2022 Blizzard Rustler 9

I gained a fresh perspective on the Rustler 9 when I had occasion to ski it at Jackson Hole two years ago. It was a lovely day; however, I was anything but: sick, bone-tired, with a tweaked L4/L5 and a gas tank running on fumes. After an undistinguished descent of Rendezvous Bowl, I straggled my way into the serpentine bumps of Bivouac Woods. If not for the Rustler 9’s mercifully soft tip and tail that seemed to match the contours of every cross-hill trough without much guidance from its beleaguered pilot, I might still be there. Ski buyers always ask at some point in their give-and-take with the salesperson, “How is it in the bumps?” While the flip reply is always, “As good as you are,” in the case of the Rustler 9, the ski actually is well suited to today’s hacked-up mogul formations. Put in Realskiers’ terms, the pliable Rustler 9 is a Finesse ski while the stouter Brahma 88 is a Power ski. The Brahma 88’s best scores are for performance criteria like carving accuracy and stability at speed; the Rustler 9’s marks reveal a model with a high aptitude for off-trail conditions with a peppy personality that’s easy to manage. It prefers life off-trail where it has the freedom to add a bit of schmear to every turn.