A woman’s first turns on a Big Mountain model can feel like steering a tanker. Some have a way of swimming around when flat, others seem to wander all the time. Then there are skis like the Rossi Soul 7 HD W that provide all the benefits of extra buoyancy without feeling fat or sluggish. The reason the Rossi feels narrower than it measures is the energy housed in the glass and carbon that arches over the camber pocket underfoot. From a loaded position at the bottom of the turn, the Soul 7 HD W rebounds up and out of whatever off-piste porridge you’re in, ferrying the skier across the fall line and into another energized arc.

Clare Martin of Peter Glenn’s Atlanta store sees what the Soul 7 HD W can do for her off-trail skiing. “This was the widest ski I had ever tried by far, but I was not nervous for long as the ski was very easy to get used to,” she writes. “I felt like calling this ski ‘the plow horse’ as it drove through slush and wet powder. I loved it and hope to purchase it this year to give me more confidence in powder.” Clare’s assessment of the Soul 7 HD W as a confidence builder is exactly right, but this peppy pow stick is even more fun if you already know how to use it. For its intermediate through expert ability range, we award the Rossignol Soul 7 HD W a Silver Skier Selection.