Salomon has a LOT of new products coming for the 2024-2025 season. So at Blister Summit 2024, we sat down with Salomon’s Joe Johnson to get the backstory and details on all of them.
We cover the new powder-oriented QST X ski; how the QST X compares to the Salomon QST Blank, QST Echo 106, & previous QST 118; why and how they tweaked the original Shift binding when designing the new Shift2 binding; their brand-new Shift Alpha BOA hybrid ski boots; the new Salomon S/Pro Race boot collection; their fully recyclable Brigade INDEX Helmet; several new apparel pieces, and more.
Related Reviews
Now that we’ve spent time on them, you can check out below our reviews of some of the products discussed here. BLISTER+ members and those who purchase our Digital Access Pass can read our Flash Reviews & Deep Dive comparisons, in addition to our initial First Looks and long-term Full Reviews. Get our Digital Access Pass to view all our Deep Dives and Flash Reviews, or become a BLISTER+ member today to get access to that and a LOT more, including the best worldwide Outdoor Injury Insurance, exclusive deals and discounts on skis, personalized gear recommendations from us, and much more.
Flash Review: 24/25 Salomon QST X
Japow Update: Kara Williard brought the QST X with her on a recent trip to Japan and she’s now added her thoughts on this lightweight powder ski.
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Flash Review: 24/25 Salomon / Atomic Shift2 Binding
The original Shift binding was a big advancement in the touring binding category when it was first released, but it wasn’t without its flaws. The new Shift2 binding is meant to address those downsides while still letting you skin uphill in pins and get alpine-binding performance on the way down. We’ve been testing multiple pairs of the Shift2 to test those claims — here are our thoughts so far.
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Flash Review: 24/25 Salomon Shift Alpha BOA 130
Salomon overhauled their freeride-touring boots for 24/25, and the new Shift Alpha BOA 130 was reportedly inspired by Salomon’s iconic MTN Lab. Here are our initial thoughts on the new boot.
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Very disapointing, that you don’t discuss all the weaknesses of the Shift, which you hear a lot of and if they fix them: brakes opening in walk mode when ski hits each other, lever in the front opens up by itself (loosed my ski in a steep place while kickturning…), missing a second climbing mode and much more. Instead your vid is just a marketing thing. I don’t pay for Blister-Membership to see marketing vids which I can see on youtube by my own… Why don’t you ask critical questions for real support of your paying members? Very, very disapointing.
I think there is some serious confusion going on here.
This video isn’t one of our Full Reviews. Nor is it one of our Deep Dive comparisons, or even a Flash Review.
It’s a free video that was made with the goal of doing a broad overview of several new products. You could think of it as a video version of our “First Looks,” where we publish some basic specs and manufacturer info about a product before we’ve been able to test it. We do that so that folks who are interested in that product can at least get some info about it, while we put in the time required to write up our actual reviews.
Now, if you want more details on the Shift2 binding in particular, including our notes about the connections betwee the existing issues you (and our reviews of the original) touched on, you can read our standalone writeup we posted (back on January 29th) when the Shift2 was announced: https://blisterreview.com/at-binding-reviews/redesigned-24-25-shift2-binding-announced
(If you click on the hyperlinked “new Shift2 binding” in the video description, above, it will take you to that article. I hyperlinked the post there because the goal of this video was breadth, not depth, given that we had to cover multiple different products and we didn’t want it to be an hour long.)
For reference, when we filmed that video, we hadn’t yet tested the Shift2 ourselves, so I couldn’t offer any insight on whether we think that Salomon fixed the previous issues. In that Shift2 announcement article linked above, I explain the connections between the known issues with the original Shift and the respective updates with the Shift2.
Fortunately, weeks after the Summit (when we filmed the video), we did start testing several pairs of the Shift2 on a few different skis. Once we get a few more tours on them (primarily to see if we experience any of the brake or toe lever issues of the original Shift; we haven’t yet), then we’ll post a Flash Review with our initial on-snow impressions of the Shift2. So far, we haven’t experienced any of the issues we did with the original, but I don’t yet feel confident saying “they fixed it,” given our limited time with the binding so far.
Of course, if you have a particular gear question, whether it’s about the Shift2 or anything else, your membership also lets you submit gear questions via the Member Clubhouse, where one of our reviewers will work one-on-one with you to answer any questions you have: https://blisterreview.com/blister-member-clubhouse
I hope that helps clarify things.
Thanks for clearing up Luke. Would like to see a feedback after long term usage.
Cheers
Tim