Ladies who spend a lot of time on-trail but also want some adventure built in will love this one. Fast, fun, and fearless, the Salomon Stance 88 W has always been equated with excellence in the all-mountain realm. We do see a few tweaks and adjustments to the ski for 2024, giving it a new techy look and a more poppy personality. While it’s slightly less stable at top speeds, the ski is opened up for more versatility, a wider audience, and a more fun-loving character. While we had no issues with the outgoing model in any shape or form, it didn’t seem to grasp the attention of the skier for one reason or another. Whether it was graphics-induced or that the ski has a lot of competition, we’re not sure. The hope is that the 2024 model gets on track with the potential of the ski, and from first looks and our impression on snow, that’s bound to happen.

The main difference is in the construction of the ski, with the general goal from Salomon being the move towards lighter and snappier. For an all-mountain ski that’s looking to split the time between front side and freeride, this separates the Stance 88 W from where it was in the past. The big move is from a full poplar wood core to a mix of karuba and poplar, so it’s taking a bit off the top and adding considerably more to the bottom, at least in terms of stability and power. Additionally, the skis feature a Twinframe 2 technology that has a mix of Salomon’s tech and fellow Amer Sports ski company Armada’s ideas. Basically, Salomon uses a version of Articulated Titanal Banding by milling slits parallel to the window and allowing for the ski to absorb the terrain and keep more focused on the task at hand. Inside the windows, instead of metal, Salomon uses a mix of carbon and basalt fibers to keep the ski stiff and responsive while keeping weight down. The blend of this material and the side slits make for a more articulate and sophisticated feel that makes the ski more appealing to a wider range of skiers, keeping the experts firmly attracted to the ski’s performance. This new build takes a bit of weight off the scale, with the new ski at 1590 grams in the 162 while the older version is about 50 grams heavier.

There’s even less change with shape, as in zero change. The 2024 Stance 88 W shares the same mold and footprint as the 2023 version, keeping skiers who loved the relatively long turn shape and mostly traditional rocker profile very much the same. Salomon refers to it as having 16% tip rocker and 12% tail rocker, aligning well with what we see with our eyes and feel on our feet—this ski is very much a traditional ski in terms of profile. At 88 mm underfoot, it has the versatility and well-rounded shape to easily be a one ski quiver for most anywhere on the planet, and with a 18-meter turn radius in the 168, it allows the skier to dictate the magnitude and direction of the turn with minimal effort. It’s a very innate way to go about creating a turn shape—the harder you push it, the more it responds. These Stance 88W’sare quite happy making longer, more drawn-out carves on the groomers but that doesn’t stop them from mixing it up and becoming quick and agile for when the terrain gets technical, or the snow conditions get sketchy. With the lighter build and increased flex, the skis are fantastic in the bumps and trees, and we get to use the word “traditional” again when it comes to these applications. 

With a move to the more accessible and agile, the 2024 Salomon Stance 88 W allows for a wider group of skiers to enter and enjoy the fruits of Salomon’s updates. While some skiers may have been steered away in the past, either due to graphic incompatibility or just a general misunderstanding of what the ski is all about, there should be a new and larger group of skiers who are going to settle right into the new Stance 88 W.