As reported, we had been waiting to get the Super 7 RD into some deep snow, and this past week, the snow gods cooperated: last Tuesday and Wednesday, 24+ inches of snow blanketed Taos Ski Valley, making Wednesday one of the top-3 days of the season: 2+ feet of fresh pow, zero wind, bluebird skies. Conditions were Game-On, and reviewer Mike Masiowski and I caught the rope drop out to West Basin Ridge.
When everything lines up this perfectly, you better believe that I get pissed off if I have to be reviewing a ski that doesn’t measure up to the conditions. Fortunately, Mike and I both had a ball switching back and forth on the Super 7 RD, Super 7 HD, and Blizzard Spur.
Even more, both of us felt like the Super 7 RD was a ski that we could happily own and happily ski on deeper days. Here’s why…
Untracked Pow
As noted in our Intro, the Super 7 RD is neither a very heavy ski, nor is it an especially burly ski. In untracked pow down some steep lines in West Basin, this translated into a ski that was wide enough to surf deep pow, stable enough to handle some denser pow at speed, and light enough to make fairly quick turns in tight trees, tight chutes, or when skiing end-of-the-day moguls that had formed on Taos’s Castor and on other parts of the mountain.
There are certainly surfier pow skis out there (see our Deep Dive Comparisons article later this week), but the Super 7 RD is fairly playful and fairly quick, while offering more stability than some surfier / looser pow skis.
On Wednesday, Mike and I had first tracks down Stauffenberg Trib, and I’m not sure I’ve ever skied the top of the Trib with better coverage. Making big turns down both sides of the spine, I jumped back into the narrower middle of Stauffenberg, then it was a couple quick turns before I was making big, very fast GS pow turns down the right side of the apron. This was absolutely as fun as it sounds, and there is no ski I can think of that would have been more fun or have handled any better from top to bottom this fast, untracked-pow skiing.
Before Moving On, Let’s Talk about “POP”
In addition to the Super 7 RD’s blend of stability, playfulness, and quickness, the stand-out feature of the RD is how poppy it is. This ski is not that heavy given its width, and it also has quite a bit of traditional camber underfoot.
I was a bit worried that all of that traditional camber might make the ski feel a bit “stuck” in deeper snow, but that wasn’t the case. Mike and I were switching back and forth with the 16/17 Blizzard Spur for the morning, and there is no question that the Spur (and its lack of camber) felt looser and even easier to pivot than the Super 7 RD. But the relatively low weight of the Super 7 RD and its tip taper made the ski feel quick enough, that we did not struggle with the ski at all in tighter spots. Instead, that lower weight + tip taper + traditional camber underfoot + the construction of the Super 7 RD all seemed to add up to one very energetic ski. Lining up jumps and loading up the tails of the ski resulted in LOTS of pop.
The RD made skiing big, soft moguls super fun: the ski is quick enough (for a big ski) to ski fast and get into and ought of trenches, and then the ticket was to airplane turn or launch from mogul to mogul as you wished. For Mike and I both, that energy and rebound of the Super 7 RD was the thing we liked most.
Instead, that lower weight + tip taper + traditional camber underfoot + the construction of the Super 7 RD all seemed to add up to one very energetic ski. Lining up jumps and loading up the tails of the ski resulted in LOTS of pop. The RD made skiing big, soft moguls super fun: the ski is quick enough (for a big ski) to ski fast and get into and ought of trenches, and then the ticket was to airplane turn or launch from mogul to mogul as you wished. For Mike and I both, that energy and rebound of the Super 7 RD was the thing we liked most.
There are other burlier, more inherently stable skis of this width out there, but not many of those skis have the energy and rebound of the Super 7 RD. So for those looking for a big-mountain pow ski that doesn’t feel like a tank, but that can still hold up to fast skiing, the Super 7 RD should be on your radar.
Soft Chop
Given what I’ve just said, it might be apparent that the Super 7 RD isn’t a total steam roller in deep, cut-up snow. Here, a ski like the Moment Blister Pro / Bibby — with its stiffer shovel and less-tapered tip — is inherently more stable. But Mike and I both found it pretty easy to adjust to the lighter Super 7 RD, and the name of the game was to simply stay a bit lighter on your feet, popping and airing off of softer piles of snow rather than trying to simply plow right through them.
I’ll try to clarify some of this with comparisons in our Deep Dive, but for those who don’t need absolute stability in their pow ski, and are willing to give up a bit of that for the sake of a lighter, quicker (less fatiguing?) ride, the Super 7 RD is a very interesting option.
Slush & Groomers
Just to make a point here that the Super 7 RD doesn’t require deep snow to be fun … Brian Lindahl and I spent time last spring skiing the Super 7 RD in spring slush at Arapahoe Basin, and the ski was a lot of fun in this, too. Basically, get the Super 7 RD in any type of soft snow or even firmer, consistent snow (e.g., chalk, windbuff, even portions of wind-scoured snow), and you’ll have a good time. The ski’s poppiness and relative quickness translates over, and though this ski does feel like you have a wide platform under your feet, it exhibits good edge hold and is fun to get up on edge on groomers, and you’ll have a good time making big, GS turns, or lazily making your way back to the lift. Either way, the ski is quite compliant.
Firm Crud
On a layer of thin crud, the Super 7 RD is fine, and easy to manage. You’re still working with a nice, stable platform underfoot. As you move to frozen crud, chunkier crud, or big, firm moguls, there are better (and usually heavier) skis for smoothing out the ride or just nuking through nasty, difficult snow. But again, if you don’t insist on maximum stability, we think the Super 7 RD handles less-than-ideal conditions well enough to recommend as a versatile, big-mountain pow ski. It’s just not our first choice if your pow days often involve a whole bunch of crap-snow skiing, too.
16/17 – 17/18 Super 7 RD vs. 14/15 – 15/16 Super 7 RD
We noted this in our 16/17 Winter Buyer’s Guide, but this latest iteration of the Super 7 RD is a clear improvement over the previous (14/15 – 15/16) iteration of the Super 7 RD. Namely, Rossi seems to have addressed the hinge point in the shovel of the previous Super 7 RD. Sweet. This current version feels and skis great.
Mount Position
Mike Masiowski, Brian Lindahl, and I have all spent time on this Super 7 RD, and all of us often get along well with skis that have more traditional mount points. But all 3 of us have enjoyed the Super 7 RD on the “all-mountain” line (which is 5.8 cm behind true center) enough that none of us have been tempted to move further back to the “freeride line,” which is around 7.8 cm behind true center. At -5.8 cm, we never experienced tip dive on the ski, and we have really liked that balance of quickness and stability. Do we have any reservations about moving back to the freeride line? No. But while we advised everyone to move back on the previous version of the Super 7 RD to mitigate the hinge point on the shovel, we really like the ride quality you get at ~6 on this version.
Bottom Line
While the Super 7 RD feels and skis like you have a wide platform underfoot, this ski is no tank. If you like to ski fast in soft or deep snow, but you dislike heavier wide skis, you should pay attention. The Super 7 RD offers a good bit of stability while being less demanding than some of the other big-mountain pow skis in the category. So if you like to ski fast and you like the sound of a pretty quick ski that has a bigger sidecut radius and a whole lot of pop, the Squad 7 RD could be a great pow ski for you.
Deep Dive Comparisons: Rossignol Super 7 RD
Become a Blister member or a Deep Dive subscriber to get our comparisons of the Super 7 RD vs. the Super 7 HD, Moment Governor & Bibby / Blister Pro, Armada Norwalk, 16/17 Blizzard Spur, Salomon QST 118, Atomic Bent Chetler, Liberty Origin 116, and Whitedot Ragnarok.
NEXT: Rocker Profile Pics of the Rossignol Super 7 RD
Sounds like this ski could be very similar to the all new Armada Tracer 118Chx. Any plans to review?
No immediate plans, George, but we’ll put it on the list.
Hi Jonathan,
Thanks for the great review. How would you say this ski compares to the Praxis Protest?
Cheers,
Davyn
Great review, it seems like the Super 7 RD and QST 118 are quite similar. I’m just curious as to why is seems like this review is much more positive than the QST 118. Or are the skis not that similar?
Thank you, Jason. And while I fear this may be an unhelpful response … I think Paul and I have both accurately laid out how both of these skis perform on snow. So in that sense, the two (long) reviews are themselves the answer to your question about how similar / different the two skis are. But the short answer (which Paul points out in his review) is that the QST 118 is a more powder-specific ski than a good number of ~118mm-wide skis we’ve reviewed. Which makes sense, given that it is the replacement of the Salomon Rocker2 122.
This summer, I bought the Super 7 RD on the strength of your reviews, mostly. No demo.
Today I went to the ski industry demo at Loveland Basin, all the brand reps there, including two from Rossignol. I asked if the RD skied like the honeycomb (blue) Squad 7. I told them I’d just gotten the RD, but my fear was that it might ski too much like the honeycomb, blue Squad 7 (see below).
They told me it was that same Squad 7, mostly no difference except cosmetics. Construction and shape were the same. (Never mind that it’s about 150 gm lighter, and paulownia plus carbon & basalt laminate instead of poplar?) They went into further detail also, but I only half remember it.
They said I should have gotten another ski, possibly the Black Ops, which was their ski of choice: playful charger, they said. (And that ski, they said, was actually made by modifying the older, pre-honeycomb, heavier Squad 7.)
I’d read your RD reviews, and so was incredulous. I asked them the same questions in a bunch of different ways, and got the same answers.
Yikes!
I’d read your review and deep dives on this ski (including deep dives on it and the QST 118 comparing it to the RD) and it sounded very interesting. It seemed like the RD had solved the reported problems with the Squad 7 (tips “walling off”/stalling on jumps and on abrupt transitions in lots of snow unless mounted back; and “stuck tails” at turning when wanting quicker maneuverability, esp. in powder bumps: both problems I too experienced when demoing the Squad 7).
Having lots of “pop” to go along with float seemed especially appealing to me about the RD, though I’d use that pop, I’m guessing, in mogul turning, and up and down fun rather than lots of bigger jumps.
[But will they want to go too fast for me, to do these things that sound so good? That too has been my reservation. Note: My Katanas 184 & 191, and Bibby Pro 184s don’t need too much speed for me.]
So, as I said, I got a pair this summer, and have looked forward to trying them if and when the snow gets deeper.
Please, are these Rossi reps just ill-informed about their own ski????????
As usual, you guys nailed it with this review. I have three days on them in PNW rain, powder, and heavy powder. Best ski I’ve owned, and glad I pulled the trigger based on Sam’s recommendation and your reviews. The ski is surprisingly easy to ski and very predictable, stable enough through chop, not hooky, and can also pivot/slash really easily in powder or on groomers. The camber and pop makes bouncing around in powder a blast. Really quick for a 190 ski with a 120 waist, but the long turn radius allows it to go straight and fast too. Very fun ski, even on groomers.
Just for reference, I skied both the 190 and 184 Bibby pros for two years and never totally loved either one. The 190 is definitely more ski and damper than the RD, but the RD has much better float than the 184 and I think just as versatile. So, if you want an easier going Bibby 190, I would definitely recommend the RD (hopefully Rossi keeps making it).
I also had a pair of K2 Mindbender 116s to start off this season, but found them too soft in the tip for my liking. They are really good at short radius turns and have good float in powder, but the RD has a more consistent stiffer flex and a lot more pop. If you like to go fast and straight, the RD is a much better call.
Hey Man!
Did you mount the ski at the „all-mountain“ line?
Just wondering how many of you have these and weighed them?
I just picked up a brand new pair of 17/18’s and on my scale one is 2275 and the other 2315!?!? That is a far cry from the weights Blister measured on the pair of 17/18’s they tested.
I wanted to put Shifts on them (likely still will) for slackcountry stuff, but the extra heft certainly surprised me.