SCOTT 19/20 UPDATE

Scott Sports may not have a huge amount of new products for winter 19/20, but the new products are worthy of attention. Female skiers benefit as Scott has introduced a female model of the Slight 93 and Scrapper 105. The E1 electronic avalanche airbag range gets two new models, tripling the range. There’s a new 89mm lightweight touring ski, as well as a new Vapor goggle.

Slight W 93

For the 19/20 season Scott will release a Slight 93 women’s ski, which means the men’s Slight 93 will only start at 170cm. The women’s Slight 93 will be available in 155cm, 160cm and 165cm lengths. The women’s skis have an air channelled wood core to make them sightly softer flexing and lighter.

Tested: Scott Slight W 93 women’s all-mountain ski

I was able to get out and test the Slight W 93. This ski sits at the fatter end of the all-mountain spectrum, with regards underfoot width. Despite this, the Slight W 93 actually skied better on piste than some of the narrower all-mountain skis out there which have more rocker. This extra width helps when skiing off piste, especially if you aren’t well balanced over both skis. As can be expected, these are a little slower edge-to-edge, as they are a little wider.

Scott The Ski

The multi award-winning Scott The Ski is completely unchanged for 19/20. This ski has been in the range since winter 13/14, so is no doubt close the end of it’s production cycle.

Scrapper skis

Scott’s freeride range loses the Scrapper 124 for 19/20, leaving the Scrapper 115 as the widest in the range. They have a new Scrapper ski, the Scrapper 105 W, and like the Slight 93 W it has the air-channelled woodcore. The Scrapper 90 is the same ski as the Scrapper Jr from the 18/19 season. The rest of the Scrapper range remains but gets a graphic change.

Tested: Scott The Scrapper W 105 women’s freeride ski

I tested the Scrapper W 105 and it’s a whole lot of fun. I skied it in the 167cm length. This ski will retail at £425 without a binding. The women’s Scrapper 105 feels really light on your feet, and is such a fun, easy to use ski. It has quite a pronounced rocker and even though I was able to ski this on some really hard snow it did not suffer from horrible tip chatter. It has a really easy flex, and if you want to progress into freeride skiing then this is an excellent option. It’s light enough to pop a touring binding on it and skin up for fresh lines. As it has a relatively soft flex it is not the best choice for someone who only wants to charge hard, but for the rest of us mere mortals this ski makes skiing off piste easier.

Speedguide skis

They’ve added a new ski into the Speedguide range. This is the Speedguide 89 and it weighs 1,270g in the 176cm length. It benefits from the same construction as the Speedguide 95, using Scott’s carbon and aramid (think Kevlar type material) elliptic sandwich sidewall construction.

Superguide skis

The Superguide 105 will be dropped from the range for 19/20. The metal inlay under the binding area (that the Slight skis have) goes from the Superguide skis for 19/20 and the ski looks more like the previous versions, and more of a touring ski (I think it looks better without the metal). The new graphic is the only change to these skis. The Superguide 95 still weighs the same at 1,450g in 178cm.

Scott touring boots

The Scott S1 ski touring boot was really different when it was released for winter 17/18. It had a hinge release at the front of the boot and a pivot by the toe of the boot. This design has never really taken off though and will not be in the range for 19/20. This means the Superguide Carbon will be their range topping boot for 19/20.

The Superguide Carbon boot changes colour to a green clog with a black tongue and cuff. The cuff closure changes too, and will have a beefier buckle ratchet system for the top strap, rather than the softer strap they had before. The Orbit boot also gets the same strap upgrade. All alpine boots get a graphic change. The Voodo and Synergy telemark boots will not change for 19/20.

Riot ski poles

Scott has a new version of the Riot 18 rubber pole with an improved and extended grip. The Riot 22 will not be in the range for winter 19/20.

Vapor goggle

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The Scott Vapor goggle is new for 19/20 and will be available in an array of colour and lens combinations, including light sensitive photochromic lenses.

Tested: Scott Vapor ski goggles

I’ve tested the new Scott Vapor goggle quite a bit and really like it. The goggle I’ve been using has a yellow frame and strap with their Cat. S2 lens, referred to as Enhancer (Cat. S1 is called Illuminator; Cat. S3 is Solar Blocker). It has the red lens and looks pretty trick with the yellow frame.

The Vapor goggle has a spherical lens, rather than cylindrical; it’s curved vertically and horizontally to minimise distortion. These lenses are made in Europe from polycarbonate. Scott’s hard coat treatment ensures they’re hard wearing and optically correct. They also have the benefit of Scott’s Amplifier lens technology; designed to improve contrast and provide real clarity of vision.

Scott uses a permanent anti-fog treatment on their lenses but the lens of new Vapor also has foam filled cutouts at the sides to improve airflow into the lens and further decrease the chances of fogging up. Most of the days I used the Vapor goggle were really hot and I never had issues with them fogging up. On the cold and overcast, flat-light days the Enhancer Amplifier lens really helped.

Patrol E1 electronic avalanche airbag

Scott has added two more bags to their Patrol E1 Alpride supercapacitor airbag system, which has already been really successful. This means you can now get it in 22L (2,450g complete), 30L (2,670g complete) and 40L (2,830g complete).

The design of the Scott Patrol E1 bags, like all electronic bags, means you can repeatedly practice full deployment which is a real bonus as you want to react instinctively and without hesitation should you get caught in an avalanche.

The Scott Patrol bags use Alpride‘s supercapacitor system, rather than heavy batteries, and are therefore really light for electronic systems; Scott claim the Patrol E1 is the lightest electronic avalanche airbag on the market.

As the system doesn’t t rely on batteries for their power it’s not affected by the cold conditions you get in the mountains. Add to this that you can recharge the system with two normal AA batteries then you start to see the real world benefit if you are out in the backcountry touring with this system and have to deploy it. It can also be charged via the USB port.