Tester: Jill Beers
The Blackops Blazer is one the most fun and dependable skis I’ve skied. This ski can handle any terrain and conditions I’m thrown while ripping around my home resort of Alta, Utah. From railing turns on hard-packed corduroy during chilly early mornings, to cutting through the afternoon crud post-pow day, this ski proves to be an extremely stable yet playful option. The 98mm waist makes it my ideal one-quiver ski for West coast shredding, but I was equally impressed with how it handled when I took it to the East coast for a week. This Blazer has come a long way from when I was able to help out during early testing a few years back and has since become the perfect ski for all the lady shredders that want an all-mountain charger to take them from bell to bell.
Tester: Brenna Kelleher
Whether you are new to off-piste terrain or a high-level ripper, the Black Pearl 97 does not disappoint. Test day began with ideal conditions: six inches of fresh snow on high-speed groomers. The next few runs I explored a bit more, finding crud-covered bumps and lots of chopped-up powder and again they performed brilliantly. The new TrueBlend woodcore offers the perfect combo of the right weight and performance. The Pearl 97 made it easy, yet felt like it had power and quickness underfoot as well. It performed from bell to bell as conditions changed throughout the day.
I would recommend the Black Pearl 97 to any intermediate/advanced skier looking to explore more terrain off the groomers. The ski performs at a low edge angle for intermediate skiers looking to explore new terrain, while more advanced skiers can ramp up the edge angle to execute precise carves in whatever terrain is in play. The new Pearl 97 is made with a slightly modified sidecut and baseline in every size, so each length is a perfect match for its pilot. Blizzard added a 177cm to the line up which is a welcome addition for stronger and/or more skilled women.
If you’re looking to purchase a great all-round, off-piste, bell-to-bell ski, be sure to put the Black Pearl 97 on your list. You can’t go wrong adding it to your quiver.
Like all brands, Blizzard is under pressure to periodically renew every corner of its collection. The trick the brand has had to pull off several times is refreshing its successful designs without fundamentally changing them. To alter the Bonafide’s feel without sacrificing its identity is an intricate challenge that Blizzard attacked from the inside out.
A great all-terrain ski begins with a well-balanced flex, which begins with the core. To obtain just the right pressure distribution, thin bands of dense beech are inlaid among poplar laminates, a design Blizzard calls TrueBlend. Each TrueBlend core is optimized not just by model, but by size, as well. In essence, the Bonafide 97 isn’t one new model, but six.
Once Blizzard committed to the TrueBlend core, it reassessed all of its properties, including baseline (the length and severity of the tip and tail rockers) and sidecut. The cumulative effect is that the new Bonafide rolls to the edge compliantly, ready to grip according to the pilot’s dictates of edge angle and pressure.
One of the complaints leveled against earlier editions of the Bonafide was that it favored expert skiers. While that’s still true of the longest length, the charge won’t hold water against the shorter sizes. The Bonafide 97 still favors experts, but only because any great ski is always best appreciated by those with the skills to extract its elite performance.
