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Today we’ve got 2 episodes in 1 for you: we start by talking about the biggest development in the world of snowsports gear, dual BOA ski boots. Joining me for that conversation are Salomon’s Lauren Samuels and Cesar Brouck, and you’re going to learn a lot more about the Dual BOA system in general, but also some of the very specific design decisions that Salomon made to implement this system into their new S/Pro Supra Dual BOA ski boot. Then, we dive deep into the weeds with Quentin Boutry, the man behind Salomon’s new 4th generation of QST skis.
RELATED LINKS:
Our Blister Rec Shop: Viking Ski Shop
BLISTER+ Get Yourself Covered
Join Us! Blister Summit 2025
TOPICS & TIMES:
Jonathan’s Neighborhood Ski Shop (1:45)
Blister Summit News & Updates (3:50)
Did You Know? PT (4:38)
Part 1: New S/Pro Dual BOA Ski Boot (8:20)
Who’s this Boot For? (11:20)
Benefits of Dual BOA? (12:15)
The R&D Process (27:27)
Cable Routing of the Dual BOA (36:44)
The ‘Step In’ Experience (39:13)
Part 2: New Salomon QST Skis (44:17)
Get to Know Quentin Boutry (44:25)
From Gen 2 to Gen 3 QST Skis (55:09)
Salomon Rocker 122 vs QST X (1:04:53)
Why Go Unisex w/ 4th Gen QST? (1:06:33)
More on Changes from Gen 3 to Gen 4 (1:14:00)
‘Double Metal’ & ‘Non Double Metal’ Skis (1:29:59)
Salomon QST 94 (1:31:59)
Salomon QST 100 (1:37:19)
Salomon QST 106 (1:41:17)
New Materials: Fruit Roll-Ups? (1:45:45)
Salomon QST Echo 160 (1:50:4)
Salomon QST X vs QST Blank (1:59:42)
CHECK OUT OUR OTHER PODCASTS (click each to learn more):
Than you for the nice conversation. Do you have an idea why they drop the price compared to last year?
With respect to Jonantha’s discussion of the nature of the Freeride World Tour, I think that that partly reflected an intentional change in emphasis on the part of the Tour. Freeride had reached a point where continuing to push the “charging” aspect would have arguably turned it into a death sport. The FWT responded by adjusting judging criteria to emphasize control and increasingly reward tricks, and in some instances more “tricky” venues replaced traditional freeride destinations like Chamonix and Haines.
Put another way, as the riders’ skills increased (which they unquestionably have) the tour’s product evolved to incorporate more freestyle elements on the same venues, rather than going bigger and harder. One could imagine an alternative future in which the entire tour evolved in the direction of what Heitz and Anthematten were doing at the time with La Liste etc, and IMO in that reality chargers would have remained the ski of choice. But I also think that there would have been an awful lot of human carnage in that reality.
I want to be clear that I’m not complaining about the tour. I’m personally not a fan of boxing, MMA, and similarly “brutal” sports, and I for one don’t want skiing to go there. We lost a number of terrific athletes c. 2010 in attempts to “progress freeride” (Shane being the obvious example). I think that the current FWT is basically the best product that they can ethically create, and I for one enjoy it quite a lot.