Black Diamond is starting to see the Light. With their new carbon fiber series of skis, you get BD durability and ski-ability with more tour-ability. The Carbon Aspect has these abilities and more, featuring a classic touring shape with a lightly rockered tip and traditional tail. It’s light enough to go far yet burly enough for less than ideal conditions. It’s also fun to ski.
Built with “flat sandwich” construction, the Aspect has a sidewall and is cut flat. The sidewall is in contrast to cap construction, offering improved edge hold and core protection. The flatness is in contrast to the Carbon Convert, e.g., which has 3D grooves running the length that tend to collect snow. Also sandwiched inside is a layer of carbon fiber that allows the ski to be torsionally stiff without leaving your legs stiff the next day. It’s an odd sandwich because it leaves you hungry for more.
The 90mm width is the right one for one-ski quivers such as the Carbon Aspect.
Semi-Rocker tip helps ski in 3D while not drastically shortening the running length.
Paulownia wood core is wrapped with carbon fiber and pre-preg fiber glass.
5mm ABS sidewalls protect the core while transferring more power to the edges.
Racing Edge is thinner to shave grams and sharp enough to shave your face/legs.
SkinLock tail notches are flat, stainless steel tabs ready for most skin attachments.
P-Tex 4000 base is reasonably durable and can handle more than one tune.
Probably not the best place to ask this question, but if I can get an answer here, it hopefully increases the community knowledge base...
I have some 176 Carbon Aspects that I intend to use for mountaineering / longest days in the backcountry where powder-seeking is not necessarily the end game. I like the camber and how that makes them glide uphill, but am struggling a little to get used to the "traditional" shape (flat tails, etc) on the downhill. Is there a common preference for boot center mounting relative to the factory line on these skis? I'm thinking of messing around with a forward-shifted binding mount. I'm pretty good at mounting bindings, but not great at understanding the tuning aspect.
Hi Chris, generally the mounting location on the Aspects works for most setups, though it can depend on which binding and boot you're using as they have different ramp angles, forward lean, etc. It's possible going forward would help; feel free to send us an e-mail to help with a specific diagnosis for your setup.
Hi Peter, skiing-wise I would probably recommend the 186 for your size, but since you're used to skiing a bit short, you'd do fine on the 176s if you want them to be a bit more manageable on the uphill and in tight spots.
I'm really having a difficult time trying to figure out which length to get - 176cm or 186cm. I'm 5'10" 165lbs and am an aggressive skier but I plan to use it mostly for uphilling. Any advice?
Hi Jeff, I'm sure you could handle the longer length skiing but I have to vote for the 176 when you factor in the uphill. Not a huge rocker on these so you get a good edge out of the stated length.
