So how does this little pixie hold its own in a rugged crowd like the women’s Frontside genre? To begin with the baseline, yes, its Carbon Flip Core is substantially rockered, but it takes almost no load to tip and press it into a continuous arc. The Cheyenne fits in among our Finesse Favorites because it’s unapologetically easy to ski whether the snow is groomed or classified under “Other.” Women who are intimidated by bumps yet can’t resist the challenge of confronting them will find the Cheyenne in their court.
If the Cira were a young heroine in a Disney movie, her tale would begin with an underprivileged youth. Judged by how she appeared on paper, with her simple components humbly assembled, Cira faces an uphill battle for acceptance. She’s told to do the jobs other skis won’t, like spend time carving out the inside of a slow-motion arc. People begin to notice that she’s a natural.
A skilled technician pulls Cira aside and offers to mentor her. While her gently rockered forebody made her hesitant at first, Cira quickly adapted to being tipped and pressured like a sophisticated carving ski with expensive appurtenances like Titanal and carbon fiber. The plucky Cira, undeterred by her presumed disadvantages, goes on to compete against the best women’s Frontside skis in the world and, while she doesn’t win, she proves to everyone what’s she made of: spunk, skill and a heart of gold. Curtain; roll credits. Oscar, please.
The Flair 78 combines several stalwart Völkl features into a new package made largely from recycled materials. If ecological awareness is high on your priority list, 100% recycled sidewalls and edges ought to earn at least your admiration, if not your ducats.
To win your heart as a skier, the Flair 78 devotes itself to a life of abstinence: no sloppy turning habits, no flinching in the face of hard snow and no whining about doing all the work. As the Flair 78’s pilot, all you have to do is tip it and smile.
That the CPM82 is so well mannered exposes the current craze over tip rocker as so much hyperventilation. The CPM’s ultra-modern carbon construction is built on an über-traditional cambered baseline, with a tip and tail designed to engage with the snow. It earns its crazy good scores for carving capacity the old-fashioned way: it remains connected to its round trajectory with every centimeter of edge at its disposal.
If we were to categorize skis according to their attitude as opposed to their actual dimensions, the Blizzard Latigo wouldn’t even be in the Frontside family. The grandchild of the burly Cochise, the Latigo’s lineage is all about adapting to off-road conditions. That it still connects so well on groomers is testament to the clever inversion of conventional wisdom embodied in Blizzard’s Flip Core.
