Feeling quiet while sitting in an activated catapult is no mean feat, but the SRC pulls it off with such equipoise that it makes its pilot feel as confident as it clearly is. A big, badass plate imparts impenetrable security from any vibration or tendency to wobble, whether one’s stance is relatively upright or laid over like Ligety.
The singular trait of the Blizzard RC Ti that sets it apart from other Non-FIS SL skis is the light caress it applies to a short turn. Most powerful carving skis earn their bona fides by being burly trench diggers, ripping up the corduroy carpet with the subtlety of a Sherman tank. Relatively speaking, the RC Ti is a waterbug, creasing the snow surface but not disfiguring it, zipping back and forth with the accuracy of a Chopin étude.
What was old is new again, as Blizzard returns the Bodacious to its original construction, replete with a double dose of Titanal. With the new Rustler 11 available as an option for the less aggro skier, the Bodacious could revert to the badass, big-turn ski envisioned by Arne Backstrom, the big mountain phenom who came up with Flipcore idea. The 2018 Bodacious is once again an absolute beast. I’m reasonably sure that if a 196cm Bodacious hit a brick wall at 40mph, there’d be nothing left of the wall.
Atomic’s Bent Chetler is a delightfully off-the-wall ski that turns out to behave like the most normal kid in its class. You fear it will roll edge to edge with the reflexes of a locomotive, but it actually responds to tipping and bending with the pliability of a yogi. Created by Chris Bentchetler to facilitate terrain park tricks in the backcountry, the Backland Bent Chetler biggest trick maybe the way its midsection stays anchored to the snow whether it’s hard or soft.
To the Rustler 11, combating crud is like a career in service to a noble cause. Horrid snow gives it purpose, a reason to get up every day and do good work. Its tip is intentionally loose, allowing it to contort to whatever heinous condition lies around the next tree. Underfoot, the Titanal reinforcement one can see poking through the top-sheets gets busy, maintaining torsional rigidity through the midsection.