I skied this ski in the 180cm length for 2 days on my last trip to Montana. I own a pair of Kastle MX78 (now vintage skis) and I had demo'd the old MX88, MX84 and the monster MX98. All of these skis were super, GS like skis on groomers and either a little to stiff (MX78) definitely too stiff (MX88) or way to fricking stiff (MX98) for off-piste skiing at least for those that want to make slalom to GS turns off piste. For guys that want to go straight these were great skis. The shop guys at my mountain had told me that Kastle has been softening their skis over the years and then last week told me that this years models were by far the most user friendly. As an aside, Kastle in the past couple of years took their manufacturing in house and left their relationship with Head in Austria (who was making all their skis for them). Before taking the MX88 out I hand flexed it in the shop and I was quite surprised how friendly the flex was. The other thing that is immediately noticeable is that this is still sandwich construction ski but a less expensive design. My view was if it still arcs on the groomed and skis nicely off piste, maybe we have something here. Lastly on design, this is a true full cambered ski, with minimal tip rocker and a true flat tail.
To make a long story short, I absolutely loved this ski and I skied them non stop for two days and then ordered a pair. I own the Head Monster 88 which is a wonderful ski ( and I destroyed my pair early this season on some rocks). The Kastle has an 18.8m TR in the 180 length but it bends into a tighter arc than the 177 Monster 88 (stated TR is 16.8 I think) and the Kastle is less stiff than the Monster. I skied on groomers first for maybe 2 hours and I was continually amazed how tight I could arc the ski. TR felt like 15.5 ish and it wasn't all that much wider than what I can do on my Blossom white outs. Very similar in feel with regard to the flex pattern (between the Kastle 88 and White Out). Edge hold was excellent. But the real test was going to be off piste. I was stunned. these skis just rocked off piste, awesome flex pattern, quite forgiving. Conditions were mainly chop the day after a good sized dump and pow day the day before. I could not imagine a ski any better in these conditions than this one. They also seemed to want to go fast and at times I would notice how fricking fast I was booking and my mind would say "too fast" but I was continually able to navigate the terrain and bumps at this speed. After 2-3 runs like this I just started to ski way faster than I normally do (still making slalom turns but pointing into the fall line sooner and for longer).
So day 2 I did hit some conditions where I had a little trouble at first. We got some serious wind the night before and my first foray into some very heavy windbuff, I was not forward enough on some turns and the tails got stuck. Never fun!! But once I adjusted and made sure my weight was quite forward at the beginning of every arc, I didn't have another issue. Having said that, if I was skiing heavy windbuff all over the mountain, I might choose a different ski that day. This is a true flat tail and if the tail is weighted it will get stuck at times.
For those looking for an 88 waisted ski, that arcs great and is really friendly off piste, this is the best I have skied so far. This is definitely a ski for more advanced PMTS skiers. And as far as east coast goes it seems like it could be a decent east ski for fresh snow and then chop, but I don't ski on the east coast and I am the wrong guy to ask about those conditions. For sure on blue east coast ice, its not the ski of choice.
The obvious drawback on all Kastle skis (and Stockli's as well) is the price tag. These list for $1249 in season but you can usually get deals on Kastle skis at some point. When I look at the ski and the lower cost construction, I do think, damn they should not cost this much. But we do know from Head that the hollow tech in the tips adds about $200 to the cost of each ski, so some of their cost is justified. I was chatting with Heluva recently who owns a new pair of Liberty V82s. He said the construction is quite mediocre ( I will second that) but that for off piste skiing, many people buy and ski way too much ski. Wide GS skis are way too stiff for most mortals off piste. Even Harald hates skis this stiff off piste (and we know he can ski anything).
The skis I was on were mounted with Head Tyrolia Attack 13 demo bindings (which are called K something or other for Kastle). I will mount mine with PRD plates and put some old PRX bindings on it. Should be awesome!