Salomon Sentinel Ski Review

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With many performance ski’s out on the market and the explosion of the fatty ski market, it seems like some manufactures have missed one category, the category in between!. As I ski the mountains about 40 times a year, I notice there are a lot of people that like to carve, but there are more and more people trying to find powder stashes, and this is no big surprise as this is where all the fun happens! With wider ski’s getting all the cool new designs, it is no surprise that people are buying into wider ski’s to make their powder days epic and try to just manage through the busy icy resort conditions. If you’re like me, I tend to spend the majority of my time at the resorts and I like to be able to have one ski that works for all conditions, at least usually…

Salomon Sentinel ski’s waiting for the chair lift

Now one ski is not going to be absolutely perfect for ALL conditions, but if I can find a ski that can keep me happy 75-90% of the time, I am content. After doing a lot of searching, I have found that the Salomon Sentinel fits my needs. I’ve skied opening day conditions where the mountain is extremely icy and spotty due to the resorts wanting to open up as fast as they can. I have also had the pleasure to ski a number of great pow days at Vail, Breckenridge, and Keystone this season where I couldn’t stop talking about how amazing the snow was.

The first day I tried the Salomon Sentinel ski’s out was opening day at Keystone. I always love the first day out, but I found in super icy conditions, the Sentinels did not hold on to the snow/ice as well as other ski’s I have worn in the past.   The 2nd, 3rd, and 4th days out skiing, the conditions got a lot better and I found the ski’s to handle a lot better. As Colorado started to get dumped on by mother nature, the Sentinel ski’s really started to shine. They handled great on the groomers as most ski’s should, did exceptionally well in 6-12 inches of powder, and performed nicely in 1-2 feet of powder.  Now they aren’t a complete powder ski, but I found that I was able to stay on top of most of the terrain I ski’d and as I joined the rest of the skiers on the mountain, I was able to stay in complete control and still have fun.

Some of the features that help the Salomon Sentinel stand out from others in its category include; a full wood core from tip to tail, a layer of rubber along certain parts of the edges that capture vibration so your legs don’t have to take it all, reverse camber for all-mountain control, and wider edges to increase durability to name a few.  One downside to the Sentinel ski’s is that they seemed to run a little slow compared to other ski’s I have tested as well as other people I skied with.

Towards the end of my testing period, I noticed that the top layer laminate started to separate from the wood core and the laminate also started to chip. If I had actually bought these skis and this happened, I would be pretty ticked off. It should be highly noted that I was using a pair of demo ski’s that had probably been used about a year or so and have been put through the wringer by a number ski testers. As products are tested, sometimes they are first-round samples and don’t always hold up, but if this does begin to happen, I suggest you call Salomon or take the ski’s back to where you purchased them immediately.

All in all, I really enjoyed the Salomon Sentinels and the next time you find yourself looking for a new pair of skis that can do most, I highly recommend you take a look at the Sentinels by Salomon. For more info on the Sentinel and other Salomon ski gear, visit www.salomon.com or www.evo.com/salomon.