Jim Fowler

"Sierra Jim" Fowler has been in the ski industry since forever. Jim has the unique ability to describe skis like a connoisseur of fine wine. He can pick out the minor nuances, nuanced highlights and peculiar notes of any pair of sticks he skis on.

Author's posts

Review: Nordica’s Hell and Back

  Nordica first introduced the Steadfast and the Hell and Back a couple of years ago. At the time they were one of the first companies to heavily tout the lightweight “sidecountry” ski concept. Those two models have evolved into Nordica’s two best selling skis despite the nichey market position that they billed it as …

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Review: Volkl Mantra

The Mantra has been in the Volkl lineup for a long time as an Alpine model. This has been their best selling ski for the past few years and it is among the most popular expert level skis in Tahoe until just recently. Volkl has also had a backcountry version of this ski called the …

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Review: Salomon Quest 98

For this year, Salomon is expanding and redesigning the established Rocker2 collection into the “Quest” series in an effort to penetrate the mid-fat, 98mm width segment a little better. Like many brands, Salomon is slowly backing away from heavily rockered skis in the all mountain segments and so, while the new Quest 98 does have …

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