Now in its sixth year, the Bonafide has earned the right to be considered among the greatest all-terrain skis ever made. It rolls to a precise edge with the languid ease of a ballerina, then grips the snow with the tenacity of an arm wrestler.
Best of all, its determination to cut a clean arc is unperturbed by whatever lies in its path. If it’s in the snow/ice extended family, the Bonafide can overpower it with the aplomb of an invincible superhero. If you don’t know what conditions are going to prevail on any given day, or if you’re taking a trip and can only take one pair of rides with you, taking a Bonafide along provides maximum fun insurance.
The lower rocker profile of Cham 2.0, which brings more ski into snow contact sooner, was a pure improvement, a product tweak without a downside. As applied to the Cham 2.0 107, it means a greater connection to earth without losing the ability to swivel out of trouble. As Bobby from Powder House pens, containing his enthusiasm considering his 98/100 score, the “Cham 2.0 107 is attached to the ground.”
This may sound like faint praise, but Bobby knows that many Big Mountain models are so intent on swiveling and surfing that the small platform they work from feels connected by a base layer of ball bearings. That sounds easy until you try to tame it.
That the CPM82 is so well mannered exposes the current craze over tip rocker as so much hyperventilation. The CPM’s ultra-modern carbon construction is built on an über-traditional cambered baseline, with a tip and tail designed to engage with the snow. It earns its crazy good scores for carving capacity the old-fashioned way: it remains connected to its round trajectory with every centimeter of edge at its disposal.
