Spring Skiing in Aspen and Kastle Ski 15/16’ Lineup

Well it has been an interesting end to the winter season. After what was a reasonably mild start to the month, Aspen got nailed with an epic finish. Over a foot of snow fell on closing weekend, making for some of the best conditions of the season. Spring storms are different from those bitter cold dumps in January. The snow is considerably denser, and most definitely heavier, but when enough of it falls it makes for a creamy smooth snowpack. While most of the tourists were gone, all the locals were out enjoying this last dose of lift-serviced powder snow. I say lift serviced powder because although the mountain closed on Sunday the 19^th, people were skinning up and out in the backcountry for weeks after.

Backcountry conditions were surprisingly quite good the past few weeks. Cloudy skies and frequent high altitude snow storms made for epic spring conditions in the backcountry. We at Miller Sports even made some last minute ski sales of Kastle FX94 and Kastle FX104 skis for people heading out into the backcountry. The FX series has been a touring mainstay the last two years, with its lightweight construction, slightly rockered tip and skin attachment point on the tip.

Next year the Kastle FX series, pioneered by Aspen local Chris Davenport, gets a major overhaul, with the 104 getting dropped and becoming the BMX105, while the 94 becomes a 95 and 84 becomes an 85. But one millimeter of width difference is far from the only change. They now have considerably more rocker, making for a true powder ski. They also come in two different models for each width, a regular non-metal version and a HP (high-performance) version with two sheets of Titanal. In our opinion both versions ski fantastic, but the HP version of the FX95 is the true winner. Kastle has also adjusted the length options, instead of having to make 10cm jump between lengths, there is now only a 8cm gap, so now the you can be on a 165cm, 173cm, 181cm or 189cm. The 181cm will be the expert skiers length of choice we feel, short enough with the rocker to be maneuverable in tight trees but quite stable at high speeds.

All in all the new Kastle Ski lineup for next year is the best yet. We will carry the new FX85 and FX95, BMX105, MX88 (duh!), LX72 and 82, and the all new CPM, which is a LX82 with metal and carbon fiber. An all black gloss and carbon fiber finish make this ski a eye-turner.