Luke Koppa reviews the Black Crows Corvus for Blister

24/25 Black Crows Corvus

A couple of our reviewers started spending time on the latest (and very different) version of the original Black Crows ski — here are their initial impressions on the new Corvus.

Blister’s Flash Reviews and Deep Dives are accessible to those who purchase one of our paid subscriptions

To get our comprehensive Deep Dives and our initial, unfiltered reports on new gear, become a member and receive many other services, deals, and discounts.

If you’re already an active member, please log in.

(If you're already logged in and a member in good standing and seeing this message in error, please refresh this page in your browser.)

Blister reviews the Dynastar M-Cross 88

24/25 Dynastar M-Cross 88

Where does the M-Cross 88 fall in the class of narrower "all-mountain" skis? Here are our initial on-snow impressions.

Blister’s Flash Reviews and Deep Dives are accessible to those who purchase one of our paid subscriptions

To get our comprehensive Deep Dives and our initial, unfiltered reports on new gear, become a member and receive many other services, deals, and discounts.

If you’re already an active member, please log in.

(If you're already logged in and a member in good standing and seeing this message in error, please refresh this page in your browser.)

Blister reviews the Dynastar M-Cross 88

2024-2025 Dynastar M-Cross 88

Here are our measured specs, rocker profile pictures, flex pattern numbers, and more info on the widest model in Dynastar's all-mountain collection, the M-Cross 88.

The Life of a Ski Engineer + 24/25 LINE & K2 Skis (Ep.302)

Sean Fearon, ski development engineer for LINE & K2, helped design over a dozen of the brand’s new 24/25 skis, and he gave us the full backstory on LINE’s overhauled Pandora and Vision series; the new K2 Reckoner and Omen lines; working with Karl Fostvedt on his unique pro model; what life as a ski engineer actually entails, and more.

24/25 RMU Apostle 114

The Apostle 114 is RMU’s new “directional big-mountain ski” that replaces the previous North Shore 114 — here are our initial impressions and thoughts on how the new ski compares.

Blister’s Flash Reviews and Deep Dives are accessible to those who purchase one of our paid subscriptions

To get our comprehensive Deep Dives and our initial, unfiltered reports on new gear, become a member and receive many other services, deals, and discounts.

If you’re already an active member, please log in.

(If you're already logged in and a member in good standing and seeing this message in error, please refresh this page in your browser.)

Blister reviews the Line Optic 88

2024-2025 Line Optic 88

Here are our measured specs, rocker profile pictures, flex pattern numbers, and some more info on the newest and narrowest ski in Line’s metal-laminate Optic collection.
Blister reviews the Line Optic 88

24/25 Line Optic 88

For 24/25, Line is rebranding their Blade Optic collection as simply “Optic,” and the Optic 88 is a brand-new model that effectively replaces the previous Blade Optic 92 as the narrowest option in the series. Here are some of our initial thoughts on the new ski.

Blister’s Flash Reviews and Deep Dives are accessible to those who purchase one of our paid subscriptions

To get our comprehensive Deep Dives and our initial, unfiltered reports on new gear, become a member and receive many other services, deals, and discounts.

If you’re already an active member, please log in.

(If you're already logged in and a member in good standing and seeing this message in error, please refresh this page in your browser.)

Luke Koppa reviews the Kästle MX88 for Blister

24/25 Kästle MX88 & MX84

We’ve been testing two of Kästle's redesigned all-mountain skis — here are our initial thoughts on how the new MX88 and MX84 compare to each other and their respective competition.

Blister’s Flash Reviews and Deep Dives are accessible to those who purchase one of our paid subscriptions

To get our comprehensive Deep Dives and our initial, unfiltered reports on new gear, become a member and receive many other services, deals, and discounts.

If you’re already an active member, please log in.

(If you're already logged in and a member in good standing and seeing this message in error, please refresh this page in your browser.)

Blister reviews the Armada Declivity X 102

24/25 Armada Declivity X 102

Armada updated a lot of their directional freeride skis for the 24/25 season, including a favorite of our managing editor, the Declivity 102. Here are his initial thoughts on how the new Declivity X 102 compares.

Blister’s Flash Reviews and Deep Dives are accessible to those who purchase one of our paid subscriptions

To get our comprehensive Deep Dives and our initial, unfiltered reports on new gear, become a member and receive many other services, deals, and discounts.

If you’re already an active member, please log in.

(If you're already logged in and a member in good standing and seeing this message in error, please refresh this page in your browser.)

Luke Koppa reviews the Icelantic Nomad 112 for Blister

24/25 Icelantic Nomad 112

The Nomad 112 is the widest option in Icelantic’s overhauled freeride collection — here are our thoughts on where it slots into the powder-ski class and how it compares to the rest of the Nomad series.

Blister’s Flash Reviews and Deep Dives are accessible to those who purchase one of our paid subscriptions

To get our comprehensive Deep Dives and our initial, unfiltered reports on new gear, become a member and receive many other services, deals, and discounts.

If you’re already an active member, please log in.

(If you're already logged in and a member in good standing and seeing this message in error, please refresh this page in your browser.)

Taylor Ahearn has been photographing skiing, snowboarding, biking, and day-to-day life in the Gunnison / Crested Butte Valley for many years now, and in this episode of GEAR:30, Luke Koppa chats with him about how he turned that into a career; their favorite camera-related gear; tips to help *you* capture better photos next time you’re outside; the most rewarding, frustrating, and unusual parts of getting these shots; and more.

Outdoor Photography: Tips, Tricks, & Gear with Taylor Ahearn (Ep.299)

Taylor Ahearn has been photographing skiing, snowboarding, biking, and day-to-day life in the Gunnison / Crested Butte Valley for many years now, and in this conversation, Luke Koppa chats with him about how he turned that into a career; their favorite camera-related gear; tips to help *you* capture better photos next time you’re outside, and more.
Luke Koppa reviews the Rossignol Arcade 88 for Blister

24/25 Rossignol Arcade 88

This spring we got time on one of Rossignol’s brand-new piste-oriented skis — here are our thoughts on the Arcade 88 and where it falls in the frontside class.

Blister’s Flash Reviews and Deep Dives are accessible to those who purchase one of our paid subscriptions

To get our comprehensive Deep Dives and our initial, unfiltered reports on new gear, become a member and receive many other services, deals, and discounts.

If you’re already an active member, please log in.

(If you're already logged in and a member in good standing and seeing this message in error, please refresh this page in your browser.)

24/25 Salomon / Atomic Shift2 Binding

The original Shift binding was a big advancement in the touring binding category when it was first released, but it wasn’t without its flaws. The new Shift2 binding is meant to address those downsides while still letting you skin uphill in pins and get alpine-binding performance on the way down. We’ve been testing multiple pairs of the Shift2 to test those claims — here are our thoughts so far.

Blister’s Flash Reviews and Deep Dives are accessible to those who purchase one of our paid subscriptions

To get our comprehensive Deep Dives and our initial, unfiltered reports on new gear, become a member and receive many other services, deals, and discounts.

If you’re already an active member, please log in.

(If you're already logged in and a member in good standing and seeing this message in error, please refresh this page in your browser.)

Reviewer Reports: Travel Gear, Dinosaurs, & Camcorders (Ep.298)

Luke Koppa and Kristin Sinnott discuss some of the products they’ve found useful, surprising, or otherwise noteworthy while on the road or hurtling through the sky. They also get into extremely relevant things like camcorder storage solutions and dinosaur podcasts, the fact that Luke doesn’t actually like traveling, and more.

Win Tickets to Blister Summit 2025

The winner of our Gear Giveaway this week will get 2 passes to our upcoming Blister Summit 2025! Enter for your chance to win — and either way, you can still save a lot of dough if you take advantage of our early-bird registration pricing, which is available till June 18th.