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See the 2015 Wide All Mountain Ski Comparison Here

For some years, there was a pretty significant trend among good skiers, especially in the west, to experiment with wider and wider skis as everyday choices.

As these skis proliferated and rocker started sprouting up on almost everything, this became more and more common, generated more and more hype, and the ski manufacturers poured out dozens of models every year.

Pretty soon, we were seeing folks out on the hill with 110-120mm wide skis on days when it hadn’t snowed in a week or more. Often, these skis would have pretty significant rocker and you could hear the tips flapping around from a hundred yards away.

Everyone seemed happy at first, and all was smiles and giggles but eventually, the trend started to reverse itself. Some of these skiers were (and still are) happy with “powder” skis for everyday use, but a pretty fair number came back to the store to buy an 88-98mm ski to go along with the big ones.

It didn’t take long for the market trend to slowly start to reverse and the ski manufacturers started knocking down the amounts of rocker and they put the brakes on introductions of new skis beyond the 118mm (or so) range.

Meanwhile, the sales of the 95-98mm skis had taken off, and the Volkl Mantra became the best selling ski in the US market a few years ago. There was soon plenty of competition as a number of really successful skis in that width range hit the market, and sure enough, sales shot up.

The folks that had a powder ski and a 95-98mm ski were pretty well set and as long as they were OK with multiple skis, it was all good. However, there were skiers that were just tired altogether of the really wide stuff, and others that only wanted one ski, but wanted a little more soft snow bias than what most of the 98s offered.

The ski makers have pounced on this trend and are now introducing a lot of new “all mountain” skis in the 103-108mm range, also called big mountain skis, or freeride skis. Many of these skis are highly useful for the skier who prioritizes soft conditions but still has to deal with packed snow from time to time. Most of these models have some rocker but usually not a lot of it.

Last week we got a request to review some of the boots for our hard-charging female skiers. First on the docket in the expert female category will be the Nordica La Nina.

The La Nina is a new boot from the ground up, replacing the popular Spitfire, which was an absolute go-to for a high-performance woman’s ski boot at the Start Haus.

Salomon and Atomic have done a major update on the STH binding series, and we're really impressed.

The Salomon STH2 13 and Salomon STH2 16, along with the Atomic STH 16 get WTR, or "Walk To Ride," adapting the toe height to backcountry ski boots for those who are looking to use a backcountry boot as a one ski boot quiver.

Here's Phil on all the new changes and features:

The Salomon X Max series from Salomon was new for the 2012-13 season, and at that time, consisted of men’s boots only.

For the 2013-14 season, the series has been expanded to include Women’s boots as well.

The X Max models are 98mm forefoot-lasted boots, and come in various flexes. We carry the Salomon X Max 130 and Salomon X Max 100 for men and the Salomon X Max 110 for women.

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.

For the last several years, we at the Start Haus have been very impressed by the close fit of the Head Raptor 130 RS and Head Raptor 115 RS for those in search of a narrow, performance-oriented ski boot.  Austrian-based Head is a premier brand in ski racing, taking hundreds of podiums in all disciplines of alpine ski racing.

As a boot fitter, I find many people are surprised when I pull a Head boot as a valid option instead of some of the more well-known Italian based boot companies.

If you are an expert skier with a narrow foot and are in search of a stiffer flexing boot, I would argue you owe it to yourself to try a Head ski boot from the Raptor family.

This year the Start Haus is carrying a wider selection of ski clothing than ever before, thanks in part to our new soft goods guru, Jennifer.

One line Jennifer was excited about when she got to check it out in person was Sherpa, a small mountaineering-oriented clothing line actually made by Sherpa mountain guides in Nepal.

"The story is amazing behind Sherpa - it's a family owned company, which is rare these days, and it's actual Sherpas that climb Mt. Everest," Jennifer said. "They could pick any gear out there, and I think that says a lot."

Boot fitting is our specialty at the Start Haus, and our huge ski wall offers a ton of choice, but ski bindings shouldn't be overlooked as an important part of the equation.

Philpug takes us through our range of ski bindings, from high-DIN race ski bindings to high performance freeride bindings, junior ski bindings to backcountry ski bindings, to help you decide what's right for you, and what factors you should consider:

Editor's Note: Bootfitter's Notes is a new series of posts the Start Haus will be sharing, in hopes of giving buyers extra insight into different ski boots, and how they fit. Whether you're an online shopper who doesn't have the ability to come into the Start Haus for a proper boot fitting, or your doing a little homework before coming in, these articles are here to help you.

Lange RS Ski Boots

The RS series from Lange are the blue boots that you see all over the slopes these days.

The 2015 version of this comparison is here: 2015 Narrow All Mountain Skis

When we move up in width from the frontside carver ski collection, our next category is this one that ranges from roughly 82-90mm.

Some skis in this category have a distinct bias toward hardpack and could possibly be considered as wider frontside skis. Most however, trade off a little of the hard snow capability in favor of increased versatility when softer snow and off trail usage is considered.

Some of the models in this group can work pretty well in up to say a foot of snow, and many of them are quite good in bumps. Most of these models still have fairly minimal rocker and will in general, are at least somewhat softer in flex (especially in torsion) than the frontside specialists.

This is a very popular category with a lot of variation in characteristics. Some models in this category have metal in their layups while many others don’t. Some skis in this group will use binding plates and some are sold flat.

See the 2015 Review Here!

As a western (Tahoe) based ski shop, we at the Start Haus have a lot of demand for wider soft snow biased skis, and for sure, we carry a wide array and sell a lot of them.

However, even on a “normal” year in this snow-rich area, there are periods when it doesn’t snow for a week or more. Last year, it basically didn’t snow any appreciable amount after the first of January.

For periods like this, it pays to have a good hard snow ski. Even in that mythical “normal” year, most Tahoe skiers will find that if they have this type of ski, they’ll ski it quite a bit. Some years, like last year for example, they’ll ski it much of the time. This category of ski is also a very popular choice for ski instructors and other well-schooled skiers in the East, Midwest or the West, who understand what edge angles and pressure are all about.

The Atomic Ritual returns unchanged except for graphics from last year.

This is one of those skis that we talk about when the discussion turns to the “one ski quiver” for a good western skier. To us, this designation means a skier with roughly a 50/50 bias between hard packed snow and softer or deeper snow, and the ability to handle most off trail type terrain.

Naturally, these are neither dedicated groomer tools nor are they powder specific skis either. Many skis in this category are in the 95-98mm width range and several of them have stiff metal layup constructions.