La Sportiva

Vapor Svelte Alpine Touring Ski

You can't help the fact that the harder the line is to ski, the more you want to ski it. Luckily, the La Sportiva Vapor Svelte Ski shares your affliction with a lightweight construction that likes to travel long distances and up big, intimidating mountains with aplomb. Now, we know what you're thinking—a lot of skis are getting thrown in the lightweight class these days, but we assure you, that with a weight of just 5lb 3oz (1175g) in a 188cm length, the Vapor Svelte Skis truly belong in the lightweight class.

Sitting at a versatile 96mm underfoot, the Vapor Svelte will make the most of the variable conditions you'll encounter above treeline, along with enough tip and tail width to float the occasional powder and a narrow enough waist to easily hold an edge on the hardpack. A slightly rockered tip and tail let you make tight turns down pinner couloirs and navigate narrow chokes through the crux of your line. When you make your exit and loosen those turns up down the apron, you will be able to arc turns with confidence thanks to plenty of camber underfoot.

The construction of the Vapor Svelte consists of what La Sportiva calls Carbon Torsion Box construction. The layup is made up of a Kevlar weave composite core with prepreg resin matrix reinforced with carbon nanotubes, the result of which makes the ski both ridiculously lightweight and torsionally stiff. The other major benefit to this construction is that the ski will last much longer than a traditional wood core ski, while maintaining the same snappy feel throughout the ski's life. Since this ski is built to ride lines where conditions will be, well, less than ideal, La Sportiva went ahead and put a burly P-Tex 6000 base to resist core shots and a wide 2.2mm steel edge to the put the handle on chunks of ice and the occasional rock.