Rossignol S7 = Cheater Boards

By Merebea Danforth x4236 February 24, 2010

I finally took a pair of these out for a morning to see what all the fuss was about. Sadly I was unable to ski them in powder, but I imagine they do it quite well. They were quicker edge to edge than I though they'd be, and were silly easy to turn. I normally ski a 176 (though I wish they were closer to 180-182) and the 188 S7 was no problem. Compared to a traditional camber ski, I'd say they ski about 10 cm shorter in feel. I was worried that the big fat tip would feel grabby to me (compared to my fairly straight Dynastar Legend Pros) but the tip wasn't floppy at all.

Frankly, I feel like these are the skis that any Joe off the plane from New York can hop on to ski pow on his vacation and not flail on the traverse and groomers back to the lift. The traditional camber under-foot and side cut make them stable, though I imagine that comes at the cost of the infinitely variable turning radius of a full reverse side cut, continuous rockered (reverse cambered) side cut ski. They do not perform as well as more traditional skis in shallower snow or chalky snow, and certainly not on groomers (though you can get by just fine). The S7 seems like they would not be the best of fatty pow skis. To me the S7 feels like a compromise of a fat ski that is easier to ski everywhere else, but fails to excel in any particular category. It never felt bad, but it just never felt all that good either.

View Details: Rossignol Sickle Ski

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