Boost 105 Review

I had the chance to take out Hagan's new Boost 105 for the first time the other day. 

A quick refresher on the ski:

•  New freeride oriented touring ski for 2024-2025

• The widest ski Hagan has ever produced at 105 mm underfoot. 1600 grams, three length options (cm): 171, 177, 185

• The Boost Series is our freeride touring line. These touring skis are engineered light for the uphill with outstanding freeride performance downhill, whether on powder or in less ideal conditions.

 The ski to test. If you want more specs, check it out here.

The goal with the Boost 105 was to engineer agility and maneuverability into a wide ski, that retains stability at high speeds and in steep terrain. It needed to be stable and powerful for steep, deep, and big terrain all while reducing weight to enable skiers to efficiently access this terrain. To help achieve this, a kevlar construction, in combination with a poplar/karuba core, was chosen over carbon.

Kevlar is a unique material. Its properties provide a middle ground on the scale of flex and stiffness as compared to the typical ski construction materials of fiberglss and carbon fiber, all while being extremely light weight. This is advantageous in big terrain when a ski needs to remain stable regardless of the conditions of the snow it hits underneath. In one turn it may need stay flexible and float in powder, and then in the next it needs to remain stiff to deliver enough power through the profile to overcome sudden compact and harder conditions.

Might as well have been a video of me.

This is obviously a lot to ask from a ski.  But after extensive testing, the engineers at Hagan chose this kevlar construction despite being far more labor intensive to work with, as it grossly outperformed fiberglass/carbon fiber in this metric.

But, we all know the proof is in the pudding. I certainly was going to put the ski to the test. I'd be lying if I said I chose the testing terrain because I wanted to see how the ski would perform in very suboptimal transformed conditions on a steep slope. If there was a powder option I would have seized it. Steamboat Springs, CO hasn't received practically any snow since late November. So the .2 mile long, 25 ft wide, and 500 vertical ft ""Electric Couloir," formed from a power line installation on Emerald Mountain, and where I chose to test the skis, had lackluster transformed snow coverage. To make it more fun I also chose to do it at night.

Uphill

First thing I noticed is what I am calling skin track conformity. I skinned up the "couloir" making very steep kick turns in both icy sections and punchable crust. It felt like the Boost 105 was able to flex in the hard stuff and stay stiff in the softer snow to maintain surface area and allow me to climb a very direct line. Maybe this was the material properties of kevlar, or just a me having a stellar day, but I like to go direct, so appreciated feeling like there was nothing stopping me from nuking straight up the powerline. The strava segment is aptly named "yer mama kept her skis on". I'm proud to say I was not only able to keep my skis on, but maybe even do what yer mama could only dream of line wise. 

 While it was still light out. 

Downhill

If it wasn't dark before (it was), it definitely was as I transitioned for the down. Paying homage to the electric nature of this line, I domed the head lamp and attempted you guessed it, a relatively direct line through shrubs and crud. The first thought that comes to mind is maneuverable and solid.

Transition. Colors of the ski are great.

The reality is the 105mm was way too much ski for the given conditions. Despite this, I had no problem maneuvering around the debris in this relatively tight corridor. I also own a pair of DPS 108 Tour 1 that I would deem to be in the same freeride touring family as the Boost 105, and it certainly does not maneuver the same way as the Boost. In my opinion this nimbleness isn't a result of the ski being significantly lighter. It is still 105mm underfoot afterall. It's a result of the same conformity properties I described experiencing on the skin track allowing the ski to set and transfer power quicker, and therefore to turn quicker. 

At the top

I've seen some sneak peaks from a few of our Hagan athletes, including Christof Nuila and Extra Mediocre, testing the ski in powder conditions, and can't wait to do the same my self. If you'd like to check out the ski you canfind it here, and stay tuned to our website, blog, and instagram, for more reviews on the Boost 105 as the winter progresses.