Background: I'm an early advanced skier (5'4" 120lbs) who mostly stay on groomers but like to play on bumps and trees too. I don't have a lot of experience in powder skiing because I don't get many powder days every season. I have skiied on BP 88 at 158cm for the past few seasons and just bought Stockli Montero AW 158 and loved it. For the last two days of my trip, there was a huge snow storm so I decided to demo some powder skis.
Day 1: It has snowed a few inches overnight and continue to snow during the day. There were probably 7 -10 inches of new snow, but it was wet and heavy. Higher up the snow was better and dryer, while there were some melt and refrozen hard pack snow near the base.
Baseline: my BP 88. I started the day on my BP88 for two runs. I found it very unstable and hard for me to change edge under this condition. I could not trust my skis and was skiing very defensively.
Salomon QST 106, 157 cm: I immediately noticed the difference when I put them on. They felt much more stable than BP and surprisingly, they were much easier to turn and change edge as well, despite being almost 20 mm wider. This really made a big difference in my skiing. After a few runs, I went from not even enjoying chopped up blue to having fun on bumps and trees in black. The only weakness I noticed about these skis was that they felt chattery on uneven hard pack groomers.
Volkl Blaze 104, 158 cm: I enjoyed them as well. I found them to be quite similar to Salomon QST, but more agile and felted smoother to turn. They were really fun on bumps. However, they did not float as well as the Salomon in deep powder. They also had the chattery issue on hard pack snow.
I was quite happy with both skis after day 1. But I really missed the smoothness I felt on my Montero and wondered if I can find skis that performed better on powder while keeping the Stockli smoothness and precision. I was eyeing Nela 96 but I was worried that it wouldn't be wide enough for the deep snow condition. The rental person agreed with me and they recommended Nordica Santa Ana 102.
Day 2: It continued to snow overnight and during the day. There were probably around 5 inches of new snow. I arrived late and initially the snow was quite compacted on the groomers. But around 1pm, it started snowing hard and it was powdery soft everywhere. The snow was generally softer and dryer than the day before.
Nordica Santa Ana 102, 161cm: I was quite disappointed by them. I chose them because I felt chattery on the two skis the day before and was hoping the Santa Ana would solve that issue. However, I didn't find them to be particularly more stable and smooth than the Salomon, but felt much heavier and clumsier to turn. I was still enjoying the skiing, but I had to try harder on these skis rather than them helping me.
Overall, personally I would probably pick the Salomon QST as the best out of the three. The Volkl Blaze is also super fun for bumps and trees but I did feel they struggle a bit in deep powder. I'm still very interested in how Nela 96 would have performed under this condition. For people with experience on Nela 96, would it perform well on 10 inches of snow? I want something that doesn't overlap too much with my AW since I feel like my AW is already quite versatile and can handle a few inches of snow.
Day 1: It has snowed a few inches overnight and continue to snow during the day. There were probably 7 -10 inches of new snow, but it was wet and heavy. Higher up the snow was better and dryer, while there were some melt and refrozen hard pack snow near the base.
Baseline: my BP 88. I started the day on my BP88 for two runs. I found it very unstable and hard for me to change edge under this condition. I could not trust my skis and was skiing very defensively.
Salomon QST 106, 157 cm: I immediately noticed the difference when I put them on. They felt much more stable than BP and surprisingly, they were much easier to turn and change edge as well, despite being almost 20 mm wider. This really made a big difference in my skiing. After a few runs, I went from not even enjoying chopped up blue to having fun on bumps and trees in black. The only weakness I noticed about these skis was that they felt chattery on uneven hard pack groomers.
Volkl Blaze 104, 158 cm: I enjoyed them as well. I found them to be quite similar to Salomon QST, but more agile and felted smoother to turn. They were really fun on bumps. However, they did not float as well as the Salomon in deep powder. They also had the chattery issue on hard pack snow.
I was quite happy with both skis after day 1. But I really missed the smoothness I felt on my Montero and wondered if I can find skis that performed better on powder while keeping the Stockli smoothness and precision. I was eyeing Nela 96 but I was worried that it wouldn't be wide enough for the deep snow condition. The rental person agreed with me and they recommended Nordica Santa Ana 102.
Day 2: It continued to snow overnight and during the day. There were probably around 5 inches of new snow. I arrived late and initially the snow was quite compacted on the groomers. But around 1pm, it started snowing hard and it was powdery soft everywhere. The snow was generally softer and dryer than the day before.
Nordica Santa Ana 102, 161cm: I was quite disappointed by them. I chose them because I felt chattery on the two skis the day before and was hoping the Santa Ana would solve that issue. However, I didn't find them to be particularly more stable and smooth than the Salomon, but felt much heavier and clumsier to turn. I was still enjoying the skiing, but I had to try harder on these skis rather than them helping me.
Overall, personally I would probably pick the Salomon QST as the best out of the three. The Volkl Blaze is also super fun for bumps and trees but I did feel they struggle a bit in deep powder. I'm still very interested in how Nela 96 would have performed under this condition. For people with experience on Nela 96, would it perform well on 10 inches of snow? I want something that doesn't overlap too much with my AW since I feel like my AW is already quite versatile and can handle a few inches of snow.
