Review: 2018 Blizzard Brahma

Brand: Blizzard
Model: 2018 Brahma
Length/Radius: 173cm/15.5m
Dimensions: 127-88-111

Wow, what a ski!  Let me preface my review by first telling you the conditions I tested them in.  Early March at Stowe after a couple of freeze thaw cycles and no new snow.  The high for the day was about 15°F with a wind chill of around 0°F.  Kudos to the grooming team at Stowe, but the snow was firm!

This was my second day on the 2018 Brahmas, but the previous day had a brutally cold wind chill with about an inch of fresh snow overnight.  The snow was super dry and had blown around a lot.  This left pockets of grippy snow surrounded by bulletproof hard pack, so I noodled around for 2 runs and then called it a day.

On day 2, having already got a feeling for them, I headed straight for Liftline (one of Stowe's infamous Front Four double black diamonds) to put them through their paces in a series of short turns.  They came to life straight away offering a lot of edge grip early in the turn and inspiring confidence.  This length (173cm) is a bit longer than what I'm used to, so I had to be patient at the top of the turn and allow the turn to develop.  The middle section of the trail mellows out, so I could let them run a little more, and then back to a steeper pitch to finish.

The second run was off the Gondola down Gondolier; a straight shot blue top to bottom.  Here I could really let them run and start to carve some turns.  For an 88mm waisted ski they go edge to edge pretty quickly.  At no point did I feel I hit top speed or had to back off because they reached their limit and became unstable.

After that I headed to the beginner terrain on Spruce Peak to give my Dad some pointers on his wedge turns.  Kudos to Blizzard on the camber/rocker profile of this ski; at slow speeds they pivot effortlessly and are not hooky or grabby.  They appear to have less camber underfoot, but also less rocker than the old model, i.e. the ski is very flat compared to say a fully cambered race ski or fully rockered powder ski.  This leads to a more pronounced shovel at the tip and, overall, a ski that you can bend a bit easier.  Accompanied with the slightly smaller turn radius, the ski is more user friendly.

Back to Mt Mansfield to end the day, ripping some more groomers, steeps and even a couple of short, rock hard bump runs.  I'd start each run with more confidence than the last after riding the lift and admiring the trenches I laid down.  You really have to drive this ski from the front of the boot the whole time.  Make a mistake and don't correct it quickly and they will take you for a ride.

One word that came to mind while skiing the 2018 Brahma was neutral.  I could access any of the skills I needed to make the turn I wanted on any terrain.  If you found the old Brahma a bit too much ski to handle, give the new version ago, as I think Blizzard have tried to lower the ability level at which it can be skied, while not losing any of the top end performance.  I score this ski 9/10.  I really couldn't fault it in anyway.  If I had to have a 1 ski quiver, I'd be happy with these.  I didn't want to give them back!