Touring backcountry skis
Product 2021
Woman, Man
The Black Diamond Helio 88 Carbon are light touring skis that we were able to test with Dynafit Low Techs. They have quite a straight shape, no pronounced hourglass figure and therefore a sweet carving effect on the horizon!
The first thing you notice are how light they are underfoot and their good weight distribution, at 1350g for 179cm.
Their main characteristic is their ability to skid really easily. All skiing with the skis flat on the snow are a real treat. The skier remains in control and they don’t oversteer unlike some 2021 touring skis that we have tested. With the Black Diamond Helio 88 Carbon, the tail doesn’t flip over your head! They are great in all types of skiing, drills, bypassing bumps, narrow areas, etc. Every time these skis perform well.
The very interesting aspect is their tip lift with a slight rocker: these few millimeters make all the difference, you pilot easily through small stacks of snow, bumps, and light powder. The tips work well and encourage the skis to lift quickly.
The Black Diamond Helio 88 Carbon are all-terrain skis, as we’ve already stated, for “combat” in situations, where you have to react quickly and effectively. They help, and facilitate even when you are tired; when, for example, you’re coming back down in crappy snow, with or without a backpack. With these you know you have something under the foot, they aren’t ultra flamboyant skis but they ski, they go across the snow, which helps a lot with pivoting but without dominating or surprising the skier.
We were expecting very responsive skis underfoot and vibrations, not at all, they filter out the terrain’s imperfections, including on very hard snow such as packed artificial snow and ice. In these conditions, they obviously lose points in terms of skiability because they aren’t designed for this. Any manoeuvrability on the edges is complicated or even impossible to obtain: they aren’t designed for carving, you can manage to grip on the edges on soft snow on slopes that aren’t too steep, otherwise you must skid turns, and continue like that. Pivoting is done flat.
The Black Diamond Helio 88 Carbon are very pleasant skis in short turns on a rather steep slope, they have a very interesting pivot, you can be very reactive in couloirs. They are lively, very nice because you can tell they have “pep”, that isn’t inert underfoot. They have good torsional rigidity, and so don’t spin off so they behave well, which was a nice surprise.
The bite is lacking slightly, but is that due to their preparation or the ski’s structure? You really have to lean into the skis to make them grip the ice. We did take note of their quality glide.
At the tail there is a notch for attaching skins. We liked the design, both pure and elaborate. These skis bring desire.
The Black Diamond Helio 88 Carbon are good skis, well-conceived and designed to move in the mountains, to eat up vertical drop without sacrificing too much skiability. Their main quality is their pivoting ease, which lets them overcome most difficulties.
We used this equipment over a long period of time
These are our thoughts after intensive use:
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