2022 Salomon Stance W 94

The Stance W 94 from Salomon is the widest ski in their women’s all-mountain collection and is designed to combine stability and edge grip on firm snow with versatility around the rest of the resort. Salomon uses a hybrid poplar and karuba wood core with their Metal Twin Frame technology. Two metal laminates are used in construction with long rectangular sections cut out of the upper metal sheet both in the fore and aft sections of the ski. Where the metal is removed, Salomon replaces it with their patented C/FX material. The use of carbon and flax is unique to Salomon and retains good vibration damping, responsiveness, and overall performance while slightly reducing the overall weight of the ski. The Stance W 94 is, however, still on the heavier side of the spectrum at 1720 g in the 161 cm length. Interestingly, the Stance W 94 features some of the longest available lengths we’ve ever seen in a women’s specific ski going all the way up to 182 cm! Aside from that, the shape is relatively “normal” with mostly camber underfoot and some subtle, smooth rocker and taper lines in both the tip and tail of the ski.

Nifer Hoehn skied the 174 cm length, which she described as “just right” and added that the Stance W 94 should ski true to size for most skiers. We didn’t get a single score below 4 out of 5 from Nifer, which is always very impressive and catches our eye when analyzing results from the Test. We did see a couple criteria bump up to 5 out of 5 scores, those being stability and quickness/maneuverability. “These skis took me a few turns to get comfortable with, but once I did, I really enjoyed them. They are really, really fun and I was able to ski bumps, quick narrow turns, and wide GS turns with ease. They feel stiffer and heavier than they ski, which is maybe why it took me a second to get into them, but once engaged, they are surprisingly versatile, dynamic and lively. I would recommend these for a stronger female skier given that they like input and respond well to direction. Like the Blaze, I had these in the bumps, through some crud, opened them up and gave them some gas, and worked them in a tight space with little turns. They excelled in all areas.” That’s great feedback from Nifer and we agree with her assessment that it skis lighter than it feels when you’re riding the chairlift or holding them in your hand. That theme has remained consistent through all of the Stance skis in our testing.

Louise Lintilhac also skied the 174 cm length and had very similar scores for it compared to Nifer’s feedback. Nothing dropped below 4 out of 5, although from Louise it was stability and torsional stiffness/edge grip that earned the full 5 out of 5 marks. “This ski had stability in spades. It was decently nimble edge to edge but could put down the power through crud at high speeds. It definitely felt more at home aimed down fall line. This would be a great ski for advanced skiers looking for a mid-fat ski that can float on deeper days but charge through crud, chop and chalk as well.” Ann MacDonald also took it for a spin and chose the same 174 cm length for herself, which she succinctly described as “great!” Like Nifer, Ann felt like it took her a little bit to figure out the personality of the Stance W 94, which can happen and isn’t uncommon on heavier, stiffer skis like this one. “Felt sluggish at first but the more I skied it I loved it. Super stable and great crud buster. Was able to get some short radius turns in but not super playful that way but doable?! This ski was very confusing but I liked it a lot!” We love that feedback from Ann. It’s really cool when, on paper, a ski shouldn’t really be able to do something, in this case it doesn’t really make sense for a ski this heavy to feel quick and agile, but as we’ve found from other testers, the Stance has an excellent blend of stability and power without feeling too hooky or too demanding when you need to get it swing around quickly.

These 3 women who tested the Stance W 94 are all of the advanced/expert ability level, and we think that’s the best market for the Stance W 94. Salomon has other all-mountain skis that are better suited to less aggressive women, like the QST Lux 92, for instance. If you’re a strong, powerful skier, however, you need a certain amount of stability at speed, vibration damping, and edge grip for skiing fast and the Stance W 94 has plenty.