For the second season running, Blizzard has given the Cochise the full spa treatment:  first slim the core and fluff up the camber, then add more taper to the tip and tail and take off a bit more weight by adding a swath of carbon front and rear.

They all add up to more of a change of style than personality, as the Cochise remains a strong skier’s ski; if you don’t ski with your feet out from under your hips, you might be in over your head on a Cochise. Its 27m turn radius doesn’t turn itself.

Still, the new Cochise is, as “Doctor” Gleason points out, “easier than its predecessor, and as smooth as cream cheese.  You can ski with comfort in trees and tight spots.”   The Cochise is an all-terrain ski in that it treats all conditions with equal contempt.   “No terrain can stand in the way of the Cochise,” notes a Footloose foot soldier. “Steeps, bumps, groomers, crud, this ski lays waste to it all.”

Two years of changes have made the Cochise a more manageable, maneuverable ski that’s decidedly more willing to curl into a turn, but it’s still no pushover.  “Big, powerful skiers will love this ski,” Pat from Bobo’s assures us, “with lots of horsepower and better turn initiation than the old version.”