Women’s RAMP Chickadee Review

RAMP Sports is based out of Park City and although a relative newcomer to the boutique ski business, is a versatile operation that builds snowboards for top-level boardercross athletes like Ross Power and Lindsey Jacobellis and distributes paddleboards as well. Their Chickadee ski is a 90-waisted all-mountain ski based off their Woodpecker men’s ski with a little bit of early rise and a flat tail. It’s targeted towards the charging former female racer kind of skier who would be attracted to the carving prowess, fall line power, and stability of a flat-tailed ski like a Blizzard. Our colleagues over at Freeskier awarded it an Editor’s Pick, so we thought it was well worth checking out for ourselves.

 I was pleased to find that the RAMP Chickadee was not some dumbed-down “women’s ski,” but rather a stable, hard-carving and stiff ski that destroyed groomers while its 90 mm waist maintained enough float for seeking out pow stashes a couple days after the storm.  This all mountain ski is at home tearing up all different types of terrain. With a 90mm waist, this ski provides versatility without compromising its carving performance. The Chickadee absolutely rips downs groomers. RAMP hypes their Razor Cut sidecut profile as the reason behind this awesome hard-snow performance. In layman’s terms, instead of having a continuous arc of sidecut from the tip of the ski to the tail, Razor Cut has the edge go straight back from your heel to the mid-point of the tail before arcing out again, increasing the length of the part of your ski that is focused on holding you on the snow in the turn. 

A bit of Kevlar dampens vibrations and works with the plethora of bamboo in the ski, even in the sidewalls, to provide a 
snappy, energetic response in and out of turns and keeps the ski light. But while railing fast groomers is when this ski really stands out, the early rise tip makes initiation of quick turns in the trees easy and keeps the ski on top during those shallow pow days or while hunting out the final scraps from the last storm. 

The drawbacks? The medium waist and small amount of early rise won’t hold up too well on pure pow days or in wet, heavy snow. And if you’re not a fan of products that are handmade in the US of A using sustainable materials, you probably won’t appreciate the construction philosophy RAMP takes to their products. 

The Chickadee is a stellar ride for laying over turns on hard snow and exploring the mountain in search of the soft stuff.  With the rocker in the tip and flat tail, the Chickadee has the feel of a solid, traditional feel without the extra effort. I usually ski on men’s skis and appreciate the fact that RAMP doesn’t dumb things down for the ladies.  When it is time to fly across the mountain, check out the Chickadee!

Dimensions: 126-90-113 mm in the 169 cm length tested.
Available lengths: 149, 159, 169, 179

Did you know that the first Women’s Ski Day is taking place this Saturday, December 14th? Look for a meet-up near you at http://k2skis.com/womens-ski-day