I’m no longer privy to all the stats required to create a clear picture of last year’s ski sales in the U.S. market, but the tea leaves I’ve read suggest that Rossignol bet long and won.
When the ski industry went into a coma in March of 2020, huge order cancellations ensued. Budgets had to be slashed to match the new reality, replaced with new forecasts with ever-shrinking orders to buttress them.
I don’t know where the knowledge and/or intestinal fortitude came from, but Rossignol appears not to have adopted the scorched-budget policy many of its competitors adhered to. How else to explain how they were ready to fill orders when dealers around the country suddenly realized a horde of ready-to-buy skiers was lined up on their doorstep?
I can’t resist pointing out that a collection of skis called Blackops found a way to ship when few others could. Sounds like an inside job. Or more likely, Rossi stuck by a pre-pandemic forecast based on the fundamentals in place before panic hit.
No matter how events actually transpired behind the scenes along the supply chain, the result was a lot of Rossi sales in a relatively low-snow year, which means a lot of skiers probably bought the HolyShred last year without really knowing how it skis. A lot more may buy it this year simply because once a model gathers a following, it tends to grow. Just look at what happened to the Soul 7 several seasons ago. Market momentum tends to be self-perpetuating.
Here’s the 411 as I penned it last year, based on the last results submitted before the Covid crisis cancelled the season.
For two years, Rossignol treated its Blackops models as if they were part of a clandestine operation known only to insiders. The problem with marketing a secret ski collection is you can be too successful at keeping it quiet. After serving as second fiddles behind the legendary 7 series, Blackops models have been thrust into the spotlight as their replacements.
The HolyShred brings two distinctive elements to the party that its 7 Series predecessor, the Sky 7, lacked: Titanal in its lay-up and a full-on twin-tip baseline. Almost every ski in the All-Mountain West genre has a measure of tail rocker, but no other major brand produces an unabashed, directional twin-tip intended for all-mountain skiing. The addition of Titanal gives the HolyShred the stability on edge that most Pipe & Park twintips lack.
Here’s another twist to the Holy Shred story: its unusually high camber line gives it spring-loaded rebound that propels the skier off the bottom of bottomless snow. While its dual-shovel baseline suggests it might smear easier than mayonnaise, when in powder – its preferred terrain if you can find it – its 45-degree braid of synthetic fiber loads up as it finds the belly of the turn; as it recoils, the rising HolyShred helps the skier unweight as he (or she) crosses the fall line, as Old School a move as camber itself.
When compelled to ski groomers, its Titanal Beam construction kicks into gear, with its neo-classic sidecut keeping it close to the fall line. Once in motion, the pilot has no inkling he’s riding a twin-tip; the tail feels solid and supportive, part of an overall balanced flex pattern. It can be coaxed into a short, carved turn, but to maintain an unbroken carve short turns need also to be shallow and swift. Its liveliness contributes to a sense of ease and playfulness, in contrast to the hard-charging beasts on the Power side of our ledger.
If there is such a thing as ski design irony, the ski-to-target-customer relationship of the HolyShred to its potential patrons embodies it. No other design feature screams “Youth Market!” as loudly as a ski with a turned-up tail, but the HolyShred’s relatively soft flex pattern, forgiveness and capacity for drifting are traits tailor-made for skiers who’ve lost the punch and effortless power of their college years. In recognition of its forgiving nature, we again award the Blackops HolyShred a Silver Skier Selection.
