It’s in the nature of successful ski brand families to extend the clan as far as reason will allow.  In today’s market, that means either adding or subtracting 10mm of waist width to the icon that first caught traction.  If that flies, repeat.

Sometimes this means the extension of a Big Mountain concept will end up in a category populated primarily with carving clones. So it is with Blizzard’s Latigo, the great-grandson of the category-killing Cochise, a skinny kid surrounded by a field of souped-up, hard snow dragsters.

The Latigo holds its own because it doesn’t forget that the first article of business is to be a gas to ski. Don’t look too closely at the off-piste performance score; the Latigo deserves better but in this category it didn’t get enough exposure to off-trail conditions to press its edge in this arena.  The Latigo exudes fun, flair and flash whether it’s pointed off-piste or on, and its supple flex certainly navigates bumps better than most of the rails in this genre.  Like any young brothers, the Latigo and the Brahma are bound to brawl over the affections of the Frontside skier.