3D.Glass would be nothing fancier than another base layer of glass were it not for a clever modification: in the binding area the glass extends vertically up the sidewall and over the top of it. It’s sort of a demi-torsion box, with much the same effect as this time-honored glass molding technique: the ski becomes both more torsionally rigid and livelier, as the hard-wired memory of the glass will dominate the rebound characteristic.
The newest Bonafide earned gushing accolades from veteran testers like Bob Gleason of Boot Doctors: “As the Bonafide has displayed for years, this ski is dynamically versatile. They play like a symphony at various speeds, terrain, and snow conditions. The subtle difference of the new Bonafide is the lengthened side cut in the ski’s forebody. The new Bonafide enters the turn earlier with stronger initiation. It feels like suspension tuned for charging into the turn.”
Most of the skis in this genre lean more to the off-trail side of the terrain ledger, but the Stöckli Stormrider 85 Motion is partial to hard packed powder. Skiers familiar with Stöckli’s history know that its roots are in racing, so much so that for several seasons some of their Stormriders skied more like obese Super G skis than freeride models.
The Kenja doesn’t require aggression, but it rewards it. Most women back off the gas pedal when they transition into cut-up off-trail conditions, but they only way to subdue irascible old snow is to motor through it. If your skis don’t have the guts to resist the resulting vibration, you’ll be compelled to curb your ambitions. You’ll never have to hold back on a Kenja.
Last season Blizzard pulled off a coup that was, as far as this ski journalist is aware, a singular one in the annals of ski sales: a women’s ski, the Black Pearl, emerged as the top selling ski in the specialty channel. The reason the event was unprecedented is that women make up at best 40% of the new ski market. To be the number one ski means the Black Pearl had to dominate women’s sales. What voodoo did Blizzard do to make the Black Pearl so supernaturally successful?