Featured Image: Courtesy of Salomon
My jaw dropped at the sight of them… Slightly jet-lagged from arriving in Annecy, France, the night before, I was ushered into a meeting room with a large, U-shaped table dominating the space. On the wall to my left sat the 2026 Salomon QST Collection. It was immediately apparent that this was a new direction for Salomon. Each model was adorned with a vibrant topsheet— a clear departure from the QST aesthetic of the past four years. The skis sport a youthful appearance with seven unique graphics in the collection, all featuring pastel colors and pixelated accent lines, providing a dynamic look, akin to ski tracks through powder or the outline of a storm cycle. After handling a few of them, it became quickly apparent that the new builds were completely different from the last generation of QST. The new Blank, QST 100 and QST 94 had the more notable differences from their previous models. The Blank felt stiffer when flexed and featured a larger turn radius, while the QST 100 gained two millimeters of waist width from the QST 98 and featured a more progressive shape. The QST 94 felt stiffer as well and had this squared-off, flatish tail. These updates to Salomon’s flagship freeride line were born in Salomon’s Annecy Design Center, one hour south of Geneva, Switzerland.
Salomon’s Annecy Design Center
The Annecy Design Center, or ADC for short, is where every Salomon product from running and lifestyle, to alpine and nordic equipment, is conceptualized, designed and built. This unique headquarters enables product designers, engineers, builders, testers, marketing personnel, product managers and executives to work under the same roof.
This environment fosters collaboration through the various steps of designing a product. Whether it’s a new pair of skis or trail running shoes, the designers and engineers can quickly get hands-on feedback from the fabricators during the Research & Development process. It was also apparent that the ADC’s atmosphere fosters a strong team camaraderie, as we watched the entire staff congregate for lunch at the on-campus cafeteria, and while we touring the facility, were lucky enough to catch Salomon’s employee choir sing their hearts out in front of the ADC coffee shop—a seemingly regular occurrence.
As we made our way around the maze of offices, product testing rooms and fabrication areas, I could see and feel the passion that these people had for their work and, more importantly, the trust they had in their teammates’ skill and competency to execute their piece of the puzzle.
Testing The 2026 QST Collection
Early the next morning, the crew loaded up the van and headed over the border to the small Swiss ski area of Arolla. Situated on the famous Haute Route, this charming ski hill is surrounded by stunning mountains and bordered by a glacier that looked as if like it was feeding deep blue ice onto one of the resort’s groomers. Arolla—and a three-story chalet—would be the home-away-from-home for Salomon’s Mountain Collective—an annual congregation of Salomon’s alpine employees, athletes and media to test skis, discuss the industry and break down the new vision of the QST Collection.
The new collection features four unique models, three of which come in two unisex colorways and the Blank in a single unique topsheet. The QST 94 and 100 are completely new waist widths for Salomon’s QST Collection, with the former replacing the QST 92 and the latter replacing the QST 98. Toward the wider end of the collection Salomon has redesigned the QST 106 and the QST Blank.
It was early season and relatively low tide at Arolla which meant we’d be testing mostly on groomed runs. Over the course of the trip I was able to explore turn shapes and start getting a feel for the changes made to the QST Blank and QST 100.
Salomon QST 100
The QST 100 delivers a unique feel. It feels very malleable and playful when you pick up speed, while retaining a very damp and stable feel which is thanks to it newly designed core, two extra millimeters of waist width and redesigned shape. This ski is a marked departure from the QST 98. The QST 98 has always been fun in trees and bumps, thanks to its exaggerated rocker and camber profile, but sometimes had a tendency to wash out on steeper pitches and on firm snow. The QST 100 maintains the general idea of the QST 98 as the most progressive and versatile ski in the QST collection but has more of an appetite to be skied aggressively and will surely cater to the more assertive freerider.
Salomon QST Blank
As I settled into my first laps on the new Blank, I got a much burlier feel from the tail than I did on the previous iteration. Salomon also increased the turn radius slightly, which gives the ski a less twitchy feel. Despite its sturdy nature, the Blank was relatively easy to manipulate if you really leaned into it—throwing the tails around to scrub speed or while spinning into switches. While not particularly soft – it’s actually quite stout – you can quickly snap the ski sideways and change the momentum of your turn thanks to its rocker profile and tip and tail shape.
During our annual ski test kicking off this February, we will dive into the remaining two skis in the collection as well as continue to rigorously test the QST 100 and QST Blank. These skis seem to mark a new era for Salomon in the all-mountain ski and freeride categories by not only featuring redesigned cores and new shapes, but by seemingly gaining a new identity altogether. The collection is catered to a more progressive style of skiing and it will be interesting to explore that more in the coming months before our official gatherings are released in the fall.
