2025 Stockli Montero AS

Now in its second year of production, the 2025 Stockli Montero AS returns as the narrowest and shortest turning of the line. By blending all-mountain feel and quick frontside performance, the Montero AS stands out when it comes to agility, mobility, and precision. These skis came about last season as a third member of the Montero group, coming in at 76 mm underfoot and providing the same sturdy build as the wider ones. With the AR and the AX moving into a slightly different build for 2025, the AS remains unchanged to deliver lightning-fast turning and silky smooth carves on firm and smooth surfaces. We get all the quality and precision in this AS as any Montero ever, just thinning the waist to bring more of a front side mentality to the mix.

Built with a wood core consisting of wider poplar stringers and six denser, narrower beech ones, the Montero AS has a mix of lightweight and strength that’s tough to beat. The ski gets two full sheets of fiberglass and two full layers of titanal. The top layer of metal uses Stockli’s Flex Torsion Control to allow for better compliance at lower speeds. This wavy slit milled into the top layer of metal allows the ski to bend torsionally with greater ease. This, in turn, keeps the ski smooth and mobile in a variety of conditions and terrain. The ski ends up feeling light, even though it’s stable. Tester David Wolfgang notes that these skis are “playful on an absolutely smooth platform. I’m truly a fan of this fun all-mountain carving tool.” It’s tough to talk about a Stockli without using the adjective “smooth” about a thousand times, and thankfully that seems to filter into our testers vocabulary as well. Unprompted, of course.

We’ve been getting into the ~76’s as of late. Blizzard’s Thunderbird R15 WB, Head Supershape e.Rally, Nordica Spitfire 74, etc, as great examples of wider-bodied carvers that also have functionality as all-mountain skis. The AS holds up its end of the deal in this realm, bringing less of a race-like mentality to the mix and more of a supple feel overall. This ski, with the shorter radius of the three Montero’s registers a 14.8-meter arc in the 172 cm length. That is more slalom-ish than the AX or AR, putting this on the shorter side like those other skis that hover around 15-meters. While there is slight tip and tail rocker to aid in transitions, it’s hardly enough to make the AS a versatile ski for softer snow—that much it does have in common with its competition. Benny Wax states that the AS is “incredibly lively and stable at the same time. It hugged the snow and was so quick and responsive. In addition, it was great on groomers, held an edge quietly on the corduroy, and didn’t flinch on ice.”

Like the other skis in the Stockli catalog, the Montero AS brings with it a premium price tag. What you’re getting isn’t so much the top end of the performance spectrum—there are more race-like skis in this range—but you won’t find anything that’s quieter and smoother than the Montero AS. The use of rubber dust in the adhesive layers combined with the quality of materials in the rest of the ski allow for a totally unique snow feel and experience. If that last part is worth it to you, then feel free to plunk down a few hundred extra, and you will not be disappointed.