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Last season was our first working with Rossignol, and the brand occupied a minority status in our line-up. We are continuing to learn about the product and develop the understanding that we need to be a highly valuable partner to the brand. Having said that, year one has gone well and we’re excited to continue the process. For next year there is no change to the Rossignol line-up, so I can focus on some basic model descriptions.
The Rossignol skate ski is what brought us to the table, and we haven’t been disappointed. Rossi has always made the most stable and edge-secure skis on the market, with the stiffest material in the load-bearing pressure zones of any brand. This has provided them with a distinctive feel and performance profile, which has been something that Rossignol skiers really appreciate, but that others may not. Last year they introduced the Sx model, which reduces the thickness profile in the forebody of the ski and transforms a somewhat “bossy” feeling construction into a very agreeable ski that still has the best stability and edge security on the market. This thickness profile is used in both the universal Sx construction, and the wet clear-base S3 construction.
The S1 (cold) and S2 (uni) models remain unchanged for next season, with the original thicker profile and stiff material front-end characteristic. Our recommendation is for established Rossignol skiers to rely on their familiarity to make good use of the S2 in overall hardpack conditions, and the S1 in fast cold conditions. Skiers interested in trying Rossignol and taking advantage of their superior stability and tracking should consider starting with the Sx model. And in truth, anybody looking for a clear-base solution for wet conditions should consider the S3, which is one of two really established excellent clear-base solutions on the market, along with the Salomon Red model ski.
Last year we had the opportunity to try some different camber variations in the Sx construction – I picked lower and higher resting cambers, as well as cambers more centered under the foot, and cambers pushed further forward in the ski. These differences created exactly the kind of shift in feedback and overall feel that I would have predicted. But, interestingly, we didn’t identify a particular “sweet-spot”. All of the camber variations produced really equivalent glide performance and responded well to skier inputs. While we didn’t test any cambers that I might have identified as “bad” or undesireable, everything we did try had a remarkably consistent and high level of performance. The same is true with camber height variations. Rossignol is one brand where we can afford to go quite soft/low in the camber without losing speed under active loading. The skis only seem to get really grumpy when we push them way too stiff.
On the classic side we have been skeptical about the approach and philosophy behind Rossignol’s design. The classic skis have the lowest material stiffness in the bridge (by about 20%) of anything on the market. They couple that with a distinctly long bridge camber, which makes the camber response even softer. As a result they are built with a very much shorter camber radius in the bridge. This results in a very high resting camber, and an overall very active ski. Also, in order to develop enough strength in the bridge to hold the wax during gliding phases, the pocket has to be quite short under the foot. The big problem is that the window between too short under the foot (a wooden feeling ski with very little action available in the kick phase) and too long (a pocket that collapses and “inverts” causing super slow and draggy skis) is very small. This makes it tricky to work with the skis.
However, I picked Amy a pair for this past year, using everything we learned in the previous year of testing the skis. The C1 pair that I picked was Amy’s favorite ski every time she tested, which included tests against her previous favorite Salomon Blue model skis, and a new pair of Fischer 7Q2 skis. So… when we get it right, the Rossi classic skis can be amazing. My confidence in absolutely nailing the pick isn’t as high as I’d like, but I do know what we’re looking for to reproduce that success. So if you like the idea, we’re happy to take a swing at picking you some excellent Rossi classic skis.
It’s also worth noting that Rossi is working hard on their classic skis. A couple of years ago they focused on the skate program in an effort to bring their Spanish production skis into line with their French World Cup skis. That project resulted in Spanish skis being used for World Cup podiums. The same attention is being brought to the classic program now, with the goal of having a lower-riding camber with more predictable response and a bigger window for production. We will see how that goes in the next year, and expect to see it roll into production for ’26-’27.