A new Montero for 2024, the Stockli Montero AS is a shorter-turning version of the AX, splitting the difference between said AX and the existing (yet revised) SC. There’s a lot of similarities from the AX world in terms of construction and footprint, just with a bit of a narrower shape overall. One of the big things in skiing these days is the evolution of the shorter carved turn. We’re seeing it in wider-bodied format when it comes to skis that fall into the all-mountain and freeride format, and that’s trickling into the front-side focused skis that create short and agile turns as well. Stockli is capitalizing on the popularity of the Montero name and introducing this new model to fall on the narrow side of the realm, and whether this is a sign of things to come is another conversation, but for now, it’s great to see another ski in this line, offering the narrower and slicker model to keep skiers who spend most of their time on groomed terrain.

Built with a lightweight wood core consisting of balsa and fuma, the ski still has two sheets of metal that dampen and smooth out the vibrations and reduce the chatter. The blend of light wood with the heavier materials makes a lot of sense in terms of generating energy and pop without reducing stability or power. There’s quite a bit of rebound for sure in this ski, making it feel like a slalom ski, and if you’re interested in carving at all, the slalom turn is one of the high-end goals for skiers of varied abilities and applications. Like the other Montero skis, the AS uses Flex Torsion Control to further make things smoother. These wave-shaped slits in the tips and tails make the ski spend more time on snow and less time bouncing around. At higher speeds, this makes the ski absorb many of the bad vibes that you may encounter, and at slower speeds, it allows the ski to articulate and create a more pleasurable ski experience even when skiing moderately.

We’ve kind of settled on the 76 as being a sweet spot for a front side ski. Wide enough to have a stable platform underfoot, and narrow enough to grip tight to any type of hard pack or ice that you may encounter. There’s a reasonable amount of versatility with this shape without giving away too much carving power or torsional stiffness. We’ve found success in other 76’s like the Blizzard Thunderbird R15 WB or the Nordica Spitfire 76, and there’s no reason that we’ve found that this ski won’t follow in those steps. In fact, the AS is more of an all-mountain ski than those other models, mainly due to a lighter weight and less of a racing heritage. There’s some tip and tail rocker here to go along with slight taper shape, but overall, this ski has more of that front side blueprint and character.

Make sure you take this ski for a spin this year if you’re in the market for a crisp and clean turning ski that has little to no chatter or vibrations. Stockli’s use of high-end materials in a handmade format makes a lot of sense for a ski that’s so precise and agile. The slalom-turn movement has come full circle, ranging all the way back to a narrow-ish front side ski that can rip all-mountain. Sure, it’s not a supremely versatile and well-rounded ski with freeride intentions, but rather it’s a smooth operator that can wiggle sweet turns with the best of them.