Movement Ski Review

In its second year in North America, Movement focuses on high-performance skis with a variety of wood-core constructions. All are hand-crafted in Switzerland. Distribution of the brand is still limited, so look for Movement in specialty ski retailers. With Movement’s attention to detail and its high quality, this isn’t the kind of brand you’ll find in a big-box, discounted sporting goods outlet. They’ll be tough to find but the search will be worth it.

Goliath

Length: 184, 191
Dimensions: 135-108-124 @ 191
MSRP: $795 Stoke: 7
The Goliath is an expert-only, big-mountain ski that can take as much as you throw at it. As you’d expect from one of the flagship offerings in the Movement line, the ski is “best at high speeds” and “isn’t for the weak.” With a poplar/okume wood core wrapped in a dynamic tri-axial fiberglass torsion box, the Goliath is extremely stiff torsionally and very stable at speed. It “blows through crud” and “doesn’t bounce around at all.”

Baggy

Length: 180
Dimensions: 132-102-122
MSRP: $750 Stoke: 7.5
The Baggy is Movement’s backcountry twin. With a poplar/okume wood-core construction and Movement’s Power Rail Beech Composite (two strips of beech wood placed next to each side of the core) for increased edge feel and grip, the Baggy “rips through chop at high speeds” and is “fairly quick edge to edge.” The only complaint from testers was the graphic. “It’s freaking weird,” said one, “I don’t like looking at it.”

Gladiator

Length: 183, 193
Dimensions: 125-92-113
MSRP: $665 Stoke: 7.5
The Gladiator is designed to be more comfortable on-mountain than off-piste, and testers found the wood-core Gladiator to perform as advertised. “It’s a good, strong ski” that is “stable and damp,” and “while it seems a bit narrow for the crud, it still skied the junky snow really well.” We’d recommend this ski for skiers who spend most of their time in bounds and who hit a few jumps in the park on their way to the back bowls.

Black Rose

Length: 165, 175, 185
Dimensions: 121-88-110 @ 175
MSRP: $650 Stoke: 6
Movement’s top-performing women’s ski failed to impress our female testers, most of whom gravitated towards the Baggy or the shorter version of the Goliath. “Really just OK,” and “nothing special.
Handles bumps, groomers, crud, everything pretty well but I can’t seem to get excited about it,” were two comments.