Review: 2027 Stöckli Stormrider 95 Skis

Why would you buy a pair of skis for groomers that don’t actually ski well on groomers? It’s a question I ask myself when I see good skiers on crappy, narrow skis just for the sake of being on a narrow ski. Yes, your 88mm underfoot ski will be easier to turn on the hardpack groomers than your 120mm big dogs, but if the ski can’t hold an edge, what’s the point?

Enter the Stormrider 95, a burly, stiff, and fairly heavy “freeride” offering from Swiss ski racing stalwart Stöckli. The company known for winning races on the world’s iciest and most challenging tracks has been selling this ski for years, but it wasn’t until recently that Americans began taking notice.

The Stormrider 95 can venture off-piste, don’t get me wrong, but these skis are made to be pointed down a corduroy-laden groomer and ripped at full speeds. With two layers of titatal and the same core-damping tech as its bigger brother the Stormrider 108, the Stormrider 95 is a Ferrari, and your lowly big-box-brand groomer skis are a Toyota Camry. These skis are made to set PRs on your favorite groomers, but don’t be afraid to let them dance in the chop and skied-out powder. They’ll reward you with stability, confidence, and more speed than you know what to do with.

View the 3 images of this gallery on the
original article

2027 Stöckli Stormrider 95 Specs

• Size skied: 182cm
• Lengths available: 170cm, 176cm, 182cm, 188cm
• Sidecut: 132mm – 95mm – 120mm
• Radius: 18.5m at 182cm length
• Profile: Rocker/Camber/Rocker
• Weight: 1850g (182cm)

Shape, Flex, and Construction

When skiing anything from Stöckli, it’s important to remember the brand’s roots. This isn’t your mom-and-pop brand that started in your favorite freeskier’s garage in the aughts. No, Stöckli is the pinnacle of Swiss ski racing performance. Its reputation precedes itself for high-quality, durable, and most of all, fast skis.

With that in mind, don’t be surprised when you pick up a pair of Stöckli Stormrider 95s for the first time. The ski’s weight is immediately noticeable, along with the multiple sheets of titanal and the premium race-quality base.

The tail on the Stöckli Stormrider 95 is nearly flat. I found this a bit challenging when trying to glide from mogul to mogul, but I was practically giddy as I railed groomer turns with ease. Skiing across a patch of ice, I laughed as the tail locked in and didn’t slide out.

Even though the Stormrider 95 is well, 95mm underfoot, I would hesitate to call this ski a true all-mountain offering. Yes, I did ski it in the trees, powder, and even through icy moguls, but the ski’s overall stiffness and unforgiving tail made it more challenging than other skis of a similar size. I’m still not sure what the Euros are smoking when they call a sub-100mm ski “perfect for powder.”

On-Snow Performance

I’m not a ski racer, but I often wish that I were. Watching Mikaela Shiffrin rip turns edge-to-edge on bulletproof ice is as alluring to me as watching Sammy Carlson stomp dub Cork tens in the Alaskan backcountry.

I’ll never be able to ski like Shiffrin on Carlson in their own right, but the Stockli Stormrider 95 makes me feel, even if just for a second, that I can ski the piste as well as the pros. Similar to the Stormrider 108, the edge hold, fast bases, and stiffness from tip to tail create an “autopilot” feeling that’s hard to describe. Each turn feels right. Each transition between turns is as smooth as butter.

One of our testers described the Stormrider 95’s intuitive nature on the “Rolling Thunder” trail at Grand Targhee. “I felt like I could pick up speed quickly, and if I drove the corners of the turns, it did exactly what I wanted,” they wrote between smiles.

Skiing the Stormrider 95 in Grand Targhee’s bumps and trees, most notably off the Sacajawea Lift, was surprisingly fun. I usually prefer more forgiving skis for this type of terrain, but I found that loading up the Stormrider 95 with energy right before the turn, and then releasing it around the mogul, was exhilarating. 

Before long, I was hopping in and out of moguls like I was Johnny Moseley fresh off a Dinner Roll.

Comparisons

Just like the Stöckli Stormrider 108, it’s nearly impossible to draw comparisons to the Stöckli Stormrider 95. The materials are high-end, the performance is incredible, and the price is nearly double that of every other 95mm underfoot “freeride” ski.

With that said, the Volkl M7 Mantra and Nordica Enforcer 94 offer a similar, stiff mid-narrow platform for ripping groomers between storms at a lower price point.

What Type of Skier is the Stöckli Stormrider 95 Best for?

The Stöckli Stormrider 95 fits a niche I didn’t know I was part of until I actually skied it—it’s a groomer ski for freeride skiers who don’t like groomers.

Think about it. How many times have the conditions forced you to ski groomers, but you refused to put away the 108mm or 112mm underfoot skis out of spite? 

If you’re like me, it happens frequently. 

Now, on those low-tide high-pressure days, I just pull out the Stockli Stormrider 95s and know that I’m going to have more fun than all of my friends on their wider, off-piste focused planks.