By rights, the new Blizzard Black Pearl 84 shouldn’t even be encroaching on Frontside turf, let alone usurping the throne as best Power ski in a Power-prone genre, as every trait but its waist width is tailored for off-trail travel. The Pearl 84 can get away with an unabashedly off-trail sidecut and baseline because of a rich construction that prioritizes edge grip over drift. It doesn’t behave exactly like a classic carver, but its tactical deployment of Titanal gives it the requisite grip to bite into hard snow with the same level of tenacity. The Black Pearl 84 gets its moxie from Blizzard’s Fluxform Women’s Specific Design, which could prove to be the best women-specific, all-mountain construction ever concocted from the same menu of materials in every other brands’ R&D arsenals.

The latest iteration of Fischer’s long-running Curv series of carvers, the Curv GT 80, is the most traditional, unabashed, groomed-snow partisan among our Women’s Frontside Recommended models. Like its fellow Austrian brand Head, Fischer was an early adopter of the Carving crusade, an allegiance that has never wavered. The Curv series was inaugurated in 2016/17, when three racing legends were commissioned to create the ultimate carving machine. The original Curv’s were most definitely cut from racing cloth, but the linkage to elite competition has been softened in this generation, to open its appeal to skiers of less than world-class ability. So, the new 2025 The Curv GT 80 is wider, softer, lighter and easier to flex than the original Curv’s, geared down to match the talents of recreational skiers. It’s still a rich construction, with a single sheet of .5mm Titanal, a beech/poplar wood core and Diagofiber, Fischer’s homespun damping material to quiet the ride.

Over the last decade, the Frontside field has evolved to such a degree that Head’s Super Joy, the consummate carving machine, now looks more like an outlier than the norm. Over that time span, the Super Joy’s construction and shape have undergone a series of major alterations; it’s still focused on carving up groomers and it still enjoys the unique advantages of having Graphene in its make-up, but the last two upgrades have altered the Super Joy’s on-snow comportment considerably. Just a few years ago, Head overhauled the Super Joy’s insides, kicking Koroyd to the curb and replacing it with an all-wood (Karuba and ash) core, supplemented by fiberglass for substance and snap, and more carbon for shock damping and snow contact. Head also adorned the Super Joy with its Energy Management Circuit (EMC) that converts vibrations into electricity, which it uses to stifle high-frequency shocks. As significant as these construction changes were, the improvements made to the Super Joy last year again raised its game to an entirely new level. The most obvious change was in its skinnier sidecut, particularly at the tip, where Head lopped off nearly a centimeter. The narrower forebody won’t insist on tucking into the tippy-top of every turn, which is a major change in how the ski routinely behaves. While the new sidecut also entailed a longer turn radius, it still skewed to the short-turn side of the turn spectrum. It just cedes more control to the pilot regarding trajectory. Perhaps most importantly, the …

Two years ago, Rossignol completely overhauled its keystone Experience series, re-defining its target customers as recreational skiers who want to take in the entire resort experience, of which skiing is but a part. They’ll spend most of the day on groomed slopes, but want a ski that will allow them to travel off to the side of the trail should conditions be favorable. They expect quality and performance, but they’re not looking to stretch the performance envelope as much as stay comfortably inside it. The Experience (EXP, for short) 82 Ti W is all about ease. While its sidecut favors short turns (13m @ 159cm), they’re not of the high-twitch, trench-digger variety, but more languid, rolling smoothly on and off the edge under a light rein. While they respond to proper technique, they aren’t so high strung as to require it.

When ski makers start from scratch to make a women’s ski, the usual target isn’t the most talented lass, but those less likely to succeed without a little help. All the features that make the Wild Belle DC 84 adapted for women are attuned in particular to ladies who are still ascending the learning curve. It’s cushioned Double Core, two-tiered binding platform and soft, round flex all work to promote better balance and reduced effort on the part of someone still learning the ropes. The “DC” in the Wild Belle DC 84 stands for Double Core, its tip-to-tail damping technology that inserts a rubber mat between the upper and lower poplar and beech cores. The core makes a ski that’s supple and damp, with a sidecut that promotes early turn entry and a gentle release. Its whole shtick is making a smooth, carved turn on groomed slopes while the pilot operates from a comfortable stance.

Every so often a ski maker screws up and makes a ski that’s considerably better than it needs to be. Salomon removed half the Titanal from its pricier (and wider) Stances to extend the Stance family down to the $549 price point, intending to drop the performance level to fit the target skier’s performance expectations. Instead, it exceeded them. The Ti-C Frame Single Ti construction delivers a connected, carved turn that won’t wilt on crisp, early morning corduroy even when driven with an open throttle. It’s unlikely that many experts will slum it in the bargain basement where the Stance W 84 dwells, but they’d be gob-smacked if they did. For the intermediate who is its most likely operator, the Stance W 84 provides a performance ceiling that will most likely never be taxed.