Black Diamond Equipment Helio 95 Skis

Black Diamond overhauled their Helio line of touring-specific skis last season and the widest model, the Helio 116, earned an Editors’ Choice Award for its best-in-class weight-to-width ratio. This season, BD takes a victory lap, with top honors falling on a ski that blew away the mid-90 mm competition—on both the uptrack and the descent.

“This ski is incredibly light for the performance it offers,” one tester said. “Snappy and fun with great hard-snow performance.” Others piled on the praise: “Solid, stable and versatile pick for most ski days,” “This little gun proves bigger isn’t always better,” and “The best of the Black Diamond Helio line. These skis hit the sweet spot of stiffness, light weight and turnability.”

Like all five skis in the Helio family (measuring 76, 88, 95, 105 and 116 mm underfoot), the middle sibling relies on a lightweight build that utilizes a barely there balsa/flax core reinforced with layers of stiff, light carbon. Last season’s update placed layers of rubber in the tip and around the ski’s perimeter to reduce the harsh vibrations commonly felt with carbon skis. And testers caught wind of that upgrade—words like playful and smooth peppered test forms with a frequency uncommon among carbon-equipped skis.

As for versatility, testers nearly universally agreed that the 95 could handle wide-ranging conditions. “A reliable daily driver for Rocky Mountain West skiers, regardless of conditions,” one tester wrote. Affirmed a Bozemanite, “I’d ski this all winter long and would not complain about getting a bigger ski.”

$850
blackdiamondequipment.com
123/95/113  6.1 lbs. (173)
Lengths: 163, 173, 183