2023 Salomon Stance W 88

Unchanged for 2023, the Stance W 88 from Salomon is a high-end women’s all-mountain ski designed for upper-level skiers who value stability, strength, and edge grip. In developing the Stance skis, Salomon set out to design a ski that would complement their existing QST models, which lean more towards soft snow use and have a lot of freeride influence in their performance. The Stance W 88 starts with a karuba and poplar wood core that’s enhanced by Salomon’s Metal Twin Frame technology. Two sheets of titanal are laminated in a traditional sandwich construction method, although Salomon removes long rectangular sections of metal in the fore and aft section of the ski and replaces it with their patented C/FX material. This reduces swing weight, while retaining good torsional stiffness, responsiveness, and actually adding a little bit of energy into the ski’s performance. The Stance W 88 uses mostly camber in its profile shape, although there is some subtle rise in both the tips and tails. The slight rocker lines are paired with smooth early taper too. It’s not so much that it drastically reduces the effective edge, just gives the ski a smoother feel when initiating or exiting turns.

Carly Monahan tested the 161 cm length in the Stance W 88, which she liked for her size and ability level. She also commented that in general, they ski true to size, but did add that you can “Size up if you want to go faster or size down if you want to be extra nimble in trees or bumps.” Carly scored the Stance W 88 high for a lot of our criteria. In fact, we didn’t get a single score below 4 out of 5, which is indicative of a very well-rounded ski. Quickness/maneuverability and playfulness both actually bumped up to 5 out of 5 scores, which is somewhat surprising given the metal-clad construction, but is great feedback as it’s not something we’d necessarily expect. “The Stance 88 fits perfectly into the all-mountain category, so long as your days trend towards groomer runs vs powder days. Maneuverable and quick, happy swishing their tails but will bite in when you want them to.” That bite is certainly something Salomon designed the Stance for, and it’s nice to know that Carly found that edge grip to be sufficient given her comments on quickness and playfulness.

Kerry Douglas-Pearce skied the 154, noting that it was “too short. I would definitely size up, depending on skill level.” Regardless, she scored the ski top marks of 5’s out of 5 for quickness, maneuverability, and playfulness, with 4’s running the board the rest of the way. This shows that the Stance W 88 is a supremely versatile and well-rounded ski given the high baseline average of scoring. Kerry states that the Stance W 88 is “Fast and super functional on firm snow. Quick and smooth edge-to-edge maneuverability. This ski is ideal for intermediate to advanced skiers who enjoy turning at a fast pace.” The build and shape of the ski certainly corroborate Kerry’s input.

Despite having some varied feedback from our testers, we’re pretty confident in our assessment of the Stance W 88. It certainly belongs among high-end, powerful women’s all-mountain skis, but in that category, it’s actually one of the more playful and more forgiving options. That’s consistent with our findings on other Stance skis, regardless of men’s or women’s. You get the benefits of metal, good vibration damping, good edge grip, but a touch of maneuverability and playfulness that’s lost on some all-mountain skis with this much metal.