26 comments on “2019-2020 Black Diamond Helio 116 Carbon”
About flex pattern part in your reviews. What do you mean by “Underfoot”? I always thought that it’s somewhere near boot mid-mark. But order of #3 and #4 a bit confusing
#1 Tips: 5.5-6
#2 Shovels: 6-7
#3 In front of Heel Piece: 8-9
#4 Underfoot: 10
#5 Behind Heel piece: 9
#6 Tails: 8.5-9
Hi, Vale – apologies, there was a typo in the review, which has now been fixed.
By underfoot I mean (broadly speaking) the center of the ski — or roughly, between the bindings. So that would include the midsole mark.
So from #1 – #6, I mean to identify the flex pattern as it moves from the very tip of the ski on back to the end of the tail. Tips -> Shovels -> Front of Toe Piece -> Underfoot -> Behind Heel Piece -> Tails
Thanks, now it is clear! It would be useful if you describe (or even better – show) someday the procedure how you check the flex, cause everybody do it in his own way
I wish these came in a 192 as they sound like fun. Looking forward to the review anyway.
Got to demo these guys at Alpine Meadows on Saturday in some seriously saturated snow (hot pow) and REALLY dug them. I have some BD Amperages (now the Boundary), and it felt just familiar enough to what I liked in that model while improving on it in every way I would have liked. Their on piste/ harder snow performance seemed much better even with dropping a ton of weight. The tails felt better, couldn’t really tell you exactly what made it better though. Loved the light weight for jump turning in some of the narrow short couloirs at Alpine.
Didn’t really test any “top end” abilities of it.
About to mount a pair of these in 186. The BC line looks waaaay forward given the amount of tip rocker, thinking 1.5cm behind the BC line. -2cm looks even better, but hesitate to deviate too far from the factory line.
Drew, where did you end up mounting your 116’s? I have 105’s mounted on the BC line and they feel very far forward.
Ditto. I just received a new pair of 116s and debating about mount point too.
Skied these for a (powder day), in 185cm. Frisch it Tecton BBinding, Cochise 120 boot.
Two hours of resort powder morning to start, some trees, some smooth, low angle resort powder (10”), chopped Powder and some moguls. No issues with stability or agility at my (low)speeds.
The skied them in the backcountry for the afternoon. Plenty of float for the 11” fresh on a slightly firmer deep lauer. Tips planed up, agile enough, mostly skied open terrain, nothing steep or tight trees.
Have run these down some double black diamond runs ranging from fresh turns to mixed conditions and they performed perfectly! Running them on telemark bindings with no issue (so far)!
Hey Jonathan,
Do you know if Paul mounted these on the line, or no?
TIA.
Hi Paul,
If you had a chance to measure the length of tip & tail rocker sections, that would be super helpful in contextualizing tip & tail rise numbers. Funny you mention breakable crust in your Helio 116 review: I’m looking to replace my Voile V8, which is quite similar on paper, due to poor performance in breakable / heavy variable snow. I put that down to what I call the “fatal combo”: deep camber (8.7mm!) in conjunction w/ too much sidecut (18m). I have two other skis in the 115-135mm width range w camber heights of 3-4mm and they perform far better in breakable/variable regardless of sidecut (16m-22m).
A little update from my last comment.
Height: 5’11” Weight: 155lbs
Binding: Vipec
Mount point: -2.5 to -2.75 depending on which boot I use
I managed to score a used 186 length and was a tiny bit apprehensive about the extra length as I normally ski 175-180 length skis, but have been VERY stoked on them.
The extra length is not noticed as much for two reasons; they’re so damn light, and that tip rocker travels pretty far down the ski so the effective edge is much closer to my non powder skis. Mostly inbounds on them, with both saturated powder, fresh pow days, and full spring corn, and holy shit are they fun. Love the extra surface area especially doing any little cliff drops or jumps, and when I really want to drive the front of the ski. DID find the speed limit of them straight lining back to the lifts, but it almost seems to my untrained eye that the tune on them might be base high so maybe that plays into it. Yeah they aren’t laying down trenches on the piste but they felt better than my Amperages. I could care less about that with how light and fun they are in powder. The flat-er tail though probably helps that firmer snow feel.
Did definitely mounted them back from the recommended line and haven’t had reason to second guess that (some good discussion of this on the Helio 115 TGR thread). When I was looking at the effective edge or even just ski length in front of the boot it ended up being really close/same to the other skis in my quiver I really like.
I ended up putting DPS Phantom on them (that’s why I skied some inbounds spring corn on them) and HOLY CRAP does it work. I was blowing past people on cat tracks on skinny carving skis even with all that extra surface touching snow.
Great review, per usual.
I’m curious about sizing for the Helio 116’s as a dedicated powder-touring ski for the French alps, the Wasatch and perhaps Japan. For reference, I’m 5’7″ and ~145#, and spend last winter touring for powder on G3 Synapse 109’s in a 180, and loved them in that length.
I’m leaning towards the 186 but any advice would be appreciated. Thanks!
I think the Helio will be great for a dedicated pow touring ski in Utah and Japan and for pow days in the alps. I think you could go either way on length. the 186 is pretty easy to ski but they provide a lot of float for their length and the 176 might be more fun for you on the uptrack and in tight trees. that said, I’d be totally content to ski this shape in 190+ at my size. best of luck. let us know how it goes.
Hey, I’m trying to decide between a few pairs of skis. I’m looking for a lightweight, mid-fat touring ski, that is pretty easy-going. I’m not a hard charging skier, and I’m not an expert, so something that is forgiving is best. Based on the Buyer’s Guide, seems like, BD Helio 116, 105, or K2 Wayback 106 are great options. I ski mostly in the Cascades/volcanoes, and I’m 6’3″, 210lbs. Any help would be fantastic.
How much stiffer are the 2018-2019 versions?
Hand-flexing the 18/19 and 19/20 versions, I didn’t notice any difference in flex pattern. The only change (apart from graphics) was the addition of additional rubber layers over the edges, which is very unlikely to result in a difference in flex pattern.
Thanks Luke. The 2019 Backcountry magazine gear guide review reports a complaint from a lighter tester that the ski was “too stiff”. I’m 75kg/175cm–similar to you? I didn’t get the sense from your review that the ski was too stiff.
I haven’t skied the 116 but I have spent a lot of time on the 105 which did not feel overly stiff to me. I wouldn’t recommend it to beginners, but if you have fairly good technique I don’t think the stiffness of the Helio 105 or 116 will be an issue.
One more question: does the tail shape that the Helio 116 have allow backwards skiing? I can ski backwards on groomers with a very small amount of raised tail in other skis I have (eg old BD Justice), but the Helio style is very gradual without a “curl” at the end.
In shallow / firm snow it’s definitely doable, I just wouldn’t want to land switch after a jump or try to ski switch through any snow deeper than a few inches.
Would this be enough ski at 186 for someone who is 215lbs at 6’4″ in AK?
Curious about Helio 116 vs Wilcat Tour 116 for a dedicated touring ski in the PNW/Brittish Columbia area. Im a little worried about a ski as light as the Helio in heavy “powder”, but interested in dropping weight as i generally tour on an old Exit World 190+Mercury+Radical FT12. Plan to pair w a hoji tour pro boot and atk fr14 binders so will drop a little weight with either of these new setups. Have a volcano ski for spring but use my Exit Worlds on sub 7000ft days.
RE Exit worlds: Love the long turns, easy to break free. Generally find them stable enough. A little more pop could be fun esp in trees but it might be that they are old and beat like me.
Resort skis include second gen hojis (Adding CAST binders for sidecountry) and original bibby pro 186 which are getting beat. Like both these for different reasons. Find the bibbys a bit heavy and occasionally oddly catchy one Tip or tail on the other but otherwise very fun. Hojis took some getting used to but are pretty damn fun until the pow is superdeep (tipdive).
Appreciate any advice.
Did these 186’s feel long at 6’ tall? I’m wondering for myself… similar height.
176 seems a bit short?
About flex pattern part in your reviews. What do you mean by “Underfoot”? I always thought that it’s somewhere near boot mid-mark. But order of #3 and #4 a bit confusing
#1 Tips: 5.5-6
#2 Shovels: 6-7
#3 In front of Heel Piece: 8-9
#4 Underfoot: 10
#5 Behind Heel piece: 9
#6 Tails: 8.5-9
Hi, Vale – apologies, there was a typo in the review, which has now been fixed.
By underfoot I mean (broadly speaking) the center of the ski — or roughly, between the bindings. So that would include the midsole mark.
So from #1 – #6, I mean to identify the flex pattern as it moves from the very tip of the ski on back to the end of the tail. Tips -> Shovels -> Front of Toe Piece -> Underfoot -> Behind Heel Piece -> Tails
Thanks, now it is clear! It would be useful if you describe (or even better – show) someday the procedure how you check the flex, cause everybody do it in his own way
I wish these came in a 192 as they sound like fun. Looking forward to the review anyway.
Got to demo these guys at Alpine Meadows on Saturday in some seriously saturated snow (hot pow) and REALLY dug them. I have some BD Amperages (now the Boundary), and it felt just familiar enough to what I liked in that model while improving on it in every way I would have liked. Their on piste/ harder snow performance seemed much better even with dropping a ton of weight. The tails felt better, couldn’t really tell you exactly what made it better though. Loved the light weight for jump turning in some of the narrow short couloirs at Alpine.
Didn’t really test any “top end” abilities of it.
About to mount a pair of these in 186. The BC line looks waaaay forward given the amount of tip rocker, thinking 1.5cm behind the BC line. -2cm looks even better, but hesitate to deviate too far from the factory line.
Drew, where did you end up mounting your 116’s? I have 105’s mounted on the BC line and they feel very far forward.
Ditto. I just received a new pair of 116s and debating about mount point too.
Skied these for a (powder day), in 185cm. Frisch it Tecton BBinding, Cochise 120 boot.
Two hours of resort powder morning to start, some trees, some smooth, low angle resort powder (10”), chopped Powder and some moguls. No issues with stability or agility at my (low)speeds.
The skied them in the backcountry for the afternoon. Plenty of float for the 11” fresh on a slightly firmer deep lauer. Tips planed up, agile enough, mostly skied open terrain, nothing steep or tight trees.
Have run these down some double black diamond runs ranging from fresh turns to mixed conditions and they performed perfectly! Running them on telemark bindings with no issue (so far)!
Hey Jonathan,
Do you know if Paul mounted these on the line, or no?
TIA.
Hi Paul,
If you had a chance to measure the length of tip & tail rocker sections, that would be super helpful in contextualizing tip & tail rise numbers. Funny you mention breakable crust in your Helio 116 review: I’m looking to replace my Voile V8, which is quite similar on paper, due to poor performance in breakable / heavy variable snow. I put that down to what I call the “fatal combo”: deep camber (8.7mm!) in conjunction w/ too much sidecut (18m). I have two other skis in the 115-135mm width range w camber heights of 3-4mm and they perform far better in breakable/variable regardless of sidecut (16m-22m).
A little update from my last comment.
Height: 5’11” Weight: 155lbs
Binding: Vipec
Mount point: -2.5 to -2.75 depending on which boot I use
I managed to score a used 186 length and was a tiny bit apprehensive about the extra length as I normally ski 175-180 length skis, but have been VERY stoked on them.
The extra length is not noticed as much for two reasons; they’re so damn light, and that tip rocker travels pretty far down the ski so the effective edge is much closer to my non powder skis. Mostly inbounds on them, with both saturated powder, fresh pow days, and full spring corn, and holy shit are they fun. Love the extra surface area especially doing any little cliff drops or jumps, and when I really want to drive the front of the ski. DID find the speed limit of them straight lining back to the lifts, but it almost seems to my untrained eye that the tune on them might be base high so maybe that plays into it. Yeah they aren’t laying down trenches on the piste but they felt better than my Amperages. I could care less about that with how light and fun they are in powder. The flat-er tail though probably helps that firmer snow feel.
Did definitely mounted them back from the recommended line and haven’t had reason to second guess that (some good discussion of this on the Helio 115 TGR thread). When I was looking at the effective edge or even just ski length in front of the boot it ended up being really close/same to the other skis in my quiver I really like.
I ended up putting DPS Phantom on them (that’s why I skied some inbounds spring corn on them) and HOLY CRAP does it work. I was blowing past people on cat tracks on skinny carving skis even with all that extra surface touching snow.
Great review, per usual.
I’m curious about sizing for the Helio 116’s as a dedicated powder-touring ski for the French alps, the Wasatch and perhaps Japan. For reference, I’m 5’7″ and ~145#, and spend last winter touring for powder on G3 Synapse 109’s in a 180, and loved them in that length.
I’m leaning towards the 186 but any advice would be appreciated. Thanks!
I think the Helio will be great for a dedicated pow touring ski in Utah and Japan and for pow days in the alps. I think you could go either way on length. the 186 is pretty easy to ski but they provide a lot of float for their length and the 176 might be more fun for you on the uptrack and in tight trees. that said, I’d be totally content to ski this shape in 190+ at my size. best of luck. let us know how it goes.
Any word on mounting point? I’m wondering if the recommendation is similar to the Helio 105 reviewed here https://blisterreview.com/gear-reviews/2017-2018-black-diamond-helio-105-carbon
Hey, I’m trying to decide between a few pairs of skis. I’m looking for a lightweight, mid-fat touring ski, that is pretty easy-going. I’m not a hard charging skier, and I’m not an expert, so something that is forgiving is best. Based on the Buyer’s Guide, seems like, BD Helio 116, 105, or K2 Wayback 106 are great options. I ski mostly in the Cascades/volcanoes, and I’m 6’3″, 210lbs. Any help would be fantastic.
How much stiffer are the 2018-2019 versions?
Hand-flexing the 18/19 and 19/20 versions, I didn’t notice any difference in flex pattern. The only change (apart from graphics) was the addition of additional rubber layers over the edges, which is very unlikely to result in a difference in flex pattern.
Thanks Luke. The 2019 Backcountry magazine gear guide review reports a complaint from a lighter tester that the ski was “too stiff”. I’m 75kg/175cm–similar to you? I didn’t get the sense from your review that the ski was too stiff.
I haven’t skied the 116 but I have spent a lot of time on the 105 which did not feel overly stiff to me. I wouldn’t recommend it to beginners, but if you have fairly good technique I don’t think the stiffness of the Helio 105 or 116 will be an issue.
One more question: does the tail shape that the Helio 116 have allow backwards skiing? I can ski backwards on groomers with a very small amount of raised tail in other skis I have (eg old BD Justice), but the Helio style is very gradual without a “curl” at the end.
In shallow / firm snow it’s definitely doable, I just wouldn’t want to land switch after a jump or try to ski switch through any snow deeper than a few inches.
Would this be enough ski at 186 for someone who is 215lbs at 6’4″ in AK?
Curious about Helio 116 vs Wilcat Tour 116 for a dedicated touring ski in the PNW/Brittish Columbia area. Im a little worried about a ski as light as the Helio in heavy “powder”, but interested in dropping weight as i generally tour on an old Exit World 190+Mercury+Radical FT12. Plan to pair w a hoji tour pro boot and atk fr14 binders so will drop a little weight with either of these new setups. Have a volcano ski for spring but use my Exit Worlds on sub 7000ft days.
RE Exit worlds: Love the long turns, easy to break free. Generally find them stable enough. A little more pop could be fun esp in trees but it might be that they are old and beat like me.
Resort skis include second gen hojis (Adding CAST binders for sidecountry) and original bibby pro 186 which are getting beat. Like both these for different reasons. Find the bibbys a bit heavy and occasionally oddly catchy one Tip or tail on the other but otherwise very fun. Hojis took some getting used to but are pretty damn fun until the pow is superdeep (tipdive).
Appreciate any advice.
Did these 186’s feel long at 6’ tall? I’m wondering for myself… similar height.
176 seems a bit short?