cage match comparision

These two Head skis are literally side by side on the ski wall at a local ski shop, so you wouldn't be surprised to hear the question, "Which is better for me?" Both have Head's Graphene-Koroyd-carbon construction. Both are extremely lightweight. Both are great in a variety of conditions. Both...

Depending on which generation you are talking about, you will hear vastly different and contrasting opinions on these skis -- so much that I am not quite sure where to start. But hey, lets give it a go. The all-new iKonic 84Ti and the revised RTM 84 UVO are reputation-building models that K2 and...

We love technical skis on Pugski. We love skiing them, and we love talking about them. The one ski our testers universally loved at this year's testing was the all-new Atomic Redster S9. Few skis matched it in sheer fun. I think the main thing that impressed our testers was its versatility. Many...

Um, 112 vs 117? Did someone send a knife to a gunfight? Well, no. This cage match was requested by one of our loyal followers, and as I told him, I even skied them on the same day last year. I remember it well, it was a powder day at Northstar and I was skiing the DPSs in the untracked Sugar...

Vive la France. The French have never subscribed to the “me too" school of ski design, or really anything else in the industry. They also have never been afraid to take chances: external dampening with Prolink, monocoque constructions, Omega cores, asymmetrical ID shapes, different sidewall...

Some cage matches are tougher than others; this one of them. When the skis are more similar than different, my work gets harder -- but of course that's why you pay me the big bucks. So where do we start with the similarities? The same factory? The same parent company? Where, oh where do we...

Both of these skis figure prominently in my article on once-in-a-decade skis. While the MX88 was referenced in that piece, the MX89 is its newest incarnation. If you haven’t noticed, the Renoun Z-90 has gotten a bit of support here of late; it is the golden child of Pugski and deservedly so, as...

In trying to outmaneuver Blizzard, Nordica has been sneaky smart, and to an extent it is working. Nordica caught its cousin a bit flatfooted when putting the Enforcer 100 up against the Bonafide. When the Enforcer 93 came out, Blizzard’s Brahma and Regulator were left to rely on their reputation...

This is the first of many cage matches this season, so let's get going! Head is hitting on all cylinders at this point; I don’t think there is a hole in the lineup -- and if there was one, the new Kore collection has filled it. Head is not rebuilding; it is reloading. *Kore is pictured with...

We had some requests for Cage Matches for intermediate skis, so here are two intermediate to advanced skis designed to help skiers progress. What I like about them is that they are offered two ways, with and without system bindings. Usually skis in this segment are offered only with a...

What separates these two premium brothers? Purpose. Stöckli has earned its storied history of producing some of the finest skis on the market, and the Laser collection could be considered the face of that reputation. What can you expect when you consider or compare and contrast the AX and...

The One Oh Something segment can be defined by three skis, two of which are compared here: the Line Sir Francis Bacon and the Rossignol Soul 7. The Bacon has an incredibly loyal following and might be the most repurchased model not only in this category but in any. When Rossignol launched the...

We are now going to compare two of the more established reference skis from the “Crazy 88s,” as Sierra Jim has described the category. While they have many similarities in flex patterns and stiffness, that is where their likenesses end. These two skis have very different feels and purposes on...

It ain’t easy being green. Ever notice that different width segments of skis have color trends? Blue for 80-84mm, orange for 88mm, red for 98-100mm, and so on. Okay, not all skis are those colors, but you get the idea. In the 95mm range, green seems to prevail. Not sure why, maybe because...

We often get questions about comparing two models in the same collection that are still close in application. When Nordica hinted to us 18 months ago that it was going to reintroduce the Enforcer name, we were nervously excited but frankly didn't know what to expect. The old Enforcer was a...

Gotta love a good sibling rivalry. When the firstborn golden boy aka the Mantra is being contested by his fitter, sprightlier, and quicker little bro, he can't rest on his laurels. The Mantra will go down in skiing lore as one of the most recognizable names ever. For years it was the ski...

This is a great case of "Don’t look at what they are, look at what they do." First, get past the race-like graphics; these are not race skis. Just look at the bindings, which are the same systems these manufacturers offer on skis even into the 80mm range. Instead, these are technical skis for...

Battle of the titans, premium vs premium, mano a mano, Ali-Frazier, the list goes on. The Kästle BMX 105 and the Stöckli Stormrider 107 are the class of the class in the One Oh Somethings, skis between 100 and 110 mm. If you wonder what this segment is all about, read this: The One Oh...

So in this Cage Match, we are matching the varsity quarterback against the prep-school crew captain. Yes, both, are athletic, smart, and segment leaders, but it’s how they approach and display their talents that separates them. Thank you @TimF for the suggestion. Walk into the Wobbly Barn...

The ski comparison that I've been asked about more than any other in the past several months is the Blizzard Black Pearl vs the Armada Victa 87Ti. As the first women's ski on the Flipcore platform, I'm not sure Blizzard had any idea how big the Black Pearl would be. It quickly surpassed every...