Review: 2012 Blizzard Black Pearl
Pros: Great Daily Driver with tons of versatility
Cons: It needs a big sister in the Free Ride line
2012 Blizzard Black Pearl
123-88-110
TR 19
Designated in the freeski line, the Black Pearl lends itself to the daily driver category.
I first skied the Blizzard Black Pearl at WinterPark, Colorado during SIA ski testing. The groomers were edgeable and chalky.
I started out with a little skepticism that a rockered ski 88 under foot could be a daily driver but the Black Pearl quickly squashed my skepticism.
Transitions from short/medium/long radius turns were a cinch, and the forgiveness in a roller section was......well......forgiving, but the thing that surprised me most was the easy edge transitions, and general (for lack of a better term) grippy nature.
Day two - Sugar Bowl, conditions were less forgiving, skied out and refrozen terrain, mixed with some interesting refrozen snow in the chutes and trees.
Spent the day testing some other skis and switched to the Black Pearls to ski out the afternoon. (about 3 hrs).
The snow didn't soften up like we thought it would, but the Black Pearl stood the test, and made the day fun, instead of just manageable.
I like to think of something that each of my skis inspires and this one inspires RAWR!
This is truly a daily driver that any woman would love!
Follow up:
We got hit with an awesome storm Friday afternoon that dumped 2 - 3 ft of snow,......light fluffy snow!
The bad news is that I loaned my powder skis out, thinking that I was not going to get out today
The good news is that I found out just how awesome the Black Pearls could be in 3 ft of Powder!!
I figured I had nothing to lose, except a day of skiing fresh powder if I didn't take these out. What I didn't expect was an 88 mm waisted ski to slay it like these did.
Would a 110ish waisted ski with rocker be a better tool for the day? Maybe, but I had no regrets and may just opt to take the Black Pearls out on the next powder day, even if I have my powder skis available.
Bob Barnes would be proud
What a great day!
Participate in discussion of this review here:
http://www.epicski.com/forum/thread/102572/review-2012-blizzard-black-pearl
