THE 1st ANNUAL BLISTER AWARDS from SIA

 

* THE “SWING AND A MISS” MARKETING AWARD:

HEAD SKIS, for their MOTORHEAD-themed skis and their ad campaign, “Not your father’s HEAD skis.”

Nothing against Motorhead, but this is how HEAD intends to build up cred among the under 40 crowd? I think HEAD got punk’d by their focus group on this one.

And more to the point, is HEAD unaware that Nordica already has the “Ace of Spades” ski and boot? I’m confused.

 

* THE SWAGGER AWARD:

BLIZZARD Skis

They had this to say about their new (rather gimmicky-sounding) “Flipcore” technology:

“We are literally turning the Freeride World upside down. These new products will redefine how freeride skis are built.”

So what, exactly, is this world-changing Flipcore Technology, you ask?

“Flipcore Technology is a revolutionary new camber (rocker) technology for Blizzard’s freeride line. Natural flex, reduced weight, and superior floatation in combination with extreme stability and performance are the immediate advantages of Blizzard’s new Flipcore construction. These benefits are made possible through a new production process where the cambered wood core is literally flipped upside down to match the desired camber of a rockered ski. The ski is then pressed in a non-forced, natural way, which allows the rocker (reverse-cambered) shape to be produced without having to bend or artificially shape the ski in a press. The end result is a rocker construction that provides a previously unknown level of stability and even pressure distribution that is incredibly easy to ski.” (italics added)

At BLISTER, we love claims like the one italicized above because we can simply grab the skis, test them, and tell you whether Flipcore skis do, in fact, reach levels of “previously unknown” stability, or whether the marketing department needs to be reined in a little bit.

Having voiced our suspicions, let’s move on to the next award, shall we?

 

* THE “DYING TO TRY IT” AWARD:

BLIZZARD BODACIOUS

Just because we’re suspicious doesn’t mean that we aren’t incredibly curious. But the truth is, the whole Flipcore Technology has little to do with our excitement over this ski. The Bodacious simply looks like the perfect, badass, big mountain charger. Available in 186cm and 196cm lengths, the Bodacious was one of the stiffest skis at SIA, perhaps a result of its titanal layers. (To be honest, it was actually THE stiffest ski I flexed, but I may have missed something somewhere.)

Blizzard claims that these have tip and tail rocker, but the two models I saw had a long, nearly flat tail – just a very subtle upturn at the tip of the tail. I wouldn’t even call it a semi-twin, maybe a micro-twin. I’ll be curious to see if there is any difference in the production run. The Bodacious is flat underfoot, 142-118-132, with a 32.0 meter turn radius. This thing looks like a missile, and it’s easily the most interesting ski we’ve seen from Blizzard.

Can’t wait.

 

* THE “BEST NAME OR WORST NAME?” AWARD:

ARMADA has named their new, women’s specific edition of the JJ…wait for it…the VJJ.

Yeah, I’m going with “WORST NAME,” too.

It comes in both a 165cm and a 175cm length.

But if all Armada did was soften up the flex of the JJ, I know a few rippin’ skier chicks who will roll their eyes and take a pass. (And yes, we’ll be doing a VS. Review of the JJ VS. VJJ.)

 

* THE “WTF IS THAT???” A.K.A., “MOST INNOVATIVE” AWARD:

DPS SPOON 150

The Future?

This is the weirdest ski you’ve ever seen. With dimensions that run something like: 137-152-150-151-120mm, and with convex bases (you know, the type of bases that used to mean that it was time for a serious base grind, or time to go buy new skis), DPS’s Stephan Drake and Peter Turner believe they have found ways to “increase ski angle to encourage…more dynamic, stylistic carves and slides in deep snow.”

Given the extraordinary intelligence of the average BLISTER reader, I’m sure you’ve already asked yourself, “How in the hell could this ski possibly hold an edge?”

Enter “Cleat Technology”

(WARNING: Things are about to get even weirder.)

According to Drake, “Cleat Tech endows the spoon shaped ski with useable edge at low ski angles for hard snow,” without compromising “the ski’s flex pattern, or the convex bases’ dramatic performance gains in deep snow.”

We’ll see. The good news is that we are all going to have some time to wrap our brilliant BLISTER minds around this. The DPS Spoon 150 will not likely be ready for next season, as there are still a number of delicate manufacturing goals to balance and perfect. For example, how do you incorporate the undulating cleat design and convex base pattern without compromising the flex of the ski, weakening the core, or stretching and ruining the base itself? You know, little stuff like that. No big deal.