Brahma
The Blizzard Brahma comes from a long line of off-piste skis that includes the wider Bonafide, Cochise and Bodacious. Its pedigree is pure off-piste. The addition of a dab more sidecut last season enhanced its hard snow chops, giving it an extra tug into the turn and more carve in its character. This small injection of carvability expanded its turn repertoire, but the Brahma remains essentially an off-trail ski wearing a corset. The most notable advantage of Blizzard’s Flip Core baseline is the rockered forebody never calls attention to itself as it goes about its job. A less touted blessing is the way Flip Core construction, like that used in the Brahma, opens up the envelope of skiers who can both enjoy it and benefit from it.
Rustler 9
Like the Kore 93 and Enforcer 93, the new Rustler 9 from Blizzard is the narrowest incarnation from a family of fat, emphatically off-trail skis. Its signature feature, Dynamic Release Technology (D.R.T.), consists of a Titanal plate that’s edge-to-edge in the mid-section and quickly tapers to blunt tongues, freeing the extremities to twist as needed in choppy terrain. The relatively loose tip and tail conform readily to the abrupt contours of today’s moguls and generally facilitate direction change using less than textbook turns. Scott from Aspen Ski and Board sketched the Rustler 9 profile as “light, with perfect playfulness/stability ratio. Also, rocker is not over done, good loft with minimal tip vibrations.”
Black Pearl 88
Blizzard’s Black Pearl 88 is the super-model of the women’s market, a mega-star that for the first time in the annals of ski sales sold more units in the U.S. than every other ski, men’s or women’s. The Black Pearl had been the anchor of Blizzard’s women’s line for several years when the brand rolled the dice and re-designed it 3 years ago. The switch to a Women’s Specific Design (WSD) was part of an umbrella initiative called Women to Women to create a community of women whose shared experiences could contribute to design directions. Anyone from a first-time ski buyer to a seasoned vet can hop on a Pearl 88 and have the time of her life. Noticeably light and silly-easy to turn, it’s easy to balance on for intermediates and a gas to cut loose on if for skiers that have the skills.
Rustler 11
The deeper the freshies or the heavier the slop, the brighter the Rustler 11 shines. Feeding it crud is like giving it oxygen. The tip that’s busy looking for something to do on groomers is in its element, rolling up and over wind berms and generally conforming to whatever it meets. The solidity underfoot breeds confidence and the tail is supportive when it needs to be. “A big mountain charger,” assesses Lucas from Footloose. “Surprisingly playful for its size, it’s a confidence booster.”