The Blizzard Bodacious has been around long enough to collect a pension, yet it remains one of the most badass big skis you can buy, bursting with youthful exuberance. Only one other ski in the genre, Nordica’s Enforcer 115 Free, deploys two sheets of Titanal, which in a ski of the Bodacious’ gargantuan dimensions creates a crud-buster with the power of a Panzer.  Once they’re pointed downhill, momentum is not the problem, but keeping up with their preferred pace can be.

Because it’s built like an all-mountain ski, its ability to hold an edge is well above average for the genre. Not that you want always to ride the edge on a ski with a 30.5m sidecut radius (186cm), but the Bodacious won’t back down even on boilerplate so you could ski it – and ski it well – in any condition.  And should you get in trouble and need to pull the ripcord by straight-lining to safety, no other Powder ski is as stable at speed as this Blizzard.

The Bodacious is not for beginners or intermediates or even cautious experts who prefer to take their powder turns in small bites; to do its job, the Bodacious needs you to be great. The Bodacious has no fear of the fall line because it knows the secret to skiing crud is to crush it, and it expects its pilot to act accordingly. As I wrote of the Bodacious experience two years ago: you’ll never be intimidated by crud again; instead, it’s going to be afraid of you.