The Blizzard Rustler 10 wants you to look good, so it makes everything about off-trail skiing easier. There’s a long, central band of Titanal on the top to stabilize the ski underfoot while allowing the tip and tail to twist. The idea is to keep the tapered tip from getting involved with every obstruction it meets; instead of trying to hook up at the top of turn like a hard-snow-oriented ski is meant to do, it politely deflects all rough treatment by bending with the blow. The same basic idea at the tail keeps it from insisting on finishing every arc on a hairline trajectory, as if skiing were trying to emulate figure skating.

The Rustler 10 also wants you to ski all day, or at least be able to on those storm days when your tracks fill in between tram rides and to stop would be unforgivable. So it keeps its overall weight under control, despite the Titanal stabilizer, by using a recipe of poplar, beech, Paulownia, milled foam and balsa for the core, and layers of glass laced with carbon as the main structural element. Swatches of unidirectional carbon in the tip and tail subtract from the ski’s swingweight so it’s easier to pivot when circumstances require a sudden change in direction.

A more powerful skier who takes his hard-snow technique with him when he travels off-trail might prefer the more connected feel of the Blizzard Cochise 106. But for the majority of off-piste skiers, the Rustler 10 is a better fit. When the nearly expert skier really needs help, the Rustler is a godsend. Imagine being in flat light – a common condition when the goods are there to be gotten – and not being able to tell what your tips are going to encounter next. That’s where the Rustler 10’s innate surf-ability takes over, smearing over the unseen obstacles as if they weren’t there.

“It makes variable snow fun with a blend of great width, sidecut, power and accuracy,” says one of the Peter Glenn crew. “It’s easy-going,” confirms co-worker Ward Pyles, “but you can turn it on when you want to get after it. Turns so easily you don’t have to work.” Like a wolf in sheep’s clothing, the Rustler 10 is a Power ski hiding in a Finesse ski’s body. Considering how well it’s adapted for skiing in cut-up powder, the Rustler 10’s performance on corduroy exceeds expectations.

For its abundant ease of operation in soft snow – the whole idea behind fat skis in the first place – we again award the Rustler 10 a Silver Skier Selection.