Salomon QST Lux 92 (2017)
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Rating: 3.01 / 5
Price: $600.00
Year: 2017
Level: 2
Gender: Female
Waist Width: 92
Tip/Tail/Waist: 129-92-112
Lengths: 153, 161, 169
Stability at speed: 3.01 / 5
Hard snow performance: 2.71 / 5
Crud performance: 3.49 / 5
Flotation: 3.44 / 5
Forgiveness: 3.04 / 5
Overall: 3.01 / 5
The moderately fat QST Lux 92 trades a little powder-day flotation, compared to its wider sisters, the Lumen 99 and Stella 106. But it offers more quickness edge-to-edge, costs less, and has all the same features (minus a layer of metal underfoot), and is plenty fat for plenty of women, especially Eastern freeriders who don’t want to be planking around on hard-snow days.
It’s part of the new QST series of women’s freeride skis, which replaces both the Quest and Rocker2 collections of years past in a single broad series ranging from 106 (QST Stella) down to 85 mm (QST Myriad). The QSTs are a showcase for Salomon’s Spaceframe construction. Salomon builds in plenty of power: All models are wood-core, and a layer of CFX Superfiber (a weave of twitchy carbon mellowed by flax) adds energy. The Spaceframe layup method allows skis to be tuned to different needs at different widths. In the powder-ready 106, the core is shortened and narrowed to allow some surf-friendly flex both longitudinally and laterally (Bi-Directional Spaceframe). Where the core ends, airy koroyd honeycomb inserts take over tip and tail, reducing swing weight. In the frontside skis (99 and 92), the core extends to the tail, for secure turn finishes on flat snow (Directional Spaceframe). The 106 is rockered tip and tail, for maximum float and drift; the frontsiders are tip-rockered for shock-absorption and occasional deep-snow encounters. The top two models (99 and up) get a layer of metal in the binding area for both durability and a little extra power. Hook Free Taper (the widest points of the ski are moved closer to the foot) promotes a loose quickness in all models. All models are sold flat (no binding).
Salomon has been headquartered in Annecy, France, since its founding there in 1947. Along with sister brands Atomic and ArcTeryx, it is a division of Amer Sports of Finland, which acquired it in 2005. Its U.S. headquarters are in Ogden, Utah. -J.C.
One of the best values in the test (Salomon’s pric- ing is aggressive across all categories) is also one of the most distinctive rides in the category. The Lux is optimistic about the snow it expects to encounter, even on the right coast. It’s a floater, a surfer, a smearer, and powder brings out its best. Experts will love its light, slashy deep-snow skill; skidders its overall user-friendliness. Brown: “Big, soft tip eases you into the turn. Snakes its way down the hill.”
Notes: The moderately fat QST Lux 92 trades a little powder-day flotation, compared to its wider sisters, the Lumen 99 and Stella 106. But it offers more quickness edge-to-edge, costs less, and has all the same features (minus a layer of metal underfoot), and is plenty fat for plenty of women, especially Eastern freeriders who don’t want to be planking around on hard-snow days.
It’s part of the new QST series of women’s freeride skis, which replaces both the Quest and Rocker2 collections of years past in a single broad series ranging from 106 (QST Stella) down to 85 mm (QST Myriad). The QSTs are a showcase for Salomon‘s Spaceframe construction. Salomon builds in plenty of power: All models are wood-core, and a layer of CFX Superfiber (a weave of twitchy carbon mellowed by flax) adds energy. The Spaceframe layup method allows skis to be tuned to different needs at different widths. In the powder-ready 106, the core is shortened and narrowed to allow some surf-friendly flex both longitudinally and laterally (Bi-Directional Spaceframe). Where the core ends, airy koroyd honeycomb inserts take over tip and tail, reducing swing weight. In the frontside skis (99 and 92), the core extends to the tail, for secure turn finishes on flat snow (Directional Spaceframe). The 106 is rockered tip and tail, for maximum float and drift; the frontsiders are tip-rockered for shock-absorption and occasional deep-snow encounters. The top two models (99 and up) get a layer of metal in the binding area for both durability and a little extra power. Hook Free Taper (the widest points of the ski are moved closer to the foot) promotes a loose quickness in all models. All models are sold flat (no binding).
Salomon has been headquartered in Annecy, France, since its founding there in 1947. Along with sister brands Atomic and ArcTeryx, it is a division of Amer Sports of Finland, which acquired it in 2005. Its U.S. headquarters are in Ogden, Utah. -J.C.