2025 Salomon Stance 96

With a bit of a graphic change, but otherwise unchanged, the 2025 Salomon Stance 96 continues to be a pure all-mountain crusher. The innovation and design involved in the 2025 Salomon Stance 96 is nothing short of remarkable. When this ski first came out, it was very apparent that Salomon had a winning formula on their hands. The ski was strong, sturdy, stable, and carved like a champ. It competed right away with the Mantras and Bonafides of the world but did so with a quieter and more subdued attitude. It was silent aggression at its finest. The main issue with that personality is that it may have been too quiet. The graphics never popped, skiers never really got on board with the Stance 96, and it kind of got lost in the mix. For 2025, Salomon takes a louder approach to the ski, and while some skiers may find the moves in construction to be a step back, we’ve found that there’s minimal performance lost, and maximum traction to be gained. With more of a techy and colorful look we’re seeing a move towards approachability and appearance in the hope that Salomon will sell more of these skis to very deserving skiers. It makes sense and appeals to a broader audience.

The 2025 version still relies on the 2024 build. While we dealt with a full poplar wood core in the past, we’re now seeing a blend of poplar and karuba. This lightens the load a bit while keeping the energy and responsiveness at a very high level. While some skiers may long for the older and sturdier version, we feel that the refinements are warranted and welcome. That said, it is lighter and won’t stand up to quite as much high-end performance, but that’s really the top end of the top end. Everything and everyone who’s slightly on a lower scale will really enjoy these alterations. In addition to the lightening of the core, we’re also getting Salomon’s Twinframe 2 technology that is very reminiscent of Armada’s Articulated Titanal Banding. By milling out strips of metal on the side of the existing windows, Salomon makes the shovel of the ski more apt to flexing and contorting with the snow underfoot. This is a nice addition to the ski, as it works quite well on the Declivity series from Armada—stands to reason it works here as well. Within the windows of the upper metal laminate, we’re getting Salomon’s blend of carbon and basalt fibers. This helps keep the ski light and energetic without sacrificing edge grip. As a result of these alterations, we see a weight at 1920 grams per ski in the 182, a drop of roughly 100 grams from the original Stance build. Steve McKenzie states that it’s a “A solid all day everyday ski. Expected slop given the underfoot dims and current conditions. I can imagine these being an ideal 1 ski quiver for the everyday east coast enthusiasts.”

While the construction has changed since inception, the shape and profile are largely the same. But at the end of the day, the shape was one of the aspects that worked well with this ski. The footprint remains the same, boasting dimensions of 132/96/114 in the 182. This creates a relatively long turn radius of 20-meters. That longer turn radius works great for higher-speed skiing, more drifty soft snow performance, and a fun-loving off-trail personality. In the bumps, the longer radius works a bit better as the ski doesn’t want to hook in, allowing the skier more input on the duration and magnitude of the turn. For skidding quick turns, this works great. Conversely, for letting the ski run and getting up on high edge angles, this thing totally rips. There’s not a ton of rocker to talk about, with width-appropriate bends in the tips and slight rocker in the tails. The shape and profile of this ski fall more to the all-mountain side, especially per width, making this a standout in groomer and on-trail performance more so than a drifty powder ski. Michael Rooney notes that it’s great “both for groomers and for varied snow after people have skied on it and chopped it up. It does well there because it can handle the varied snow easily and let the skier just go through it.”

There’s a bigger range now than ever before with the Stance 96. We’ve always had high hopes for this ski as the performance has always warranted consideration. It’s been an ongoing effort for us here at SkiEssentials.com to praise the ski and spread the word, but it hasn’t seemed to take hold quite yet. Perhaps with a more accessible build and a catchy new look, Stance 96 will find its audience and find itself out there on the hill. It’s a very deserving ski, and this should likely propel the Stance line to where it deservingly belongs. Fun, energetic, and supremely versatile, this ski is an absolute blast to be on in any conditions or terrain.