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Philpug

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Rossignol BlackOps Sender Ti
Dimensions: 138-106-128
Radius: 21m@187cm
Sizes: 180, 187, 194
Size tested: 180
Design: All New

This is going to be a polarizing review. Our preview thread has shown that people have a lot of preconceived ideas about the new Sender Ti, ideas based on past experiences with other Rossignol products. Well, when you are replacing a ski that was as wildly successful as the Soul 7, you open yourself up to such criticism. Say what you want about the the Soul 7, it was good for Rossignol, it was good for skiers, it was good for the industry. It opened up parts of the mountain to skiers who never before had the wherewithal to get there. Was it the ski for me and others? No, but it was a powder ski for the masses, and for that it was blamed for its success.

42ED357C-9F6A-4831-B193-821F29D9076D_1_201_a.jpeg Rossignol saw this change coming a few seasons ago when it started a dark marketing campaign with the BlackOps program, skis that were for shop people and athletes. This was intended to show us that Rossignol remembered how to make skis for skiers, not just for people who ski.

For 2021, Rossignol took the BlackOps public, and as the Soul 7 was the face of its collection, the Sender Ti is the face of this one. I can say with complete confidence that the Sender Ti will make you forget everything you thought you knew about Rossignol and the Soul 7. It is a ski for hard chargers and rippers. Where the Soul 7 hit a speed limit, the Sender Ti is just hitting its next gear. Where the Soul 7’s tip and tail started getting floppy and unstable, the Sender Ti is solid and planted. This is not a ski for the light or the meek.

I previewed the Sender Ti a few weeks ago when Tricia and I went on a tour of Rossignol’s headquarters in Park City. I immediately knew it was going to be a big-boy ski, especially since it was coming in a 194 (@DoryBreaux, your chariot awaits). I usually ski most skis one size down from the longest length; for the Sender Ti, that would be a 187. I feel comfortable on few skis longer than 185, especially now that I am a bit lighter while remaining on the finesse side of the finesse-power band. Skiing the Soul 7 in a 180 was downright scary; I had to ski the 188 to get an inkling of confidence. When asked if I wanted the 180 or 187 Sender Ti, knowing its flex and profile, I rolled the dice and chose the 180. After a day at Squaw, I couldn’t be happier with that decision.

7684ABAC-5B47-40AC-B1E6-FC822612630C_1_201_a.jpeg

I have learned to do a little research before taking a drill to a ski. I compare centerlines and profiles with other reference skis in the segment, and since Rossignol provides multiple mount options for the Sender Ti, I can only assume it’s okay to look at options there, too. I used a few other skis that I have in our test fleet for points of reference; I found that the suggested mount point for the 180 was a little forward, so I chose the -2cm point for mounting the provided Pivot 15. Had Rossignol sent me the 187, I probably would have mounted to the suggested “0” line.

835E0DE5-35AD-4B6B-BE4B-92F6ADC5F3ED_1_201_a.jpeg As soon as I got the Sender Ti on snow, I knew I had gone two for two (ie, the length and the mount). To reiterate, the Sender Ti is so not the Soul 7. Where the Soul was light and pinged on the snow, feeling and sounding almost synthetic, the Sender Ti is confidence-inspiring. The conditions for testing were a bit unusual for Squaw. It rained slightly the previous night but never really froze, nor did it get too heavy or even manky. The glossy spots were firm but breakable, and the places people had skied were almost like corn but with more resistance than spring corn. Throw in some flat light in sections, and a ski whose main trait is stability was indeed a solid weapon of choice.

We were only out for couple of hours or so and started on the undulating bumps on the Saddle where the 180 Sender Ti was actually playful. Then we were off to Siberia chair and a couple of runs down the face along with traverses over to East Wall and down. I was duly impressed with the way the Sender Ti handled the mixed conditions, and the 180 never felt short.

The published turning radius of the 187 is 21 m, which means the 180 is probably just under that, around 20 m, and it felt all of that. This longer turn radius was noticeable on the flats, and the ski wasn’t quite as quick across the hill as some others. But that's fine, because those skis aren’t as good off piste as this one. Rossignol committed to making an off-piste charger, and by golly it succeeded.
  • Who is it for? If you can’t decide between playful and power in this segment, this is your ski.
  • Who is it not for: Those who are happy with their Soul 7s should look elsewhere. To quote Albert Potato, “This is not Mel Torme” (obscure movie reference).
  • Insider tip 1: Don’t hesitate to mount -2 (on the 180); it is money.
  • Insider tip 2: I have seen few new ski campaigns receive so much immediate disdain. Come on people, get over yourselves. You complained that the outgoing collections weren’t core enough or that they opened up your stashes to weekend warriors. Now Rossi builds the ski you asked for, and you whine that the campaign is trying to be too cool. You just can’t make some people happy. Lighten up, Francis. Signed, Boomer.
 
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ski otter 2

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To me, this ski reminded me a lot of my Super 7s, not the Soul 7s or the Black Ops, in spite of the width difference. (I believe I was skiing the 187.) The setup was on the line on a crud day when relative stability of a ski mattered.
This is a fun ski, but more work in real crud, at least to me, somewhat like the various Super 7s - especially compared to some of the other new Rossi Sender line which much more take after - and to me improve on - the Black Ops 118; whereas to me, again, the Sender Ti felt more like a modified, wider 7.

The Squad Sender 112, in 192 (or close to that), was more one of the skis for me, an actual charger. Unfortunately for the Sender Ti, the Squad Sender ski was what I was on right before, in all that crud but also in bumps and on groomers. Wow. It took bumps like a hero ski; it carved well fast or slow, but really let me know in the first few turns that it was a ski that was stable, dialed in, safe and easy to ski at speed. Hooray for the new Squad Sender Rossis, at least for me. (And go figure - I was not a fan of the old Squad 7.)
 

DoryBreaux

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I really, REALLY am anxious to get on a pair of these.
This send like it could be the great great grandchild of the RC112 and the Phantom 97. Just without the monster radius (112 was 30-something?).
 
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fatbob

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People reacting to clumsy and cloth-eared marketing is nothing to do with the product directly. But it is a "real" barrier to the products reaching the target market. These skis sound like they'd work great for me and props for making them in a 194. But left to that PR campaign alone I'd be giving them a hard swerve as they make them sound like a wannabe product faking it to make it. Now if I'm an outlier and serious target skiers are going to be seduced by that "free to do what we gotta do" spiel then happy days for them. You roll the dice.....
 

Tony S

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Watch out, Rossignol, @fatbob is bringing out his own eponymous line of skis. "All walk and no talk" will be their tagline.
 
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People reacting to clumsy and cloth-eared marketing is nothing to do with the product directly. But it is a "real" barrier to the products reaching the target market. These skis sound like they'd work great for me and props for making them in a 194. But left to that PR campaign alone I'd be giving them a hard swerve as they make them sound like a wannabe product faking it to make it. Now if I'm an outlier and serious target skiers are going to be seduced by that "free to do what we gotta do" spiel then happy days for them. You roll the dice.....
We can always rely on Fatbob to be a ray of sunshine ;).

One of things we have been trying to be consistent in is while we might acknowledge manufacturers rhetoric, we don't always adhear to it (unless there is some actual substance to it). Most brands approciate that, few do not. We don't want our reviews to sould like well placed ads. There are other magazines and reviews sites if you want that.

Do I think Rossi's campaign here is over the top? Maybe a bit, but I understand the goal, to separate this collection from previous ones and I can't fault them. So they went too far, if they didn't go far enough, some would have whined about that too. For the people who won't buy the ski based soley on the campaign...their loss.
 

AmyPJ

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Saw a boatload of these heading up to EVO from Rossi last week.
Testing is going to be a TON of fun this year. So many awesome totally revamped offerings from the big manufacturers.
 
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Philpug

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I spent yesterday on these at Snowmass and the really does impress. I want to expand a little more on this....
Who is it for? If you can’t decide between playful and power in this segment, this is your ski.
This nre Rossignol is a balance between two of the better skis in this segment, the Enforcer Free 104 and the Volkl Manta 102. The Sender Ti has some of the ease of turn initiation of the Free 104 but the power and confidence of the Mantra 102. It does not convey, the "Come vit me if you vant to live" strength of the Volkl but more "Dude, we got this and will get through it together".

One thing I did notice, and this happened more than once, while I don't have a racer's wide stance, my stance in not narrow either, I did find that I caught the tails together more than once. The one thing I can contribute this to is that the Sender Ti has only 10mm of taper and a 128mm tail is a pretty big booty.
 

dbq

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I see that Rossi has 180 cm as the shortest length.....not interested in the smaller, lighter finesse skier who skis the 170+ length ? I guess I will take my $ elsewhere.
 
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I see that Rossi has 180 cm as the shortest length.....not interested in the smaller, lighter finesse skier who skis the 170+ length ? I guess I will take my $ elsewhere.
I was suprised by this too that the 180 was indeed the shortest length especially consdering that the women's version that Tricia has is a 172cm. But this is also not a finesse ski either, it is definitely on the power end of the scale.
 

GregK

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I see that Rossi has 180 cm as the shortest length.....not interested in the smaller, lighter finesse skier who skis the 170+ length ? I guess I will take my $ elsewhere.

The non Ti version without metal goes down to 164cm. Same stiffness(actually slightly stiffer I’m told) than the Ti but slightly lighter. The Rallybird Ti version goes down to 163cm. All scaled dimensions too.
 

Spooky

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Sender Ti vs Commander 108? I was about to get the Wildcat 108, I'd like a little less tip and tail rocker.
 

MattSmith

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Appreciate the write up. Great info (as always) and guidance. I am anxious to try the Ti. Two questions in the mean time...

1) Any insight into what will become of the existing Black Ops ski line? I demo'ed the 98 width, 192 length and absolutely loved it. I've been waiting for them to go on sale from the $699 msrp. What's the market watch here?

2) How does the Sender Ti compare to the Experience line? I'm on Experience 100's with a 190 length. I really like the ski but it's a lot to handle in a 190.

Thanks!
 
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Philpug

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Appreciate the write up. Great info (as always) and guidance. I am anxious to try the Ti. Two questions in the mean time...

1) Any insight into what will become of the existing Black Ops ski line? I demo'ed the 98 width, 192 length and absolutely loved it. I've been waiting for them to go on sale from the $699 msrp. What's the market watch here?

2) How does the Sender Ti compare to the Experience line? I'm on Experience 100's with a 190 length. I really like the ski but it's a lot to handle in a 190.

Thanks!
1) The existing Black Ops 98 will be religated to the discount rack in a few weeks...especially in the 192.

2) the Sender Ti is like the Experience of the off piste, power to spare. The 187 skis it's full length and as I said in the initial review, there is a 194...that will be on par with your 190 Exp100. I would normally ski a ski like this in a 183-4, but the 180 has been a ton of fun and I have yet to have it feel short.
 
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Philpug

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8CA9FC87-C1D0-4A6D-85D2-4F657A834764_1_201_a.jpeg

Deer Valley was not that Utah light powder that we would have hoped but...the Sender Ti was indeed the weapon of choice for the day. The heavy Tahoe-esque cement didn't phase the new Rossi one bit.
 

AmyPJ

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Deer Valley was not that Utah light powder that we would have hoped but...the Sender Ti was indeed the weapon of choice for the day. The heavy Tahoe-esque cement didn't phase the new Rossi one bit.
That's a sweet shot.
I know someone who might like to take a spin on those ;) :ogbiggrin:
 
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Philpug

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That's a sweet shot.
I know someone who might like to take a spin on those ;) :ogbiggrin:
If he can squeeze into a 295BSL he is more than welcome to. These are mounted with Look Pivot 15's which have minimal travel.
 

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