[The test results for the Cochise are from 2016 and 2017; the ski is unchanged for 2017.]

Whether or not you find the Blizzard Cochise to be your cup of tea probably hinges on a single question: how do you feel about multiple metal laminates in your Big Mountain skis?

Metal imparts benefits that other materials don’t, but it also adds mass, which is a mixed blessing. Cutting to the crux of the matter, if you roll at the requisite high speed, a heavy ski like the Cochise metamorphoses from lugubrious cargo you’re hauling around to a capable companion that does all the work.

If you drop the reins and put the Cochise in charge, “no terrain can stand in its way,” as Eric from Footloose confirms. This is one ski that won’t back down in the face of adversity, no matter what form it takes, be it wind crust, corn that’s turned to porridge or simply whatever’s still left to plunder after 11:00 AM on a powder day.

If this sounds like the Cochise hasn’t changed much after a couple of make-overs to thin the core and add carbon to the ends of its Flip Core, well, it has changed and it hasn’t. There’s no question it’s become more user-friendly as far as its pilot is concerned, but it continues to want to dominate whatever off-road condition it confronts.

In this era of super-hero saturation, maybe it would help to think of the Cochise as Hellboy, unthinkable power that’s unexpectedly kind.