The edge grip of RC One 82 GT is to die for. On a steep pitch where other Frontside specialists would flinch, it held with far less exertion. This is precisely the mission of the Frontside ski: to magnify the skier’s energy rather than drain it. The extra weight this ski hauls around helps a ton when it comes to sticking to a pencil-thin line on hardpack. Its sidecut and construction deliver an ultra-secure, short-radius turn; its shock-sucking mass and materials keep it quiet when you let it run.
Given its origins and substantial construction, you’d expect the RC One 82 GT to be “a blast at speed as much as mellow cruising,” as Ward Pyles of Peter Glenn discovered. “Super quick edge to edge,” he adds. “Fast, quick, rips everything,” concurs a Jan’s tester, whose boss, Jack Walzer managed to be even more succinct. Walzer’s one-word review: “Money.”
What makes the RC One 82 GT rise above the mundane and into the “money” class is how well its carve-centric personality travels. When pointed down Broken Arrow at Squaw Valley late on a spring morning, the snow on its exposed flank had turned to a slurry that peeled off when pushed. The RC One 82 GT never asked for special treatment but kept it moving through heavy snow that would have submerged a more persnickety carver.
You can tell a lot about a ski by its immediate family. Rossi’s Hero Elite Plus Ti is closely related to the Hero Elite LT Ti and ST Ti, both legit non-FIS Race models, even though the Plus Ti’s plus-sized shape (78mm) is many mm’s more ample than the 71mm waist of the LT Ti and 68mm midriff on the SL Ti. The Hero Elite Plus Ti not only uses the same construction as its gate-bashing sibs, its sidecut radius is the same as the ST’s in the167cm size preferred by slalom specialists.
Three years ago, Rossi converted all of the Hero Elite clan to a new damping system, Line Control Technology (LCT). Instead of using horizontal sheets of Titanal, as has been the case for decades among race models, LCT uses a vertical Ti laminate down the center of the ski so the forebody is more resistant to deflection. Torsional rigidity is softened a tad to allow the deep sidecut to engage gradually and progressively as the ski is tipped and pressured.
Advanced skiers who wouldn’t ordinarily care to expend the energy required to control a true race ski shouldn’t allow the Hero Elite Plus Ti’s pedigree to scare them away. It’s amenable to making any turn shape and is well-behaved whether puttering along at an intermediate’s cross-hill crawl or assisting an expert’s all-out assault on the fall line.
Rossignol has re-dedicated its core, Experience series to fit the lifestyle of the modern resort visitor for whom skiing is just a part of his Instagram vacation. The top model in the EXP series is no longer aimed at an all-mountain expert, but someone who wants to savor a bouquet of experiences of which skiing is only one scent.
The Experience 82 Ti will make the new, all-resort skier feel like a world-beater. It eases into the turn along a gently rockered forebody, finding the edge underfoot and holding securely on any groomed condition shy of glassy boilerplate. It releases the turn like it was a wounded dove, letting go without fanfare. Its baseline is easy to foot steer, so even the technique-free can navigate intermediate slopes in control.
An expert would notice that the platform underfoot has some give at both ends, but for an intermediate this looseness is more blessing than curse. There’s no question a so-so skier can develop advanced skills while in its care, for it can make linked, fall-line-following, short turns all day long.
In a category loaded to the gills with high-octane chargers, the kinder, gentler EXP 82 Ti stands out for its forgiveness and ease, earning it our second-highest aggregate Finesse score and a Silver Skier Selection.
The new Rossignol Experience 82 Basalt is the rare bird that can serve both initiates taking the next step along their journey and those who’ve already arrived at their destination. Skiers who have endured the indignities of rentals and/or tattered hand-me-downs will find salvation in the EXP 82 Basalt. In the lower speed range inhabited by the less talented, it’s mindlessly simple to steer. It’s a classic confidence-builder for someone climbing the ability ladder.
Rossi envisions another natural mate for the EXP 82 Basalt: the competent, occasional skier for whom skiing is just part of the resort experience. All he asks of his gear is that he not have to hassle with it or worry about it. The EXP 82 Basalt is comfortable in any condition its owner is likely to care for, and supremely forgiving on the soft groomers that are his bliss.
With a sidecut made for carving but a baseline inclined to drift, the EXP 82 Basalt tries to accentuate the positive and disarm the negatives. As a learning vehicle, it’s more into gentle encouragement than demanding strict adherence to carving principles. As a long-term companion, it will be reliable as long as you keep your ambitions in check. For someone who is skiing more for social reasons – say, to hang with the grand-kids – the EXP 82 Basalt is just what the ski doctor ordered.
K2 has always placed Forgiveness at or near the top of its hierarchy of desirable ski qualities. True to this heritage, the Disruption 82 Ti earned its highest marks for Forgiveness/Ease, which helped make it one of the few Finesse skis in a horde of Power-crazed carvers.
The most obvious reason why the Disruption 82 Ti comes across as easier to ski is its width; at 82mm underfoot, and with a less radical sidecut than most Frontside Power skis, it’s easier to throw into a drift and it won’t buck when introduced to ungroomed terrain.
The less transparent reason pertains to how it’s built: the Ti I-Beam that gives the Disruption 82 Ti its bite is only as wide as its midsection. This gives the edge elsewhere a subtle flexibility that’s ideal for anything but boilerplate or frozen ridges of spring corduroy.
While it’s definitely a carver of the kinder, gentler variety, beneath its easy-going veneer it’s still a trench-digger at heart. The widest model in the Disruption clan, the 82 Ti is predisposed to a medium-radius arc that it can reel off without much effort on the pilot’s part. It stays connected in part because the Ti I-Beam runs tip to tail and in part because its baseline has only a teensy bit of tip rocker that doesn’t prevent the low-to-the-snow shovel from finding the edge at the top of the turn.
