Rossignol must have been mighty confident their new Carbon Alloy Matrix would supply a performance boost wherever it was applied, as they infiltrated this mesh of carbon and metal reinforcement into all their top 2017 Freeride models, including the already wildly popular Soul 7.

The Carbon Alloy Matrix proves to be the perfect partner for the metal-free Soul 7, magnifying its playful properties and stiffening its resistance to chatter without adding heft or stifling snow feel. The overall reinforcement of the Carbon Alloy Matrix gives the new Soul 7 HD more stability when traveling through day-old crud and more edge grip on those occasions when it has to cruise a groomer.

But please do not confuse “better on groomers” with “made for groomers.” While there’s no question the alterations to the Soul 7 HD palpably improved its stability and edge grip, they didn’t alter its width or the deliberate disengagement of its pretty Koroyd tips and tails.

If you only read the cards of our western testers, you’d think the Soul 7 HD could carve with the accuracy of a sushi chef. If you read only the eastern comments, you’d think steering the Soul 7 HD through a carved turn was a life’s work.

We call this category Big Mountain for a reason: the best skis herein perform at their peak off-trail. (For this reason, we didn’t log the eastern data into the results.) It’s within this context that Bobo’s Pat Paraguirre exclaims, “versatility is the hash tag for this ski; on-trail or off-trail, this ski was good before but is even better now!”

Michael from Footloose captures the essence of the Soul 7 HD: “Smooth, stable and sexy.”