Out of curiosity I was one day on the new Salomon Q115 in the length 188 cm in the Arlberg area, Austria. Salomon launches it obviously as the successor of the Rocker 2 115. Me: 85 kg, 185, big mountain charger type of skier. The ski has a nice low profile early rise tip rocker and a small amount of very subtle tail rocker. It was mounted with a Jester at "Recommended" line.
I did first a few laps on groomers. The ski is very lively and fun as long as you keep it on the edge. There is a significant amount of tip chatter if you run the bases flat at high speed. The ski starts then to get nervous and it requires some power to keep it under control.
We did then some hikes to do some serious big mountain style lines. In this kind of terrain with variable snow (powder, tracked out powder, hardpack), the disappointment just started. The ski didn't provide a confident platform for this kind of skiing. Going down the fall line at high speed felt quite sketchy. The landings of cliff drops in between were not as stable as I'd liked. It was kind of "wow, what a nice line but I fear to go down at full throttle because I don' trust my ski" feeling. Psychologically not good at all.
And then again - cruising down in the resort some fun again.
In summary: I do not get it, why Salomon stopped to make serious bm skis like the El Dictator. For me, the Q115 comes not even close to the stability of a true charger. As a bm platform, it can be recommended maybe for lighter guys and certainly for girls.
Final remark: the mounting position felt very centered. I would rather like to had it moved 1 or 2 cm back.
Bookmarks