Salomon S-Lab Carbon Skate

The Salomon S-Lab Carbon Skate – a ski that gives you unbelievable stability

The Salomon S-Lab Carbon Skate is the lightweight from all the top xc racing ski models and used by many World cup skiers. It weighs about 445 grams/ski without the binding in the test.

With less than 1180 grams/a pair including the binding and a ski length of 187 centimeters, it was the lightest skating ski pair in the test field.

This model can be attributed an excellent stiffness-to-weight ratio. It is therefore a ski that requires rather low demand on your technique and strength.

This ski also fascinates with its lightness, especially on the up-hill sections and shines in universal snow conditions.

The S-Lab Carbon Skate race skis ready for a test on the snow.

With the thin ply specific 45° carbon weave which improves the torsion to flex ratio by up to 20% gives you incredible stability for a long glide with ease.

The Prolink race skate binding is mounted on the ski without an intermediate plate. Thus, this guarantees extremely direct power transmission and a low standing height.

Due to the low weight paired with the direct power transmission, the Salomon S-LAB Carbon Skate is extremely light-footed. Accelerations, sprints, and high-speed turns can therefore be achieved with little effort.

I was surprised by the smooth gliding abilities on flat terrain. Compared to previous high-performance ski models, Salomon made significant improvements here.

I found that in difficult snow conditions, the Salomon S-LAB Carbon Skate lacked a bit of grip when skiing uphill. However, on the downhill, the ski impressed thanks to its smoothness and good corner agility.

The ski’s low rebound and high torsional rigidity pays off, especially when skiing on flat terrain. Here the S-LAB Carbon Skate marches mercilessly forward with the high technical level of the XC ski skater.

On our test days, the snow conditions were hard packed and fast, which favored the Carbon Skate with its high camber. However, higher up on the ski trails the snow was softer, which slowed down the glide performance.

There is no doubt to say that the Salomon S-Lab Carbon Skate ranks among the top 6 racing ski models on the market. But each racing ski has its advantage somewhere and for Carbon Skate ski, it's his gliding ability.