by Jackson Hogen | Sep 3, 2024
The Black Pearl 88 was the best-selling ski of the last decade, a streak of dominance that is highly unlikely to end this year, as Blizzard has once again raised the bar by creating a new generation of Pearls with an even higher performance ceiling. The 2025 Black Pearl 88 adopts the sidecut and baseline of the men’s Anomaly 88, but it’s Fluxform construction swaps the bottom Titanal laminate for a slab of carbon pre-preg, and the Ti pieces on top are slimmed down from .6mm thick to .4mm. Like the Anomaly, the Pearl breaks up the top Ti elements into two, nearly full-length strips running above the edges, with a separate Ti plate underfoot.
Part of the reason for the Pearl’s sustained success is that Blizzard pays attention to the details, beginning with a ski’s most fundamental feature, its core. The TrueBlend core introduced a few seasons ago carefully intersperses vertical laminates of dense beech in a matrix of lightweight poplar to create a flex pattern that is smooth, round and balanced. Every size – and the Pearl 88 comes in six sizes – gets its own TrueBlend lay-up, matched with a size-specific sidecut and baseline.
No ski gets as popular as the Pearl 88 without feeling easy to ski for a broad range of skier types. It responds readily to skier input and doesn’t have to be stomped on to finish a full, C-shaped arc across the fall line. The new dose of Titanal hasn’t sapped its energy, while decidedly improving its hard snow security. Best of all, the new Pearl is actually lighter than its previous iteration, so it’s a little easier to foot-steer in tight spots and deeper snow. All in, the 2025 Black Pearl 88 is both easier for lower-skill skiers to manage and more stable and responsive for women with elite skills.
by Jackson Hogen | Sep 3, 2024
Despite being narrower than the Black Pearl 97 it replaces, the new Black Pearl 94 is better adapted to off-trail skiing, providing easily accessible power that treats clumpy crud with contempt. The Black Pearl 94 borrows its shape and size splits from the new Anomaly 94, but uses a Women Specific Design in its wood, metal and carbon core.
By dint of its wider waistline, the Black Pearl 94 is biased in favor of off-trail adventures, longer radius turns and perhaps most importantly, a skilled skier on top of it. Extra width, particularly for a skier who will have scant opportunity to take advantage of it, is more likely to retard skills development than accelerate it. An expert can take advantage of its ability to batter heavy crud aside, while a slow-moving skier of modest skills will struggle to link the short-radius arcs she aspires to.
But pandering to the technically proficient is hardly a crime for a high-end, all-terrain ski. The Black Pearl 94 doesn’t use its width to mask the deficiencies of the off-trail newbie, but as a reward for experts who will take advantage of it to go faster through a mine field of crisscrossing tracks. Throughout its impressive speed range, the BP 94 feels easy to balance on, and if its preferred turn shape is on the long side, so what, as long as the ride feels cushioned and secure? The way the FluxForm construction uses its quotient of Titanal allows the ski to flex more easily, and the TrueBlend wood core contributes to a smooth arc that retains a fall-line orientation.
by Jackson Hogen | Sep 3, 2024
The current Rustler 9 from Blizzard isn’t a little bit better than its predecessor; it’s much, much better than its namesake. Among its myriad changes is a slight boost in its overall width, which tipped the new Rustler 9 into the hotly competitive All-Mountain West genre. Instead of slipping in the standings, it rose from a middle-of-the-pack position among All-Mountain East models to near the top of the All-Mountain West category. No other new ski in the 2023/24 season made as great a leap up the performance ladder as the Rustler 9.
When all criteria are considered, the Rustler 9 remains a Finesse ski, but only by the slimmest of margins. It’s still a forgiving, easily steered ski, but it now has a reserve power supply accessible to any skier who can lay it on edge. A great all-terrain ski has to be able to smear or carve on command, a trick the Rustler 9 has down cold. The tip is strong and connected enough to engage at the top of the turn, but the ski can also find the edge by smearing sideways, then tipping the ski so the edge latches onto a carve midway through the turn. This facility at finding an edge anywhere along a mid-radius arc is one of the qualities that distinguish the best all-terrain skis from the also-rans.
If a single sobriquet could capture the essence of the Rustler 9, it would be “balanced.” Balanced between its facility at short turns or long. Balanced in its flex pattern. Balanced in its aptitude for handling adverse snow conditions. Balanced in its appetite for speed: it’s not trying to break the sound barrier, but it won’t wobble at any speed that’s safe in the resort environment. While it remains essentially a Finesse ski, the new Rustler 9 excels at all aspects of high performance, all-terrain skiing.
by Jackson Hogen | Sep 3, 2024
Last season, no new ski model made as significant an improvement in its performance range as Blizzard’s Sheeva 9. A longtime member of the Blizzard Freeride collection, the Sheeva 9 – along with its men’s counterpart, the Rustler 9 – went through a significant re-design last year, boosting its abilities in any terrain it’s likely to encounter during its lifetime. In Realskiers’ terminology, it embellished its Power properties while remaining one of the most accessible, easy-to-steer models in the Women’s All-Mountain West genre.
Driving up the Sheeva 9’s fab Finesse scores were two principal drivers: the adoption of Blizzard’s TrueBlend core concept, and a palpable increase in overall width dimensions. TrueBlend is a precise allocation of sturdy beech stringers interspersed with lighter weight poplar in the mid-section and a dose of lighter-still Paulownia at the tip and tail. TrueBlend creates a perfectly balanced flex adapted for each length offered, so the 150cm has the same properties as the 174cm. This adaptation is particularly valuable for the Finesse skier who isn’t used to loading a ski.
The increase in waist width (from 92mm to 96mm) gives the Sheeva 9 a substantial boost in surface area, inherently improving both its flotation in new snow and ease of steering in chopped-up terrain. Naturally, this alteration means the Sheeva 9 shifts from a carve arc into a drifted turn with relish, another trait that assists the Finesse skier.
by Jackson Hogen | Sep 3, 2024
I’m leery of recommending a Powder ski for all-terrain skiing, for if it’s equally adept at all conditions, why not ski it every day? A ski so polyvalent would not only render any notion of ski categories an absurd pretension, it would erode the very foundations of logic itself. Well, the new Blizzard Rustler 11 comes pretty damn close to pulling down the twin pillars of logic and methodology, for it seems to transition from soft snow to firm without batting an eye.
If there’s a trick to this sleight of hand, it lies in the Rustler 11’s construction, beginning with its dimensions, which straddle the border between the Big Mountain and Powder genres, depending on which length one chooses from the five available sizes. The Freeride Trueblend core ups the amount of Paulownia in its 3-wood matrix to keep the overall weight, and in particular mass beyond the binding area, from ballooning as the ski’s dimensions expand. To keep the Rustler 11 from feeling ponderous, Blizzard trims the percentage of Titanal used in its make-up compared to its skinnier siblings, the Rustler 10 and 9.
Aside from the Trueblend core, the biggest difference between this generation of Rustlers and the one that preceded it is how the FluxForm design distributes its allocation of Titanal. A nearly full-length strip of metal rides over each edge, but stops short of wrapping around the tip or tail. In the middle of the ski, a separate, disconnected swath of Ti fills the space between the outer bands, to lend additional strength and rigidity to the midsection. Fluxform creates a ski that feels secure on edge anywhere it travels, with just enough tolerance for twist at the tip and tail to allow the ski to flow over choppy terrain rather than fight it.
So, who needs a Rustler 11 more, a powder novice or an expert? Trick question: of course, the lower skill skier would be more grateful, but the expert will get more out of it. For the lower skill skier looking for a crutch that will disguise his lack of ability, its relatively soft, balanced flex and overall stability will make deep snow feel more consistent. For the expert, it’s game-on: no further coaching is required, just stand on it and go.
