The Bottom Line: A way more aggressive ski than its tiny weight suggests. Dynafit Speed 90s are a perfect Rockies "quiver killer" for weight weenies, powerful couloirs, and traverse skiing.
Lightweight Dynafit Speed 90 skis mean easy bootpacks up the steepest couloirs. Tam McTavish.
The Speed 90 is fun. Seriously. I got this ski expecting it to be mediocre. It was a lightweight traverse ski designed for couloirs and traverses with perhaps a bit more snow then usual. It was a function-over-fun choice. But oh boy did it exceed my expectations. On their first day, a 30-centimeter powder day at Whistler, they performed far better than I could possibly have hoped for.
With crazy lightweight specs, you wouldn’t assume it, but I was absolutely shocked just how well this ski performed. I demoed the Rossignol Sky 7 the week before, and the Dynafit Speed 90s performed surprisingly close to that hard-charging ski. Rolling through tough powder and charging steeps slopes with aggression, nothing held these skis back despite their flyweight. The same light weight meant jump turns were incredibly fun and easy.
Calling this ski nimble would be like saying Japan gets a bit of snow. This thing is a sparrow, zipping at speed and with incredible agility. In couloirs, it really shines. You can basically hop out of any spot, the skis turn so sharply. It is really remarkable. Also, the light weight makes a surprising difference on bootpacks.
The aggressive front shovel adds a ton of powder and mixed snow performance to this ski. It helps offset the stiffness of the carbon construction by redirecting snow over or up. This means that the skis just slide through or over moguls or powder. While skiing down the broad icy face of the Anniversary Glacier, the skis really opened up well, allowing good giant slalom turns over sastrugi with only a little chatter. It wasn’t as fast as a heavier setup, but considering the weight it performed far better than I would ever have imagined.
There is only one thing I can fault the Speed 90 for. Its top sheet doesn’t seem to ditch snow as well as some others. Not a huge deal, but having a pole that allows you to clean the topsheet off well will help with efficiency.
Overall, this has to be one of the best skis on the market for its weight. It’s far more able then I could have hoped for, and I'm looking forward to taking it even further in the coming months.
Testing conditions: Skied the 176-centimeter model with the Dynafit TLT7 boot and the Dynafit Superlight 2.0 bindings.
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