Some Questions / Things We’re Curious About Given that Salomon is talking up the new QST skis’ stability, we think this bump up in weight makes a lot of sense.įor reference, here are a number of our measured weights (per ski in grams) for some notable skis. It’s still not extremely heavy, but it is on the heavier end of the spectrum in the women’s ~100mm-wide category. Like the QST 99, the QST Lumen 99 gained a bit of weight for 19/20. The QST Lumen 99’s flex pattern is also extremely similar to the 172 cm Blizzard Sheeva 10, and the QST Lumen 99 is notably softer throughout compared to the 177 cm Nordica Santa Ana 100, particularly in the tips and tails. The QST Lumen 99 has a similar flex pattern compared to the K2 Mindbender 98Ti Alliance, but the QST Lumen 99 is a bit stiffer at the ends of the ski. The QST Lumen 99 has a moderately stiff midsection and it finishes with a tail that’s pretty strong, but far from “planky.” Both lengths of the ski start soft in the tips and have a fairly slow and smooth ramp up as you move to the middle of the ski. The 174 cm QST Lumen 99’s flex pattern is very similar to the 181 cm QST 99’s, with the QST Lumen 99 being very slightly softer overall. Here’s how we’d characterize the flex pattern of the QST Lumen 99: It has slightly deeper rocker lines than the Blizzard Black Pearl 98, but not nearly as much rocker as the Blizzard Sheeva 10. The QST Lumen 99 has a pretty moderate flex pattern for a 99mm-wide ski - neither super deep rocker lines nor super shallow. Overall, the QST Lumen 99 looks very similar to the K2 Mindbender 98Ti Alliance. While the new QST Lumen 99 is less tapered than the last version, it still has a more tapered shape compared to several skis in its class like the Blizzard Black Pearl 98, Blizzard Sheeva 10, and Nordica Santa Ana 100. So Salomon’s decision to decrease the taper on the QST Lumen 99 seems to make sense, given that they’re claiming that the new ski is going to initiate turns better and be more stable. Skis with a lot of taper tend to be easy to slide and pivot around, but removing mass and surface area from the tips and tails - and decreasing the effective edge - often makes heavily tapered skis feel “twitchy” or not stable in rough, inconsistent snow. In theory, this equates to more effective edge and could potentially allow for easier turn initiation and more stability at speed. The skis’ sidecut extends a bit farther toward the ends of the ski, and the new QST 99’s tips and tails don’t taper to as much of a point (i.e., they’re now a bit more “blocky”). The 19/20 QST 99 and QST Lumen 99 now have a slightly less tapered shape compared to the previous version of the QST 99.
#LUMEN REVIEWS UPDATE#
In addition to Salomon adding more flax to the QST Lumen 99’s layup and putting cork in its tips, this is the main update for 19/20. So while we’ve discussed how the new 181 cm QST 99 compares to the men’s market, let’s now take a look at how the 174 cm QST Lumen 99 compares to some of the skis in its class. One of those skis is the QST Lumen 99, which we now have in a 174 cm length.
That also includes their women’s versions of the unisex QST skis, with the women’s versions simply being offered in different lengths and topsheets with the same construction as the men’s versions. As we noted in our First Look of the 19/20 Salomon QST 99 and 106, Salomon is updating their popular QST lineup for next season.
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