2025 Rossignol Forza 70o V-Ti

You have to give Rossignol credit for persistence. The French brand has been trying to re-kindle Americans interest in carving skis for several product cycles, with about the same success as someone trying to feed a cat broccoli. I doubt one American skier in a thousand could name the product family the Forza series replaced. (Rossignol employees don’t count in this calculation.) This speculation isn’t a comment on Rossi’s competence - its fantastic (and deep) Hero collection demonstrates total mastery in how to blend finesse and power in world-class racing machines - but on the entrenched indifference of its target audience. For the sake of all concerned, I’d love to see the Forza 70o V-Ti ignite a renaissance in American’s collective ability to carve a turn, but I’m not holding my breath. For starters, the name of the new Forza flagship might as well be in Morse code as far the mainstream U.S. skier is concerned. The “70o” reference is to edge angle, or the degree to which the ski will be tilted at the apex of the turn. I have no data to support my assertion, but I’d hazard a guess that 98% of homegrown Americans who aren’t recent graduates of a racing academy couldn’t get themselves into the position required to execute a single such turn, regardless of the inducements offered. Okay, enough with the negativity. On the upside, the 70-degree reference turns out to be more an aspirational essence than a skills requirement. Unlike some of the power-obsessed avatars of the Carving clan that dominate the Technical and Frontside Power rankings, the Forza 70o V-Ti has a refreshingly open mind about turn radius. True, it’s 14m sidecut is made to cut a tidy corner when laid on edge, but a deeper dive into its sidecut dimensions reveals how its shape enhances the skier’s perception of its versatility.