was little reminiscent of day old crud.
The Quest falls toward the light and nimble end of the spectrum within our mix of skis in this category. This is a ski that displays no preferences of its own as far as turn shape or skiing style.
The Quest lets the skier make all the choices. It didn’t matter whether I was skiing quick little turns in the skied off stuff or zoomy turns on the groomers, the Quest darted in between the bumps and bushes and made smooth arcs on the pack equally well.
Later that week, I made the pilgrimage to Mammoth and tested the Quest on that notorious face on the side of chair #1.
That run starts out with an area that has been skied a fair bit, and so the first part has some fairly tight bumps that are scoured down by the wind. As you traverse left, you get some more turns as the hill falls away from you. Each little shot of 20 turns or so successively gets a little more open.
The end of this pitch is still rough, but is pretty open right before it spits the skier back onto the groomers. The Quest was easy and quick in the first shot and comfortable and smooth in the second.
When I got near the bottom of the third pitch, the speeds were picking up enough that the Quest started to rattle a little. This is a ski with a moderate soft snow bias and a bit of a speed limit in the roughest snow.
The big benefit though is that it is so friendly, that it makes the skier better in the majority of conditions and speeds.
For as traditional a ski as the Line Prophet 98 might be, the brand new Sick Day 95 is the new age little brother. The SD has a low tip rise with a longer run and a tapered tip.
It also has a tail with a subtle kick to it and some taper as well. The Sick Day has a medium flex, fairly light weight and a decidedly young graphic.
When I hopped off the top of chair #2 at Mammoth I immediately took the Sick Day on a long left traverse out onto the sidehill pitch under chair #1.
This pitch is almost always a mix of chalky snow that is scoured by the wind and sculpted into bumps and rolls. In between, there is usually some of the snow that has been scoured from the rest of the mountain.
Because this trail falls away to the skier’s left, you can make a bunch of turns, then traverse hard left and get some more, and then repeat. This is always rough snow and not a lot of folks ski it but it is a great test for the off-trail capabilities of any ski.
The Sick Day 95 was very nimble and easy to initiate, and the tapered tip was able to snake through the parts where the bumps were close together. In the spots where the bumps and clumps were spaced a little wider, the SD could handle some speed and felt nicely secure.
Only at the very bottom, when I let the speeds pick up, did the SD feel like it could stand to be a little stiffer. Right after those last few fast turns, the pitch finally spits you back out on the groomers and you bank left, then right for the run down to the bottom of Chair #1.
In this area I always start with low angle, short radius turns and then gradually crank it up until I have to break it off before the ski patrol yells at me. The SD rolled smoothly through all the turn transitions and felt secure up to some pretty high speeds. At some point or other, near the end of that run, it started to feel a little shaky, and so it was time to back off a little.
This is a really fun and nimble ski with a bias toward softer snow and/or lighter skiers and it is a great counterpoint to some of the stiffer, more beastly skis in this category. When I got into line at chair #1, I paired up with a young looking instructor who looked down at the skis and said “dude, those are sick!” I agreed with him.
The Prophet series from Line has been around for some time, and they have been very popular all-mountain twin tip skis. The Prophet 98 has a reduced twin tail that is flatter than true twin tips, and a very subtle tip rocker.
The P-98 uses a titanium spine for stability and grip, and has a full width tip and tail with no taper.
Last year, I first tested the Prophet 98 at Winter Park in late January on very firm snow. While skis in this width range don’t need to excel at hard snow, they do need to handle it well enough for the skier to be comfortable.
I only tested a few skis in this width at Winter Park, and the 98 had good grip for this category. The very low tip rise helped the ski to initiate in short radius turns, and the rise on the Prophet is subtle enough that it is not noticeable as a negative on firm packed snow. The Prophet has more of a nimble, quick turn kind of feel than a powerful, long turn kind of feel.
Later last year, when I got my second spin on the Prophet 98, it was at Mammoth a few weeks later. While there was no deep snow, there was a mix of conditions including some that were pretty challenging.
On one particular run, I skied some chalky, half formed bumps and then hit a sidehill where some crud had compacted and refrozen and then been covered by some blown in snow. The Prophet initiated easily and wanted to slice and dice this rough stuff rather than speed up and overpower it.
The feel was nimble and lively and the Prophet didn’t slap me around in the mixed conditions as long as I kept the speeds in the moderate range.
While the Prophet series matched the state of the art when first introduced, some newer skis with some taper in the tip are now a little easier to ski in rough snow.
The 98 has a very nice blend of the grip and power of the stiffest skis in this width range and the nimble forgiving feel of the softer ones. This is a good choice for a skier with an approximately equal priority toward hard snow and deeper snow and a moderate level of aggressiveness.
Nordica was one of the first companies to heavily tout the lightweight “sidecountry” ski concept when they brought out the Steadfast and the Hell and Back a couple of years ago.
Skiers have not exactly broken the doors down to trade in their alpine setups in favor of this new idea, but fortunately for Nordica, their skis are exceptional as normal inbounds skis anyway. In fact the Steadfast and Hell and Back have been universally praised by the skiing press and rewarded with top scores in the magazine tests when skied against ‘normal’ alpine skis.
Both of these models are universally loved by the Start Haus testers as well. The Hell and Back was originally derived from the long running Enforcer model and in fact, it shared the same basic shape but without the metal layers and using a lightweight stringer in the core.
I have tested the Hell and Back every year and owned one in my constantly revolving quiver for a year as well.
Every time that I ski the Hell and Back, I am impressed by a couple of things. One of those things is balance.
The Helen (as we like to call it) has a very even flex that is about in the medium range for this category. This allows it to bend evenly and pull the skier around smoothly whether it is on firm snow, soft snow with some depth, or on that nasty test run at Mammoth where the conditions can only be described as rough.
The other thing that is really notable about the Helen is the grip. This light and nimble ski has grip that is in the upper reaches of this category, despite not having metal in it. While a lot of good skiers think that they need a ski with metal for stability and grip, the Nordicas really don’t need it.
For western biased skis, they offer all the grip any skier could realistically want. The benefit of course it that the light weight really helps to make this ski lightning quick in mixed snow and choppy terrain.
While the Hell and Back is not as damp as some of the heavier metal skis, it is much snappier and energetic than all of them, and that places the emphasis on what most people buy this ski category for; mixed snow versatility.
The Volkl Mantra has been in the lineup for such a long time that occasionally, we run the risk of taking it for granted. This would be a mistake, because it has been their best selling ski for the past few years and the most popular expert level ski in Tahoe until just recently.
For 2012, the Mantra was made a little wider at the waist and a tiny bit narrower at the tip than older versions and it also got a modest tip rocker. Since then, it has not changed. The category itself has expanded since then though, and it is important to review the Mantra in order to find its place in the category.
This year, I started testing the Mantra at Winter Park on the hard snow of the frontside testing hill. I only tested a few of this width ski on the hard snow but the Mantra has always exhibited excellent grip and I wanted to sort of reset the bar so to speak.
The grip underfoot is very, very, good and the skier just needs to realize that as with any 98mm ski; it takes some time to get from one edge to another.
The tip rocker on the Mantra does disengage the edge a bit when the ski is at low edge angles, but it was not a problem even on the hard snow at Winter Park. The Mantra is stiff enough that there was no sensation of “tip flap” at high speeds.
I concluded that the Mantra is still one of the better skis in hard snow grip for this group, and remains a ski that prefers longer turns over shorter radius ones.
At the later events at Alpine Meadows and Mammoth we were able to extensively test the Mantra in mixed and varied snow. We have tested the Mantra in some deeper snow in the past, but this season, there wasn’t any available.
In one particular area at Mammoth, there was a steep sidehill that had refrozen crud that was covered by a skiff of snow that been scoured off the mountain by the wind.
In those conditions, the tip rocker showed its value on the stiff Mantra. The Mantra would initiate pretty easily without getting caught or yanked around. This ski has a high level of torsional stiffness, and a very stiff tail that allows it to grip and remain stable in this rough snow.
This is a ski that has always needed some speed or muscle power to get a bend in the tail in order to finish the turn, and in the rough, mixed snow this was noticeable. In the past, when we got the Mantra out in heavy, chopped up snow, it really showed its best side.
The Mantra can blast and power through crud with the best in class and the stability is near the top of the heap. In tighter spots and bumps or when the snow got lighter and deeper, the Mantra was no longer in its best element, as the stiff flex inhibited the flotation and bend, and the tail required work to get the turn finished.
As in the past, the Volk Mantra has retained the awesome grip, power and stability that made it hugely popular among Tahoe Experts
Right near the end of the Winter Park intro, I had finished the narrower all mountain skis, and so I tested a few of the many 98’s on my target list. The Rossi Experience 98 is built around a beefy core with a double Titanium platform. It has a wide tip with an extended sidecut and a small tip rise.
I took the Ex 98 to the same frontside test hill that I had skied the narrower skis on. While some of the other skis in the 98mm group feel soft and easygoing, the Experience immediately felt big and powerful.
The Experience 98 wanted to make big, fast turns and speed and snow conditions were not an issue as far as stability. Near the lower part of the run, the trail drops into a steeper pitch and I cranked the Experience into some shorter turns.
The ski handled the transition well but that first short radius turn took some input from me. Grip and stability are in the top three for this category. Near the bottom of the run I reflected that this is a ski for a power skier rather than one who prefers a finesse style.
Out west in the mixed conditions that we have had at Mammoth for the last two years, the Exp 98 exhibits both the positives and the negatives that a stiff ski embodies. The positives naturally are the stability and power that the ski gives the skier when riding out really rough snow or punching heavy crud.
The negative is that it takes some speed to get the ski to flex in softer snow or tight bumps. The Exp 98 is one of the stiffest skis in this class, but it has a saving grace in that the tail is not quite as stiff as the rest of the ski.
This allows the better skier to get enough bend in the ski as a whole so that it does not have quite as cumbersome a feel as it otherwise might.
This is a big ski in every respect and requires a skier with some size or skills to fully appreciate it.
Stockli Stormrider 95
When we started thinking seriously about adding Stockli to our mix this year, it was initially because of their success on the World Cup, their re-entry into racing in the US, and also the spectacular nature of their frontside skis.
In mapping out a buy though, I wanted to consider their all mountain skis, but I had a few reservations. In the past, some of the Stormrider series of skis had been excessively stiff and while great for pro level skiers, they weren’t the sort of thing that I thought would sell.
However, as I looked them over this year, I found that they weren’t at all what they used to be. The Stormrider 95 is moderately firm in flex for sure, but it is not the stiffest ski in this class. In fact, the flex is very even throughout the length of the ski, including right near the tip where there is no noticeable ‘hinge’ point caused by the subtle tip rise.
I only tested a few of this class of ski at Winter Park, but I felt it was important to get on this one, so I took it through the same runs and turns that I did with the hard snow skis.
On the flat upper part of the run, the SR 95 felt surprisingly easy to ankle roll and ski around at slow speeds. Initially, I attributed that to the short size (174), and so I was then concerned that it would feel too short when I got to the steeper spots.
When I got room, I started my normal progression of short to medium to long turns with progressively higher angles and speeds. Through the whole run the shortish ski displayed great grip and was stable, smooth, and damp.
When I got to the pitch that was scraped down to the point of shiny, the SR stood out the most. The Stormrider carved like an Exacto knife, and it displayed the best dampening of any of the wide skis that I took onto that pitch.
I skied away from that little pitch basically sold but really anxious to ski them again out west.
When I got back on the SR 95 at Mammoth there was (of course) no deep snow. But there was that one run that I always test on that has a great spread of mixed and generally rough conditions.
In the tightly spaced lumps that would eventually become bumps, the taper and the rise in the tip allowed the Stormrider to tip into a turn easily and the round even flex made it feel that the whole ski was working.
That flex did feel a little stiff at the slower speeds and in the bumps, but the SR 95 was not as planky or cumbersome as some others in this group.
When the spacing of the bumps and clumps allowed it, the Stormrider would bend easily, slice through whatever was in front of it and pick up and handle speed with ease. The turn exit was smooth and balanced regardless of the speed, and this ski really felt like it smoothed out the rough snow well.
Back out on the groomers and speeding back down to the bottom of chair #1, I mused that this ski was calling me out for a tour around the mountain. I was sorely tempted because I would have loved to spend the rest of the day on it, but I had a lot of skis to go yet.