What's Blizzard up to?

[stuckathuntermtn]

Not sure that's what you want on hard snow. The tail rocker on my R11s makes hardpack and ice scary.

[SchralphMacchio]

Yeah I get it. The camber running length should be longer than R11, not quite as loose as R11 (which can still tear up a semi soft groomer btw). I’m just talking about overall personality as to how it should be distinct from the Anomaly.
I don’t know where to draw the actual lines/specs. It’s a balancing act.
I just think that something skinnier than 96 and more playful than a -10.5cm mount, a little more loose on the tail but still having good bite when totally perpendicular to the fall line is a good starting point for discussion.

[VTskibum]

IMO an R8 should be a similar percentage more 'frontside' oriented as R9 is to R10&11. In a 180cm ski ~86mm underfoot, ~10mm less tip/tail rocker, similar mount point as an R9 and similar flex. Think I could pretty easily get along with an Anomaly 88 or Elan Ripstick 88 as well.

[SchralphMacchio]

That all sounds on point to me. And maybe a touch more core thickness and relative ratio of metal to increase bite and damping. I would love to try a ski described as such for low tide.

[brown9]

How does that compare to a Fischer ranger 94 ?


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[Tony911]

Instead of navel gazing paper statistics, how about demoing the ski.It might not be the exact ski you are looking for but the Anomaly 88 is a pretty great all around ski for anything not deep powder.This is not directed at you but all the talk on this site about ramp angles and mounting points is hilarious. Want to know where to mount? How about where all the engineering, computer modelling and test skiers decided was best. You think they just pull that out of a hat?

[gaijin]

Mandatory-- "Don't feed the trolls."

[Self Jupiter]

Am I off base for thinking that Blizzard could really use a Rustler 8?
Intention: low tide all mountain play ski that has decent bite underfoot on firm

Something like 88 mm underfoot, same -8 mount as the rest of the family, tip rocker similar to the Enforcer 94 and a touch more tail rocker than the E94.

I don’t know who else is making 88 waisted skis that carve decently well but also love to pivot and pop and snake around off piste looking for fun when the groomers are too crowded or boring.

Been looking around for the same thing with around a -6 mount point and it’s pretty tough to find. Custom -1 Praxis MvP 94 checks the boxes for me but it’s not the type of ski I feel like spending a lot on. I’d use them as a low snow ski in New England.

[SchralphMacchio]

Been looking around for the same thing with around a -6 mount point and it’s pretty tough to find. Custom -1 Praxis MvP 94 checks the boxes for me but it’s not the type of ski I feel like spending a lot on. I’d use them as a low snow ski in New England.

If you are smaller like me and don’t need metal, these specs and price for last year’s model are really really intriguing.

https://www.coalitionsnow.com/produc...-that-glitters

I do want some metal though, our resort at 5k elevation gets some gnarly variable high water content refreeze.

[Self Jupiter]

If you are smaller like me and don’t need metal, these specs and price for last year’s model are really really intriguing.

https://www.coalitionsnow.com/produc...-that-glitters

I do want some metal though, our resort at 5k elevation gets some gnarly variable high water content refreeze.

Cool, thanks, never heard of this company or ski. Wish it came in a 180-185 length otherwise it looks ideal.

[SchralphMacchio]

They are a small production women-focused women-owned brand out of Reno NV, been active for 10 years now. They claim to use a factory that has a decades of manufacturing experience, so I’m curious who is pressing for them.

I got my wife Icelantic Maiden 111 skis last year and she loved them in softish snow, so I promised to find her a similar personality skinny ski for hardpack days. Maidens are also -8 and heavily rockered on both ends, very loose and pivoty, but the skinny Maiden seemed to be more park and freestyle focused … and the recent graphics weren’t as appealing as 2022-23 vintage that’s been super hard to chase down.

How this is relevant to this thread: I’ve been thinking about a Sheeva 9 for my wife as being pretty spot on, having a personality similar to the Maiden, way more bite on firm, and more damp on frozen crap, but the Coalition Rebel will have less overlap in that 2-6” of fresh range where a Sheeva 9 can still play nicely - so it will be a very clear decision choice about whether to grab the Rebels or Maiden 111s.

In 100% honesty, my wife is going to decide on 2025 Sheeva 9s vs 2026 Sheevas vs 2024 Rebels vs 2025 Rebels based on topsheet graphic, not based on damping on frozen chunder [emoji854]

My local shop buyer told me to expect much much more appealing Blizzard graphics for 2026 for men and women, as he saw them at the last buyers event, but obviously that stuff is still under embargo for another month or so.

[gregL]

Appealing graphics are in the eye of the beholder. PM me if you want a peak at what they will look like.

[Spooky]

The 2026 Rustler 11 graphic could be seen at the end of Peiffer's KH FWT run. I like the change up from how they've looked in the past few years.

[nicholas.a.porter@gmail.com]

I read through the whole past few years of the thread, there are a lot of people saying the hustle is a poor choice. The logic mostly seems to be that they are the same weight as the Rustler but dont perform as well. I was looking for a good deal on my first powder ski and the hustles 11 are so cheap right now I bought a pair. They come in at 3727g for the pair with all the plastic wrappers. Or about 1863g per ski in the 172 length. So it seems like blizzard got the weight down significantly from when they were first released. Im wondering since this weight seems more reasonable for a touring or hybrid ski if the hate they got isnt really fair. Or do they just not perform very well? I do have a hybrid setup, but will still be riding mostly in the resort. Do these suck in crud and heavy snow? Ill be using them for good days at Mammoth. How are they in the trees? Hard to turn? I snowboarded for decades, but just started skiing last season and Im looking forward to skiing powder and trees next season.

[SchralphMacchio]

If you like to ski fast - I wouldn’t use a lightweight ski like the Hustle 11 or even the Gen 1 Rustler 11 at Mammoth. It’s usually packed down by winds or crowds, and that kind of snow exposes the weaknesses of energetic playful skis like Hustle/Rustler. If you ski slower or are in a rare Tonopah Low or other cold snow / low wind event at Mammoth, the Gen 1 Rustler 11 is the tits, and I’m sure the Gen 2 is even better, I just haven’t skied it, or the Hustle for that matter, but I have a Gen 1 180
Rustler 11 / Sheeva 11 that doesn’t do well at speed in windfunk and heavy dense snow. I have to believe that the personality of the Hustle and Gen2 Rustler are somewhat similar by extension: playful as hell and energetic in dry cold snow but not enough damping and support for heavy Central Sierra windfunk. Someone please tell me if I’m wrong!

I’d personally lean toward an ON3P ski like the Woodsman or Billy Goat. I have all three, Woodsman 110, Billy Goat, and that Rustler/Sheeva. The Woodsman/Billy Goat rocker and damp core can blast through windpacked snow without a care in the world, but that comes at the expense of feeling planky on those rare blower windless days. So I’ve kept all of the above to maximize the conditions spread … but personally knowing how often Mammoth gets 3 feet that skis like 3” in the Noids, I’d lean ON3P way.

$0.02

[bluesbrother49]

"Rustler 11 / Sheeva 11 that doesn’t do well at speed in windfunk and heavy dense snow. I have to believe that the personality of the Hustle and Gen2 Rustler are somewhat similar by extension: playful as hell and energetic in dry cold snow but not enough damping and support for heavy Central Sierra windfunk. Someone please tell me if I’m wrong!"

Gonna tell you that you're wrong, respectively. The Gen 1 Rustler and Hustle come out of the same mold, and are much different than the current Rustler 2. The current Rustler's are more damp, balanced, more camber for better suspension, and hold have more consistent edge hold on firm snow. They are very solid, especially underfoot. I did not jibe with the V1 Rustler's, but the v2 R10 (192) is my daily driver and the v2 R11 is my pow/chop ski. I liked the Hustles actually more than the V1 Rustlers..but I primarily use them as a wide side country/travel ski with a touring boot etc. Nice flex pattern and very smooth. My 2 cents.

[bluesbrother49]

<p>
<em>Rustler 11 / Sheeva 11 that doesn&rsquo;t do well at speed in windfunk and heavy dense snow. I have to believe that the personality of the Hustle and Gen2 Rustler are somewhat similar by extension: playful as hell and energetic in dry cold snow but not enough damping and support for heavy Central Sierra windfunk. Someone please tell me if I&rsquo;m wrong!</em></p>
<p>
Gonna tell you that you are wrong respectively. The Gen 1 Rustler and Hustle come out of the same mold, and are much different than the current Rustler 2. The current Rustlers are more damp, balanced, more camber for better suspension, and hold have more consistent edge hold on firm snow. They are very solid, especially underfoot. I did not jibe with the V1 Rustler&#39;s, but the v2 R10 (192) is my daily driver and the v2 R11 is my pow/chop ski. I liked the Hustles actually more than the V1 Rustlers..but I primarily use them as a wide side country/travel ski with a touring boot etc. Nice flex pattern and very smooth. My 2 cents</p>

[SchralphMacchio]

That’s great to hear! I’ll keep the V2 R10 and R11 on my radar.
No more big Sheevas so they are now all different layups than the Rustlers - in V1 the 180 and 188s were identical save for topsheet, and man those were super inexpensive to buy new on end of season clearance.

[Fred Pabst]

Any difference between this years yellow R11, and the previous year orange?

[JackSkier]

PSA on the Rustlers: these skis have major delam problems, all vintages including the newest yellow ones. I know of 8 separate pairs which have delaminated amongst my small circle of ski friends.

[gregL]

<p>
The Rustler 11 has been yellow for 2 seasons. The orange one is the old design with Titanal spears, not around the perimeter and the sizing is different except for 180. I have seen several delams with the older design, usually where the Titanal starts to taper in in front of the toepiece, none with the new design. I have owned about six pairs of both types in both 180 and 188/186 with no delam problems.</p>