If you’re like us when it comes to skiing and riding, thoughts of shredding your favorite line are stuck in your head all summer long. At BLISTER, we have come to terms with our winter addiction, and we’ve asked ourselves, “What’s the coolest thing we could possibly do in the middle of August?”
Answer: ski the Southern Hemisphere.
And since around here we’re committed to identifying the gear that absolutely kills it, we’ve decided to combine that mission with our idea of the perfect summer.
Here’s the deal: we’re heading down to Las Leñas, Argentina, with eight of the most anticipated skis of the upcoming season. For fifteen days, starting August 7th, we’re going to ski every day, and report back every night with reviews of what we’ve just been riding.
That, ladies and gentlemen, is the plan.
Of course, when you think ‘Las Leñas,’ you think, BIG LINES. So most of our selections are big mountain weapons designed to charge and float. Nowadays, making a big powder board isn’t that hard—just go real fat and rocker it out. The challenge is to make a powder ski that can also handle variable conditions, and we aren’t going to look the other way if any of our selected skis can’t deal with a little chop and ice. Powder noodles need not apply for this test trip.
Now there were definitely some other skis that could have made our list that we aren’t taking down. But remember, we have the entire season back in North America to get time on the other contenders – and we are going to get to them all.
In the mean time, be sure to tell us what you think we absolutely, positively, must ride and review once the snow starts to fall in the northern hemisphere.
And stay tuned for info on the gear BLISTER is taking down to Argentina, and once we’re on the mountain, check in for our daily updates on how it all performs.
Tomorrow, we’ll start rolling out the skis we’re taking with us, and tell you why we chose ‘em.
But before we go, we’ll just leave you with a four letter hint about our first selection:
AK JJ.
(Trust me: this is going to get good.)
Check out the skis that made the cut:
Blizzard Bodacious? Curious to know if that “Flipcore” stuff is as advertised.
Yeah, we are too, and we’ll be getting to the Bodacious for sure. (See our 1st Annual BLISTER Awards article about the flipcore stuff.) I can’t really imagine that it will make a noticeable difference in terms of on-snow feel, but, we’ll see, and the other characteristics of the Bodacious get us all excited ‘n stuff.