The Salomon S/Max reminded our reviewer Stijn van Oss of his time as a ski instructor. The S/Max according to Stijn is a ski with which you can take people of any level down the mountain, and as a teacher you can also go shredding on your break time.
Conditions
A Bluebird day. The sun was shining in a massively blue sky, temperatures constantly and freshly just a few degrees below zero (celsius). The fresh snow of the day before remained nice and dry all day and the slopes were therefore quite soft. At the end of the day I skied a bit “up” and in some parts a bit messy.
The Salomon S/Max 12
The S/Max is one of the ski in a line of three ski’s, including the Salomon S/Race and the S/Force that we also reviewed earlier. Salomon describes the ski as a “race inspired rocketship” with a strong focus on large carve turns. With a radius of 17 meters (in the lengths 175 and 180 cm) the geometry is certainly aimed at this. Stijn agrees that the S/Max does indeed excel in the middle long and long turns. You will feel stability and reliability, especially on the edges with reinforced “Edge Amplifier” side-walls.
The ski is light, very influenceable and therefore very accessible in terms of skiër level. In addition to those medium and long turns that the ski is super good at, you can therefore also throw short cut turns into it. Really a a piste ski, not necessarily super for off-piste.
Target Audience
Despite that “race inspiration”, according to Stijn you can, due to it’s lightness, send less experienced skiers down the mountain. The interesting thing is that as an “intermediate” skier you can handle this ski as well. But Stijn also indicated that the ski still remains super fun up to the expert level. It is therefore a ski that you can use for a very long time and your technique can continue to improve and progress.
Buy the Salomon S/Max 12 + Z12 GW Bindings: Retailprice € 799,-
