I skied the new 2011 MX98 last week at Vail. the new 98 is really a new ski all together. 126-98-116 (not postive on the tail dim) slight tip rocker- I mean slight, I think they nailed it! Tail is not raised but rounded. the running lenght of the 178 is perfect as many other rockered skis require much more length.? No metal this season and softer, more playful than last season's ski. It's really where it should be, a more off-piste soft snow oriented ski.
groomed- I skied firm and soft groomers, the ski was quite happy, very responsvie and typical Kastle smoothness and feel. 98 underfoot but as other Kastles, the TR felt much tighter than the 20 plus M- personally, for off-piste soft snow, I don't want anything less than 24m or so. The new binding is very sweet. I only felt the tip flap slightly at very high speeds on firm groomed but it never got squirrely or felt unstable. You could work the ski.
off-piste- skied it crunchy crud mid-boot and boot high (for real gary
) and in soft heavy snow (and some crunchy peanut butter type soft with chuncks) in the back bowls and jumping off cornices. Loved it, the slight rocker came into play beautifully here. just enough to get a little float but not deflective or hooky. very stable.? again , you could work the rounded tail, it was easy to drift and slarve turns- you could go to the tail and not wash out.? ?Bumps- I am not a good bump skier but I did find this a good ski for bumps, soft enough to aborb but not too wide to work all aspects of the bumps (you should be able ot ski all aspects of bumps- tops, trough's and bridges) I really found this much easier than skiing bumps with my Nomads.
I Reallly like this ski. excellent all mountain performance with enough spectrum of performance that unless its' rock hard groomers ro deep powder you really could get high-level performance every where in between.? ?This iwill be my every day ski next season.