If you take its integrated bindings out of the equation, the XDR 84 Ti would only weigh 1,620g at 170cm, which is not a lot for any ski and really featherweight for a Frontside model. That it still holds a solid edge on hard snow is testament to how well C/FX helps dampen vibration without the added heft of metal. One advantage of lighter weight is the ski automatically feels quicker, able to flip from one edge to the other on a whim.
Rossi’s Super 7 HD is one of those skis with nothing wrong with it that they keep on improving anyway. This time Rossi revamped its Air Tip so its surface is an extension of the same topsheet that covers the rest of the ski. The new Air Tip 2.0 is not only better integrated, it’s also thinner, which seems to help it roll to the edge with the willingness of a svelter ski. On edge at the top of the turn, the attitude of the Super 7 HD is all business, but at the bottom it throws a party, releasing the energy coiled in its fiberglass and carbon core.
Just because a ski has a sidecut suitable for carving doesn’t mean it must be pigeonholed as a groomer-only ski, any more than having a mustache means you’re a cad and a bounder. Presented with a foot of fresh powder, the E 88 HD doesn’t realize it’s not supposed to be particularly good at navigating freshies and dives into the fluff without hesitation or a hiccup. It doesn’t flinch when crossing old tracks and if it gets to go first, all the better.
Skiing the Stöckli Laser AX is an experience unlike any other. A lot of skis in this genre, particularly among our Power Picks, borrow from race room technology; the Laser AX skis like it is a race ski, only wider. It seems to beg the skier to go a little faster, find a little more speed at the top of the turn, hold a little cleaner arc at the bottom, be fearless. It wants you to go faster if only to prove that it will remain utterly composed, cutting deep into hard snow as if were trying to make it bleed.
The Elite LT Ti is so mellow it permits you to drift without protest, but it’s so exhilarating to give it the gas that you won’t want to scrub speed until the lift line. For the strong skier, the Elite LT Ti is probably the best of the hard snow Rossis. As Matt from Footloose observes, “Comparatively speaking, this ski has more to offer than the Pursuit 800: more performance, dampening, horsepower and versatility.”