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Product Highlight: Kästle FX95 HP

We’re excited to bring boutique brand Kästle (pronounced “kes-lee”) skis back to Start Haus. Kästle skis have been a leader in the market since 1924, reinvented 11 years ago by a group of professional ski racers, engineers and designers with a desire to build the best skis with the best materials possible.           .

With rave reviews across the industry, the Kästle FX95 HP earned a coveted Gear of the Year Award in 2016 for “Best Alpine Ski” from Outside Magazine, earning a perfect score of 5 for carving and 5 overall - praised as “the most adaptable all-mountain ski.”

An all mountain freeride ski for all terrain performance, the FX95 HP combines ski-ability with extra float. Designed for intermediate skiers to pros, this low camber, dual rise rocker features a camber tip and two titanal sheets for extra stability at high speeds, providing great power at mid-turn. The FX95 HP is the perfect ski to take you through variable terrain on the mountain and

For the 2015 season, Giant introduced a new bike to the trail mountain category.  The Stance differs from the Giant Trance on a couple different levels: first and foremost, the Stance has a different suspension platform called Flexpoint.  Flexpoint is a single pivot derivative that relies on the seat-stays flexing a bit to allow for the 4.7 inches of travel that the Stance offers.  The Flexpoint suspension platform on the Stance is both inexpensive for Giant to manufacture and doesn't require Giant to pony up for any expensive patents.  The Trance trail bike differs in that it features Giant's renowned Maestro suspension, which is a floating pivot point design, and costs quite a bit more to both manufacture and to sell than Flexpoint.

The Stance is offered in three models, the Stance 0, Stance 1, and Stance 2.  As with all Giant products, the higher the number the less expensive the bike. The Stance 2 comes in at an incredibly low $1470, the Stance 1 at $1905, and the Stance 0

A couple of skis we're excited about here at Start Haus.  Just a sneak peak!  More reviews in the pipes:

2016 Volkl RTM 84

2016 Nordica Enforcer

The heart of the boot story for the 2015 season has most certainly been advancements in ski boot liners.  Several manufacturers have spent significant research and development on creating liners that do three main things; ski well, fit comfortably out of the box, and resisting packing out (feeling too loose) too quickly.

The result of all the hard work is some interesting technology that is sure to trickle down through lines across the board and dictate design trajectories in the future.  First a short history lesson is in order; in the dark ages of boot design vague shell shapes and inferior liners were the obvious issues with performance and long term fit.  Foam injected liners became the primary solution; if you were a serious skier you had to have a serious liner, and spend some serious coin while you were at it.  Foam injected liners still exist and people still use them, however they are far less popular than in years past.

Stock liners have improved by leaps and bounds in

The Scarpa Freedom and the Dynafit Mercury are the two powerhouses when it comes to AT boots. Both make the elusive backcountry become an attainable haven for those desiring well-earned first tracks and big adventures.  However, there are a few key differences that create advantages and disadvantages depending on the users’ specific purposes.

1.  Profile- The first key difference lies in the sheer mass of the boots. Simply put, the Scarpa is bulkier. Don’t let this dissuade you though; the thicker materials create a superior descent giving a more classic Alpine boot feel and flex. On the other hand, the Dynafit is much slimmer, creating a boot that is going to tour and articulate in a superior manner.

2.  Shell Type- The Dynafit is a 3-piece shell and the Scarpa is a 2-piece shell. Relationally, the Dynafit attains 60 degrees of cuff articulation while the Scarpa attains 27 degrees. Again, depending on the desired use of the boot, one will be superior to the other. Are you going

The Anon M2 goggles have been getting a lot of attention this year, thanks to their magnetic interchangeable lens design. They're touted as the easiest lens change on a ski goggle, and playing around with them in the shop, it's hard to argue.

But I decided to put them to the test over the weekend on the snow, skiing in bright and overcast conditions, mild temps and in a cold wind. My normal goggles are photochromatic - which change darkness in response to ambient light, so swapping lenses would be a change of pace.

First off, the fit. These large goggles have great coverage that also translated into a wide field of view. The face foam is comfortable and without any gaps to let in cold air, and no pressure points to make them uncomfortable. A person with a smaller face may find these pushed down too low by their helmet, but that's why you should try on goggles with a helmet when you can.

The optics are great. I'm not normally a fan of a gray base lens, but these are sharp and without distortion,

At the Start Haus we don't bring in new boots lightly, and when we bring in a new brand, we do it after serious testing and consideration.

This year we brought in Scarpa, specifically for their new Freedom SL. The Scarpa Freedom SL (also available in a women's boot), in our opinion, strikes a great balance between tourability and skiability, perhaps better than almost anything else on the market.

Their are backcountry boots that are stiffer for the downhill, there are boots that are lighter for the uphill - but if you want something that will perform in the skin track on the way up, then feel close to your alpine boot on the down, the Scarpa Freedom SL is worth serious consideration.

One of the questions we get a lot in the boot room is, “what is your most comfortable boot”, or “what is your best boot?” The answer to these questions is an infuriating, “that depends entirely on your foot.”  What’s good for the goose may not always in fact be good for the gander, if you have a wide foot a narrow boot is obviously not going to be comfortable and vice versa.

However, one boot we have extraordinary luck with for the intermediate or advanced woman skier is the Lange RX 90W. The Lange RX 90W is 100mm wide at the forefoot, and has a medium instep height. If you truly have an average foot shape the RX 90W is one of the most successful boots we have in the category.

The RX 90W has a superb liner which does a great job of combining comfort and performance, meaning the liner skis well and isn’t lumpy or obtrusive.  Usually when a manufacturer makes a comfortable liner it is too soft to ski well, and many a high end “good skiing” liner is uncomfortable for the advanced skier

The Lange XT 130 LV is a high-end expert ski boot with a great snug fit and a hike/ski function that releases the cuff.

Now on its second year, the XT has proven itself as a workhorse boot, and is an excellent choice for those who’ve been skiing performance fit boots or race boots and shudder at the thought of going to a mushy roomy alpine touring boot.

As a western (Tahoe) based ski shop, we at Start Haus have a lot of demand for wide-ish waisted, soft snow biased skis, and for sure, we carry a wide array and sell a lot of stuff in the 88-110mm range.

However, even on a “normal” year in this snow-rich area, there are periods when it doesn’t snow for a week or more. For the 2012-13 and 2013-14 ski seasons, we just didn’t get much snow at all for most of the season. For the hard snow periods in those mythical “normal” years, and then especially for seasons like the last two, it really pays to have a good hard snow ski.

For the last two seasons, we have had a lot of demand for this category of ski in Tahoe because they put fun and excitement into a day on the groomers. We also shouldn’t forget that there are many skiers who just prefer this type of skiing, regardless of the year, and there are places in the country where these firm conditions are the norm basically most of the time.

One of the bikes everybody is talking about for 2015, Giant or otherwise, is definitely the new Giant Reign 27.5. Updated for the coming year, the Reign got the tweener 27.5 or 650B wheel size, 160 mm of travel, front and rear, and new geometry that epitomizes the modern all-mountain, enduro-inspired genre.

Jared, a Start Haus sales person and resident paddle sports guru, has spent the fall on a new Reign 27.5, and his experiences have reflected the glowing reviews bike magazines and websites have been posting up. He came from a 26 inch wheeled Trail bike with shorter travel.

"I wanted more travel without compromising on pedaling too much on longer rides," Jared said. "I wanted to be able to hit bigger stuff and go faster, and I don't need to race uphill."

The Reign didn't disappoint, not giving up ground on the uphill, thanks to the efficient Maestro suspension design. "There's almost zero bob," he said. On longer climbs, Jared flips both the

Looking to next year's skis, we're seeing a lot of growth in the 100-110 waisted all mountain ski category. One of the shop favorites so far is the Nordica Vagabond, a 107 mm underfoot ski that got Jim and Phil re-thinking ski widths for next year.

Editor's Note: The Nordica Vagabond Blem is now only $299! Click Here.

Over the last few years, skis around 98 mm underfoot have been our favorite "quiver of one" skis for Tahoe and other western ski areas where you might split your time between groomers and off-piste.

Skis over 100 mm had been more powder or big mountain biased, like the perennial favorite, the Volkl Gotama or the excellent Blizzard Cochise.

But the Nordica Vagabond is a solid daily driver ski contender for western skiers, thanks to its surprising on-piste performance that doesn't give anything up in the powder or crud.

With no metal and an I-Core stringer to reduce weight, this ski definitely registers on the light and lively