My pure hard-snow ski this season has been a pair of Blossom SLs I got at an excellent price from @Brian Finch. (Ditto for the blue print parka in the appended pics. If Brian gets hit by the beer truck my gear situation is gonna deteriorate quickly.) They are a couple, three years old, but they were mint, with a nice four degree edge. I doubt the ski has changed beyond NGT. This is Blossom's full-on race ski, but I don't really race slalom. I'm on the 155. (5' 7", 140) I put my old Marker piston plate on them.
Last year I was on the Rossi Hero ST Ti @162. Prior to that for a couple years I had a circa 2011 Völkl consumer SL. I have longer, wider skis, too.
This is a great ski for the assertive northeastern skier. It has excellent grip without making you feel like you're on a pogo stick. If you're slipping, it's you, not the ski. For a 155 it's very calm and reassuring. It won't launch you unless you ask it to. (Then it will. Try this at your peril.) Snow feel is excellent - quieter than a Fischer, but more communicative than some of the really damp skis out there. It can certainly carve long radius arcs, but, for me, at age 55, past a certain point I just get too nervous on a ski that short with that much potential energy in it. I am having a little trouble getting the base really saturated. Maybe it's just because it sees so much use on really abrasive snow.
I loved the feel of the Rossi ST Ti, but ultimately it just didn't have the bite I'm looking for in a hard snow carver, so I sold them. The old Racetigers had a bit more forgiving tip and a little more overall flex, which I happened to like. But objectively they and the Blossom are equally good skis.
Who's it for? Hard to imagine a much better short turn ski for the aging but distinguished east coast gravel-for-breakfast ex-racer type. It's an Austrian in an Italian suit.
Who's it not for? Someone who doesn't ski arc to arc in his or her sleep; it's not a generalist.
Insider tip: Don't mistake the obscurity of the brand as a mark of inferiority: These things rip.
The appended video and stills are from Mont Ste. Anne, QC, after a thaw and hard refreeze. Very firm and loud frozen granular.
Last year I was on the Rossi Hero ST Ti @162. Prior to that for a couple years I had a circa 2011 Völkl consumer SL. I have longer, wider skis, too.
This is a great ski for the assertive northeastern skier. It has excellent grip without making you feel like you're on a pogo stick. If you're slipping, it's you, not the ski. For a 155 it's very calm and reassuring. It won't launch you unless you ask it to. (Then it will. Try this at your peril.) Snow feel is excellent - quieter than a Fischer, but more communicative than some of the really damp skis out there. It can certainly carve long radius arcs, but, for me, at age 55, past a certain point I just get too nervous on a ski that short with that much potential energy in it. I am having a little trouble getting the base really saturated. Maybe it's just because it sees so much use on really abrasive snow.
I loved the feel of the Rossi ST Ti, but ultimately it just didn't have the bite I'm looking for in a hard snow carver, so I sold them. The old Racetigers had a bit more forgiving tip and a little more overall flex, which I happened to like. But objectively they and the Blossom are equally good skis.
Who's it for? Hard to imagine a much better short turn ski for the aging but distinguished east coast gravel-for-breakfast ex-racer type. It's an Austrian in an Italian suit.
Who's it not for? Someone who doesn't ski arc to arc in his or her sleep; it's not a generalist.
Insider tip: Don't mistake the obscurity of the brand as a mark of inferiority: These things rip.
The appended video and stills are from Mont Ste. Anne, QC, after a thaw and hard refreeze. Very firm and loud frozen granular.
