Last year’s redesigned Helio 116 earned our Editors’ Choice Award and, this year, both carbon Helio and Recon models podiumed.

The original Helio models appeared in four waist widths-88, 95, 105 and 116 mm underfoot-and several models appeared in the 20 Gear Guides. With the transition to the Blizzard factory, a location that’s been building high-end skis for half a century, Black Diamond hoped to improve quality and develop opportunities to introduce new technologies into their lineup. This switch came on the heels of purported challenges the company faced with production quality in their Chinese facility. Beyond that, they’re identical to past Route models, with fiberglass construction around a poplar core.īlack Diamond’s original Helio skis marked a significant decision by the Salt Lake City, Utah-based company to move ski production from China-where it had been making skis for 12 years-to the Blizzard factory in Mittersill, Austria. So, like Black Diamond did last year with the carbon and balsa/flax-cored Helios, the new Helio Recon models include a layer of rubber sandwiched at the ski’s edge beneath the mount point and in the tip and tail to provide a more dampened feel. Why the reshuffling of the lineup? Black Diamond believes there’s an upwelling of skiers interested in lightweight backcountry skis that don’t compromise durability. While the traditional Helio line, updated every two years, returns unchanged this season, Black Diamond debuts another set of offerings beneath the Helio name dubbed Helio Recon, a re-envisioning of the Route skis that first appeared in 2017. The 105 covers more bases (and honestly is wicked fun), but the 95 is friendlier in hard snow and a bit easier to ski.Black Diamond released their carbon Helio skis in 2016 and, since then, the award-winning line has undergone changes to become lighter and stronger. Overall I think the Helio is an impressive ski at both sizes. The 95 is not the catch all that the 105 feels like, but it excels in its strengths : ski mountaineering, long ski tours, easy turning, light weight fun. The Helio 95 made fine and fast work both touring and turning in AK.Ĭonstruction: Prepeg carbon on a balsa flax wood core, ABS sidewall The Helio 95 at 183 has nearly the same turning radius as the Carbon Aspect (90 underfoot) at a 176 (20m vs 19m), maneuverability with less chatter and bit more ski make the 95 possibly a better version of an already good touring ski (with an extra 7 oz of weight). The tapered tail design (also with early rise), slightly smaller shovel dimension, and ultralight wood core seem to borrow what worked well with the Aspect and improve on it. Helio 105 skis powder like a big pow ski, but still manages to be remarkably carvey in making turns (perhaps a factor of the 185 size) in corn snow. Definitely a bit of chatter on hard pack (to be expected), but these feel stiff for the weight while still light. This was surprising for such a light ski, but big turns in good snow felt like the 105’s prime time. I found this to be true in just about any snow conditions.

No time spent in bounds on either ski, but I took them out in variable conditions, mostly spring corn and spring pow, with a bit of hard pack and crust sprinkled in. I have done some spring skiing on these in Colorado and took these on a recent expedition to AK. The 105s I skied at a 185 length with both Dynafit Speed Radicals as well as Vipec 12s. The 95s I skied at a 183 length on Vipec 12 bindings. I ski toured both skis with both a 2-buckle boot (La Sportiva Spitfire) and a 4-buckle boot (La Sportiva Spectre).

Black diamond helio carbon 104