We always want what we can鈥檛 have. Or better yet, what only a few of us can have. Many of our favorite brands have released limited edition skis this fall, adding a little freshness to the ever-revolving cycle of annual ski launches.

This season, we鈥檙e excited to see skis that highlight unique artist collabs and fundraisers, celebrations of brand heritage, and even a nod to some old fan favorites of the past. Here are a few of our favorite limited edition skis this fall that celebrate ski culture far and wide鈥攇et 鈥榚m before they鈥檙e gone.

Rossignol Sender 90 Share Winter Giveback Ski ($450 with bindings)

Lengths: 130, 140, 150, 160, 170, 180cm
Dimensions: 118-90-106 (160cm)

It鈥檚 one thing to donate to an organization. It鈥檚 another to bring that organization鈥檚 work front and center on a pair of skis. Rossi to create a limited edition of their Sender 90 Pro skis in celebration of expanding diversity and accessibility to snowsports. La鈥檉ord selected Andre Thomas, a student from the Bronx in New York City who learned to ski through his school鈥檚 ski and snowboard program, to collaborate with her on the ski鈥檚 topsheet artwork. Thomas was inspired by the idea of moving fast through the mountains in contrast with a quiet, glowing sunset, and the skis are a reflection of his time on snow聽at Mountain Creek, New Jersey. With a 90-millimeter waist width and a generous size run鈥攆rom 130 centimeters to 180 centimeters the Rossignol Sender 90 is a versatile all-mountain ski designed for a wide variety of skiers of different ability levels. All proceeds (yes, the full 100 percent) from the sale of this limited edition ski will go directly to the Share Winter Foundation.

Blizzard Sheeva 10 Hilaree Nelson Ski ($850)

Lengths: 162, 168, 174cm
Dimensions: 133-102-122 (168cm)

Paying homage to Hilaree Nelson, the late pack-leading She Wolf, is bright and beautiful. The artwork on these skis, created by Blizzard Tecnica ambassador Malia Reeves, was inspired by Nelson鈥檚 two proudest accomplishments: her first descent of the Lhotse Couloir (accomplished with partner Jim Morrison); and raising her two boys. Much like Nelson, the is powerful and fun-loving, with a 102-millimeter waist that鈥檚 right at home exploring back bowls and steep trees. Fully redesigned for the 2023-24 season to bring more energy and liveliness to each turn, the Sheeva 10 is the kind of ski that makes you feel like you can do just about anything (a perfect homage to Nelson herself). One-hundred-percent of the proceeds from each pair will be donated to the Hilaree Nelson Fund, which provides financial support for climate change initiatives and scholarships for female empowerment in the outdoors.

Line Bacon 122 TWall ($850)

Lengths: 170, 178, 185cm
Dimensions: 152-122-144 (178cm)

The popularity of mega-fat skis has waned somewhat in the past decade, so this limited edition run of the Line Bacon 122 is a welcome return for pow seekers. You鈥檒l only find 300 pairs of these worldwide. Not every day calls for a seriously fat ski like this, but when you need 鈥榚m, you need 鈥榚m., With a 122-millimeter waist, the Bacon 122 sits at the top of the Bacon collection (see the more modest Bacon 108 or Bacon skis for the other 95 percent of ski days). A specific tool for a specific type of skier, the Bacons are built with thick sidewalls (designed to stand up to sliding rails and other park shenanigans) and a symmetrical flex that allows an even, stable feel while riding switch. It鈥檚 a ski that turns the whole mountain into a playground, designed for those with the itch to butter, stomp, and slarve their way through deep snow. If you miss out this round, fear not: The regular edition of the Bacon 122 will be available in the fall of 2024 (you just won鈥檛 get the Tom Wallish touch).

Nordica Unleashed 90 Cultura ($449)

Lengths: 144, 152, 160, 168, 174cm
Dimensions: 122-90-111 (160cm)

The Cultura, a , and Evo, is a limited edition version of Nordica鈥檚 Unleashed 90 that aims to raise money and awareness for Latinx advocacy groups. Proceeds from each ski ($150 per pair) will support the , , and . Lemus, who designed the top sheets for the skis, wanted to incorporate colors and images that reflect his Latino heritage, and the Cultura celebrates and embraces a more diverse ski culture as a result. The ski itself is an all-around resort ski, built with full wood core, tip and tail rocker, and a 90-millimeter waist that makes for a playful and friendly freeride ski. It comes in a wide size range (144 through 174 centimeters), suitable for up-and-coming rippers and advanced skiers alike. Nordica only produced 250 pairs of the Cultura, which are sold exclusively at evo.com and Nordica.com.

V枚lkl V.Werks 100 ($2,500)

Lengths: 170, 178, 186cm
Dimensions: 140-100-122 (178cm)

One hundred years of making skis calls for celebration. The V.Werks 100 is a nod to V枚lkl鈥檚 major milestone, a culmination of the German manufacturer鈥檚 century of expertise in ski development. V枚lkl released just 1,923 pairs of these limited edition skis (do some basic math and you鈥檒l get why the odd number), which join the lightweight, performance-oriented V.Werks collection (V枚lkl鈥檚 line of skis that use top-shelf construction). With a versatile 100 millimeter waist width, the V.Werks 100 was designed as a hybrid ski for inbounds and out-of-bounds skiing. Flax fibers create stiffness without carbon, and a zippy 17-meter turn radius (178cm) and tip and tail rocker allow this ski to remain responsive and reliable in variable snow, powder, and hardpack alike. Like the rest of the V.Werks collection, it comes with a hefty price tag; think of it as a collector鈥檚 item you can actually play with.

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The post Run, Don鈥檛 Walk, to Get These Limited-Edition Skis Before They鈥檙e Gone appeared first on 国产吃瓜黑料 Online.

If you鈥檝e glanced at our annual Winter Gear Guide before, then you know the name . If you鈥檝e leafed through our all-mountain and powder ski reviews, you know Blizzard鈥檚 legendary Rustler and Sheeva freeride line. Just this last year, all three Sheeva and Rustler models made the ten-best skis list in our digital gear guide. So why then, you might ask, did Blizzard decide to this year? We had the same question. This fall, I flew to Blizzard鈥檚 factory in Austria to find out.

Behind the Brand

I arrived on the train from Salzburg to Kitzb眉hel in mid-October, where I met a few members of Blizzard鈥檚 marketing team and two other journalists. We caravanned through the countryside of the Austrian Alps until we turned a bend at the top of a peak and found the quaint village of Mittersill nestled in the middle of the valley. The majority of Mittersill鈥檚 5,464 occupants work on the mountainous, near vertical farms that surround the village, or in the tourist shops and cafes in town. But around 300 of these people commute every morning to one of the largest buildings in the village, the Blizzard ski factory鈥攁lso known as the Tecnica Group Ski Competence Center.聽

Built in 1946, the factory produces around 230,000 skis per year, including skis for a few other brands. Inside the factory, fast-moving workers greeted us with warm and busy smiles as they moved efficiently around massive metal machinery. There were the people in charge of molding the skis, who oriented each layer of material just so that the machine pressed them down at an extreme force to meld them together. There were the ski finishers鈥攐ne of whom was working the band saw to remove excess raw material from the ski after it had been molded. He grinned and waved at us with one hand while his other hand moved at the speed of light, fingers inches away from an absurdly sharp blade. There was the woman whose sole duty it seemed was to carefully watch one conveyer belt, simply to make sure each ski received Blizzard鈥檚聽 鈥淟ive the Moment鈥� motto stamped onto the sidewall.

Then there鈥檚 the man who presides over them all: Blizzard鈥檚 head of product development, Stefan Moser. Austrian and soft-spoken, I had to tilt my ear about a foot away from Moser鈥檚 face to hear him above the roar of the machinery. Once I did though, I realized his quiet nature belied his expertise.聽

Moser, an expert skier himself, is the one who takes testing feedback from Blizzard athletes like Marcus Caston and Cate Zeliff, makes sense of it all, and translates that into actual physical changes in ski design. Moser, Blizzard鈥檚 product team, and Blizzard athletes in collaboration played the central role in the redesign of the Sheeva and Rustler collections.

2023鈥�24 Blizzard Rustler/Sheeva Tech and Changes

Ever since the Rustler launched in 2017 and the Sheeva in 2014, the skis have dominated the freeride marketplace鈥攚inning rave reviews and awards in 国产吃瓜黑料鈥檚 and Ski鈥檚 gear tests as well as from professional athletes and consumers. Last year, I wrote that though our testers felt the Sheeva 10 hammered 鈥渙n the hardpack due to its responsiveness and energy, they were equally impressed by its off-piste abilities.鈥� Simply put: they鈥檙e excellent skis.

But throughout the years, Blizzard athletes and testers noted one small but consistent shortcoming in these skis鈥� performance: their flex profiles. 鈥淚t was the hinge points in the tips and the tails that would break down in certain conditions,鈥� said Caston as we took a lap up the Kitzsteinhorn glacier. 鈥淟ike if you were on a groomer, it was initiating or finishing the turn, and in powder, the [Rustler] 11 would push up.鈥�

After some tinkering, Moser and his team pinpointed the cause of this hinge point: it started with the DRT (Dynamic Release Technology) plate inside the ski. The DRT plate is essentially a layer of titanal in the binding area of the ski, which is supposed to add stability underfoot while allowing the tips and tails to remain soft and playful. While the DRT plate accomplished just that, its position underfoot created issues when skiers attempted to smoothly transition energy from the center of the ski to the tips and tails.

To combat this, Blizzard added its FluxForm technology to the new Rustlers and Sheevas, which allows the frame of the ski to reach all the way from the tail to the tip. In this tech, two pieces of titanal run all the way down either edge, while a third solid platform of titanal remains underfoot. The idea is that the platform underfoot will help provide stability, while the gap in the middle of the ski towards the tip and tail will keep it playful and soft. The Sheevas and the Rustlers have slightly different FluxForm patterns per model (for example, the 9 models have more titanal than the 10鈥檚 and 11鈥檚.)

To create a more consistent feel within the ski, Blizzard also applied its Trueblend Freeride Woodcore technology. The technology behind Trueblend is in the name: three different types of wood (paulownia, poplar, and beech) are blended together at different lengths within the 9, 10, and 11 skis, which creates a more precise flex profile in each model. Again, the result is a ski that鈥檚 softer in the tips and tails and harder in the center while maintaining a medium flex in front of and behind the bindings. Past iterations of the ski also achieved this to a certain extent, but the Trueblend helps to create a more seamless transition.

From the outset of this redesign, the goal was never to entirely scrap the old Rustler or Sheeva construction. The Blizzard team recognized that they already had a good thing going; they just realized they had an opportunity to make a great thing even better.

鈥淲e didn鈥檛 change the goal鈥攚e didn鈥檛 change the idea of the ski鈥攚e created a better way of getting there.鈥�

鈥淭he idea of our technology in the first [Rustler-Sheeva] theoretically was the right theory. We didn鈥檛 want to change the theory on what we were trying to do, we wanted to improve on how the tech was reaching that goal,鈥� said Blizzard鈥檚 animated North American director of marketing, Frank Shine. 鈥淔luxForm is the next step in achieving that same goal. We didn鈥檛 change the goal鈥攚e didn鈥檛 change the idea of the ski鈥攚e created a better way of getting there.鈥�

But if there鈥檚 one aspect of the brand I took away from the trip, it鈥檚 just how athlete-driven Blizzard is. Caston, like other Blizzard athletes, has been intimately involved in the 2023 Rustler and Sheeva redesigns (Blizzard鈥檚 athlete-driven research and design approach to ski development is partly why Caston has stayed with the brand for so long). From touring the factory to testing the skis on the glacier to recapping our response to skis over Witbier at the end of the day, Caston was always part of the conversation.

鈥淸Blizzard] knows how I ski. When I talk with Stefan he knows like okay鈥攈e skis like a racer at the front of the boot, whereas the other guys are more playful, so the feedback they get is different,鈥� said Caston. 鈥淭hat was the success that Blizzard had to begin with鈥攖heir skis weren鈥檛 just for experts or beginners鈥攁nybody could use those skis. They were easy to ski, but they didn鈥檛 have a speed limit. So that鈥檚 kind of like the Rustlers now.鈥�

First Review: 2023鈥�23 Blizzard Sheeva聽

I first tested the new Sheeva and Rustler skis at Austria鈥檚 Kitzsteinhorn glacier, one of the main resorts closest to Mittersill. After a thirty-minute drive and three separate gondola rides, the Blizzard team and I arrived at a tow rope at the top of the glacier, which took us up to the only two runs open at this time of year in October. Europe had experienced a warmer-than-average summer and fall, and as a result, we encountered spring-like conditions, even on this year-round glacier at 10,509 feet. Variable conditions like these don鈥檛 usually inspire confidence, especially not when it鈥檚 your first run of the season. But the new Sheeva 9, 10, and 11 handled the mix of ice and slush with ease.

The first thing I noticed about the new Sheeva 9 was how much more intuitive it felt compared to the previous iteration. The ski turned smoothly through a mix of icy and slushy moguls鈥攚hile the older versions felt more hooky and less forgiving. In a way, this made the ski feel more energetic because it was easier to turn. When I attempted to chase Caston and Anne Wangler, a German Blizzard athlete, down the last variable run of the day, I didn鈥檛 notice a speed limit. The ski felt more stable than before, but the responsiveness that the previous Sheeva is known for is still there.

There鈥檚 no denying that the Sheeva is still a rather stiff ski (metal, which adds torsional rigidity, will do that), but after a few runs, it felt like an approachable ski that wanted to move with me. It was excited to go where I wanted to lead, as long as I stayed relatively on top of it.

I got on the 10 and 11 for a few runs as well and was surprised at how easy to ski it felt in the conditions (the 11 is 112 millimeters underfoot, and the 10 is 102). The 11 held its own in the choppy snow, and I got a couple of good carving turns in there, although it didn鈥檛 want to stay on edge on the hardpack quite as long as the 9 and 10.

After I flew back to the U.S., I got back on the new Sheevas about a month later in Vail, where Ski hosted its annual Ski Summit to meet with brands about their upcoming products. Vail had just received around 10 inches of snow in the days before, so we had those perfect, soft groomers that the resort is known for. We didn鈥檛 get to test the skis as much off-piste, but the general consensus seemed to be the same: the new Sheevas are as versatile and lively as ever, but more stable and intuitive than before.

It鈥檚 hard to change a product that鈥檚 been consistently doing well. And yes, it will take more testing and more skiers to decide if the change was worth it. After all, we all know that if it ain鈥檛 broke, don鈥檛 fix it. But should good sales and good reviews halt progress? Ultimately, Blizzard answered that question with a sound 鈥渘o鈥� in its revamping of the Sheeva and Rustler collections. Maybe the old collections weren鈥檛 broken, but what also isn鈥檛 broken is Blizzard鈥檚 strategy to listen to its athletes, and to continue its innovation.

2023鈥�23 Blizzard Sheeva Specifications

Blizzard Sheeva 9

• Lengths: 152-156-162-168-174 centimeters
• Sidecut: 129-96-118,5 millimeters (174)
• Radius: 12; 13; 14; 15; 16 meters

Blizzard Sheeva 10

• Lengths: 156-162-168-174-180 centimeters
• Sidecut: 133,5-102-122,5 millimeters (174)
• Radius: 13,5; 14,5; 15,5; 16,5; 17,5 meters

Blizzard Sheeva 11

• Lengths: 168-174-180 centimeters
• Sidecut: 140-112-130 millimeters (174)
• Radius: 16; 17,5; 19 meters

2023-鈥�23 Blizzard Rustler Specifications

Blizzard Rustler 9

• Lengths: 162-168-174-180-186 centimeters
• Sidecut: 131,5-96-121 millimeters (180)
• Radius: 14; 15; 16; 17; 18 meters

Blizzard Rustler 10

• Lengths: 162-168-174-180-186-192 centimeters
• Sidecut: 134-102-123 millimeters (180)
• Radius: 14,5; 15,5; 16,5; 17,5; 18,5; 19,5 meters

Blizzard Rustler 11

• Lengths: 168-174-180-186-192 centimeters
• Sidecut: 142-114-132 millimeters (186)
• Radius: 16; 17,5; 19; 20,5; 22 meters

More 2023 Gear Reviews

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