Testing 2025 Salomon Skis at Alta, Utah - Day 2

After a very successful, rewarding, and productive day 1 at Alta, we kind of felt it would be tough to top. Since the squalls persisted, even covering our hair and eyelashes in the hot tub in the evening, we held on to our skis from the previous day in case Dakota couldn’t get up the canyon in the morning due to potential closure. He not only made it, but also brought a special guest as Joe’s expertise was needed in the Salomon office. Quentin Boutry, Salomon’s Product Manager joined us for the day, and this was an amazing treat. Not only is Quentin an amazing skier, but he’s also a total ski scientist. It’s incredible the range of knowledge and information that Quentin can provide, from ski design and concept to boot and binding manufacturing principles. Anything you would ever need or want to know about the ski construction business, Quentin knows the answer. Hailing from Chamonix, it’s clear that this guy knows his way around a set of skis and can put it into practice on snow. After our day of skiing with him, I put full trust in his ability to design and build skis.

Snow kept falling through the evening hours of day 1 and into the morning of day 2. The ongoing squalls continued, blanketing the already filled-in hill with another coat of powder. While it was never consistently waist deep, we certainly found pockets that would satisfy the most die-hard of powder enthusiasts. The upper and more open zones that were closed the day before remained so on Tuesday, so the Ballroom, Shoulder, and Devil’s Castle areas were still off limits. This meant we were able to be more creative in finding our fun back in the comfortable and playful trees of the Wildcat and Eagles Nest spots. Now Bob, Dakota, and Quentin were on the QST X for the start while Jeff went narrow(er) to the 106. Emily stuck with the Blank. The Eagle’s Nest was deep on the first run and Westward Ho off Wildcat has some very soft and steep pitches in the morning hours. We kept traversing out a bit more to the rope line of Wildcat, and each time, the wind and snow seemed to fill right back in. This was ideal for those of us on the 112’s and 116’s, but Jeff had some regret with the 106. We took an early lunch at the Goldminer’s Daughter while the snow continued to fly outside. Quentin was able to share with us some designs and concepts for future skis, and that’s always a treat, as it feels like we gain access to a very exclusive club. We are very excited to be able to share those with you all when the products get finalized and ready for production. It is fairly obvious, though, that they put a monumental amount of time, effort, creativity, and engineering into this process and it’s amazing to see the end result.

After lunch, and after another 2 inches of snow in about an hour, Jeff swapped out to the Blank, so now we were all on 112 or wider skis for the PM session. This proved to be wise as the snow not only continued, but we kept seeking out further out untouched lines. Most of our time was spent in the Wildcat area, but we did take a minute to check out Gunsight (a favorite of ours from two years ago) but the visibility in the open areas was a bit of a challenge. Wildcat is filled with both natural and man-made assisted features, so one of the highlights was finding a long scooper of a jump that proved amenable to tricks and stunts. The landing, as was most of the area, was soft, so inverts were allowed. What seems to be an Alta tradition, finishing the day on Alf’s High Rustler (High Boy) was a necessity. The way the wind hits this “trail” is very interesting and seems to deposit any extra snow on the skier’s left side. We took full advantage of this and found fresh hits even late in the day. Down lower, we found a nice shot of trees to do our wrap up video chat, and we were all on the same page that this was not only a fantastic day of skiing, but we also had similarly high praise for the skis were on. Later that evening, we concluded our trip with a jaunt down the valley for dinner at an amazing taco truck outside the T.F. Brewery. This was a great opportunity to recap what had transpired the past two days and reflect on what we had felt and experienced.

From a ski perspective, it was pretty clear that the 106 makes a great daily driver for the Alta ski area, but if it snows, wider is better. The Blank then stands out as a strong option for those that like to charge through the crud and broken snow while the QST X’s lighter weight, longer turn shape, and more gradual taper shape in the shovel makes for a better choice in truly fresh snow. The X skiers praised the ease of use for such a wide ski and noted that the surfy nature and smeary character stood out while the Blank skiers could take a more direct and aggressive line, especially in more technical zones. Dakota’s use of the X with his Tech bindings made a lot of sense, and it’s hard to state that you can’t ski aggressively in the resort with these bindings. Quentin had the Shift on his and had no issue, while Bob’s Strive put the punctuation on the X’s versatility when it comes to pure touring, hybrid, and straight-up resort use. The additional weight of the Blank makes that sidecountry application a bit more difficult, but certainly not impossible.

Alta is truly a special place, and we do have to add the entirety of Little Cottonwood Canyon to the discussion, especially if you’re putting a touring binding on some of these skis. There is a vast and robust backcountry community here, so if you’re ever sick of riding fresh powder off the lifts, you will have no trouble finding even more fun and excitement in one of the many untouched zones in the canyon. If you’re looking for a true powder skier’s paradise, we’re not sure there are many better options than this place.