The 19 Best Alpine Skis of 2012

Notice something different about ski shapes these days? The rocker revolution of the past few seasons is now the rocker establishment. You’ll find a range of reverse-camber skis on the wall at your local shop, some with just a hint of backbend and others that look like bananas. How to make sense of it all? A smidgen of rocker in the tip and tail typically makes a ski easier to roll into a turn. The tips initiate the turn and then hand it off to the sidecut edges, which finish up with a powerful carve. The more pronounced rocker profiles, while they make turning effortless, are chiefly designed to float the skis in powder and crud but give up edge contact for much of the turn. When shopping, just try to match your day-to-day skiing reality (hardpack, boot-deep crud, thigh-deep fluff) to the corresponding point on the rocker continuum.

2012 Winter Buyer's Guide
Tuesday, November 01, 2011 1

Rossignol Super 7

By: Category: Winter Buyer's Guide, Gear of the Year, Men's, Snow Sports, Alpine Skis, Downhill Skiing
Rossignol Super 7 Skis
Photo: Courtesy of Rossignol

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In more than a decade of reviewing skis, we’ve never had such an overwhelming favorite as the new Super 7, which we tested in its 188-centimeter length. But what makes the Super 7 stand apart can’t be found in the data. In soft snow, you simply ski with less effort—and a big powder-eating grin on your face. The Super 7 achieves liftoff with a spoon-shaped shovel (reverse-sidecut and rockered), a similarly rockered pintail, and traditional camber and sidecut under the bindings. None of these design features is new—they were all part of last year’s S7—but Rossi has refined ideas that were largely experimental in the past. It also added a layer of metal to reinforce the wood-laminate construction and improved the fore-aft balance so the skis don’t wash out or hinge. “You can butter everything if you want to. But it makes nice turns on hardpack,” wrote one 170-pound tester. “Anyone from a struggling intermediate to a hard-charging expert will love this ski,” wrote another. 146/115/123

Overall: 5
Stability: 4.5
Float: 4.5

Brand: Rossignol

$900

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