Our Editor’s Pick as Powder ski of the year in 2014, Rossignol’s Super 7 earned our admiration for its resurrection of a lost attribute in this class of barge-wide boards: rebound!

The exclamation point is to underscore that rebound is meant to be exciting; riding the release of the pent-up energy coiled in the fiberglass laminates that were bowed underfoot an accelerated heartbeat ago.  When you get this load-and-explode reaction to repeat on a regular tempo, powder skiing becomes a transcendental experience.

The Super 7 makes it easier to ride this energy wave by giving the skier a long platform on which to balance but a significantly shorter section that controls turn shape.  The result: the Super 7 skis short and springy while still delivering all the flotation you’ll ever need.

Carving capacity is an undervalued quality in Powder skis, not because you should take Powder boards for a spin on groomers, but because a ski still responds to edge angle and pressure when submerged.  Remember, super-sized skis ride high even in Champagne powder, so one skims along closer to the surface. If they’re built with the inherent responsiveness of the Super 7, they can still pounce down the hill as if pressing off a much less pillowy surface.