2026 Stöckli Montero AR Skis Review

The Lowdown

Greg's Rating: ★★★★★ (5/5)

Ride Impressions

I’d skied the Montero AR a few years ago and loved it, and the 2025 ski is essentially the same save for mount point (forward 1cm) and topsheet (a departure from the graphic-directly-screened-on-Titanal look) which incorporates a textured Polyamide top layer. Solid Swiss construction with a Poplar and Beech core, two sheets of wall-to-wall Titanal (plus another strip under the bindings), full sidewalls, and a rocker profile that puts maximum edge on the snow are typical Stöckli. This is basically an evolution of their race construction with a lighter core and edges, less rigid sidewalls, in an all-mountain width and sidecut.

I hit the deck running on the AR, rolling with the Stöckli rep and his tech team, the snow hard and perfectly groomed and the crew all ski professionals who arrived for the WWSRA testing a day early for a bit of freeskiing with their buds. 

My first half-dozen runs on the Montero AR were in 9-degree bluebird weather with firm to very firm groomed snow, and the ski excelled. Railing hardpack at 35-40 mph is exactly what the Stöckli engineers had in mind when they designed this ski (they call it a fusion of slalom and giant slalom performance, which in my opinion is accurate). The AR has an amazing ability to hold an arc, but doesn’t display the balkiness or stubbornness that often comes along with such power. Sure, you need to consciously initiate the turn, but you know you’re going to succeed. 

To evaluate the Montero AR’s “all-mountain” capabilities, I chose a cold day at Crystal Mountain, WA with about 5” of low-density fluff over 2 days’ worth of tracked out pow, all atop a sheet of heinous ice from the previous 3 weeks of dry weather. I was a little worried about the AR’s ability to handle the “chop” with its short tip rocker and minimal rise, but it turned out to be a non-issue. The Montero AR doesn’t float to the top like a wider, more heavily rockered ski, but it’s solid as an 18-wheeler plowing through tracked up snow and doesn’t get kicked around at all. Welcome to the Swiss definition of “all-mountain.” In places where the fresh had been scraped all the way down to ice, the Montero was a stalwart, keeping its composure and letting you rip with complete confidence. Speed was also a non-issue, the AR easily handles anything gravity and your sense of self-preservation allow.

Our annual pre-President’s Day trip to Whistler, BC was bluebird, around 5 degrees F, and well-groomed very hard snow pretty much everywhere. The Montero AR was perfect for these conditions, making confident high-speed carving a joy and smoothing the shocks with Stöckli’s trademark silky ride. I’m not sure what accounts for it (some say it’s the epoxy they use) but there is a qualitative gap between the way this (and other Stöckli skis ride) and just about everything else. Six straight days of groomer zooming only served to confirm that the Montero AR was the right ski for the conditions. 

Who Are They For?

Best suited to the advanced to expert level skier who knows how to put a ski on edge and has ample discretionary income. Perhaps the best frontside ski I’ve ever skied, and many others will agree.