2022-2023 Rossignol, Atomic, Salomon, and Head Demo Day

 Testers:

Kris: 55 year old heavyweight who prefers finesse and technique over power and has a love of high speeds and junky snow. Ex-PSIA level 2 instructor, league and Nastar racer.

Chet: 59 year old heavyweight who skis with power and speed. League and Nastar racer.

Conditions:

Solidly frozen groomers in the morning, softening through corn before lunch, and changing to scratch and deep slush bumps by early afternoon. Bright sunshine all day.

Skis listed in the order tested

   

Head e-speed Pro, Supershape e-speed, Hero Special Edition

Head Supershape e-speed 177cm, 122-68-104, 15.3 m radius

I took this one out first on the frozen groomers in the morning. It had solid grip and searched for speed with every turn. It felt strong yet balanced but tended to get bogged down in the surgar on the bottom of the hill.

Rossignol Hero v-Ti Elite ST 167 cm, 125-68-104, 13 m radius

The rep warned me twice that these skis were not detuned. At all. "Sweet!", I thought. Once on the  hill, I said "whooooo, doggie!!" The ST is a strong but nimble short turn specialist - skiers looking for versatility need not apply! I found the tails to be just slightly catchy with the tip-to-tail tune. Strong forward pressure fixed the issue, as would a slight detuning of the tails. I also found they required my full attention the entire time.

Rossi Hero v-Ti LT, Hero v-Ti ST, Hero Special Edition

 

Rossignol Hero v-Ti LT 177 cm, 121-71-101, 18 m radius

We were approaching lunch time and the snow was  just starting to break down when I took these out. SO.MUCH. FUN. Put the pedal to the metal and hold on! I never found a speed limit no matter how 

hard I tried. I could even eke short turns out of them, but that required serious commitment. Not surprisingly, they did get grumpy in the developing afternoon slush.

Salomon QST 92 176 cm, 128-92-116, ? m radius

Note: I didn't get the radius on these, and they have been slightly redesigned for 2023, with a tighter turn radius. The 2022's dimensions are 131-92-120 with an 18 m radius.

We were in full-on mashed potatoes mode when I took these out and I was surprised to find they were really fun - nimble and easy, and they didn't get tossed around by the gunk at all. They also had great grip on the scratch between the slush bumps. They were my surprise ski for the day. Anyone looking for a super fun but capable ski should take a ride on these.

Head Absolute Joy, Salomon QST 92, Atomic Bent 100

Atomic Maverick 95 Ti 180 cm, 129-94.5-113, 19.3 m radius

For such a light and balanced ski, the Maverick has a TON of chops. It was dependable and solid, blasting easily through the afternoon slush bumps and mashed potatoes. They loved to be driven hard and rewarded agressive skiing with manageable power and speed. Ex-racers looking for all-terrain versatility should take a hard look at these.

Atomic Bent Chetler 100 180 cm, 129.5-100-120, 19.5 m radius

Unfortunately, I only had time for 2 runs on these. I found the 180 length to feel a little short for me, and they got bounced around in the deep late afternoon goop. This surprised me a bit as I felt them to be on the burly side of the flex spectrum, requiring power and solid edging skills. Maybe I was just whooped by the long day and challenging conditions, but they tired me out. Chet, however, loved them (but he's more of a power skier than I am).