Okay, after a long time I finally have to retire my old friends: It is time for some new skiing boots, or to be more precise, time for some new freeride boots! But which ones? So far, I used two pairs, that is a Scarpa Denali XT for longer hiking and my good old Salomon Equipe 9.0 for shorter hikes an freeride session. But to be honest, I’d rather prefer having one pair, that combines both worlds of skiing.

So I looked around and found some contestants: Scarpa Tornado Thermo and two Garmonts, the Garmont Endorphin G-Fit and the Garmont Shaman. The first two a hybrids between randonee/hiking and freeride boots, the Shaman seems to be a pure race/ downhill/ freeride boots: no release or walk mechanism, but exchangeable soles (whoever that needs).

Tested length 185cm
First impression: unobtrusive and nearly a little boring… no surprises, just a very nice ski.
Tried it in various conditions…

Hard and freshly groomed run: good grip, easy turns of various radiuses
Soft runs: just a funmaker, from short to long turns, fast change of turns … a steamroller!?
Soft off-piste: not quite a ski for deep-deep pow, but perfect for easter conditions, easy short-turns, requires little effort to turn

Summary: a perfect all-mountain weapon, stiff enough for groomed runs, wide enough for off-piste: is your perfect friend, without being cheeky

and guess what? I bought these guys a couple of days later

And here it is!

Tested length 179cm
First impression: WOW, that weapon turns fast!

Hard and freshly groomed run: interesting! why? perfect grip when skied at its natural radius, but difficult with longer (no significant grip) or shorter radius (doesn’t like being pushed into short turns)

Soft runs: no troublemaker, but no fun-maker… runs okay

Soft off-piste: not quite a pow ski, dimensions not pow-enough! That is: although wide tip, tight is by far no wide enough

Summary: a good fun-machine for on-piste skiers, that love to ride one perfect radius all day long!

www.stoeckli.ch

Only for the best sums it up. The Thunder is brilliant and let’s you look and feel like a pro - but beware: no mistakes or else! Being above-average hard flex this advanced fun-tool demands muscle-power and skill. Spark is agile and fun-to-play but again: for advanced or expert. with little tolerance this ski excuses no mistakes and bounces around.

 www.movementskis.com

First runners-up on the icy day - amplid guys on site were super-nice and knowledgeable. skis keep to the track and do not let you down on ice or anything else - good stuff for big cruising, crud but a little too heavy (mainly due to testbindings) for touring/longer hikes up. Do not try short turns - it will cost ya.

 www.amplid.de