For the past few seasons, Blizzard has faced the enviable task of improving on excellence, specifically how to keep its franchise Flipcore collection firing on all cylinders. Last year, it extended the brand-within-a-brand franchise down to the 82mm-waisted Brahma 82, pushing its off-trail design down into the Frontside genre. It also created yet another Black Pearl, also an 82, squeezed in between the dowager Black Pearl 88 and the BP 78. For 20/21, the brand would have to find some way other than model proliferation to keep growing their core business.
In order to change as little as possible, Blizzard changed nearly everything. In other words, Blizzard didn’t want to lose the high-end performance that had fueled its phenomenal growth, but he who fails to innovate perishes. So Blizzard tweaked a lot of its basic elements, changing length, baseline and sidecut in every size. The trigger for all these tweaks is the debut of TrueBlend, a precise reconfiguration of dense beech stringers among a stack of softer poplar laminates. The result is a rounder, more even flex that maintains snow contact in unruly terrain.
For the coming season, TrueBlend will be applied to the Bonafide 87, Brahma 88, Black Pearl 87 and Black Pearl 88, which means model selection for these new beauties is more important than ever. In the Bonafide 97, for example, the 189cm isn’t just a bigger 183cm: each is its own ski. The net effect of scaling performance along with length is it opens up the ability range for a given model. A less skilled man can now handle a size-appropriate Bonafide, just as a more high-powered lass can push the new Black Pearl 97 in a 177cm.
Elsewhere in Blizzard’s freeride world, something close to Arne Backstrom’s original Cochise returns as the Cochise 106 (without TrueBlend). The 20/21 Spur is also a completely different beast, with a new shape, construction and sizes.
In order to change as little as possible, Blizzard changed nearly everything. In other words, Blizzard didn’t want to lose the high-end performance that had fueled its phenomenal growth, but he who fails to innovate perishes. So Blizzard tweaked a lot of its basic elements, changing length, baseline and sidecut in every size. The trigger for all these tweaks is the debut of TrueBlend, a precise reconfiguration of dense beech stringers among a stack of softer poplar laminates. The result is a rounder, more even flex that maintains snow contact in unruly terrain.
For the coming season, TrueBlend will be applied to the Bonafide 87, Brahma 88, Black Pearl 87 and Black Pearl 88, which means model selection for these new beauties is more important than ever. In the Bonafide 97, for example, the 189cm isn’t just a bigger 183cm: each is its own ski. The net effect of scaling performance along with length is it opens up the ability range for a given model. A less skilled man can now handle a size-appropriate Bonafide, just as a more high-powered lass can push the new Black Pearl 97 in a 177cm.
Elsewhere in Blizzard’s freeride world, something close to Arne Backstrom’s original Cochise returns as the Cochise 106 (without TrueBlend). The 20/21 Spur is also a completely different beast, with a new shape, construction and sizes.