According to Rossignol the Black Ops ski doesn’t exist. Except it does. But it’s not in the catalog, so it kinda doesn’t. As confusing as that may be, all you really need to know here is that the Black Ops is a limited production, limited release powder ski. You won’t find it for sale online as the ski is only found in brick and mortar retail shops (like our sister store in Stowe, VT, Pinnacle Ski and Sports). Rossignol doesn’t list many dimensions for the ski and doesn’t get into details about construction either. The only things they tell us are that it comes in a 186 cm length and that it’s 118 mm under foot. It’s also black. That’s more or less all we can tell you about it on paper. It was developed with Parker White and Chris Logan, two prominent Rossignol professionals who are known for taking their freestyle, terrain park backgrounds into the backcountry. This is the ski that they do it on, so if you’re looking to jump, spin, play, bounce, and slash on your backcountry powder missions, it would seem the Black Ops is specifically designed to do just that. We do love Rossignol’s description of the ski’s turn radius: Pivoty Shmear-Fest.
Brooks Curran found the Black Ops to be “very neutral feeling” and that it “lets you do whatever you want with very little attitude back.” That’s kind of the idea behind skis like this: the ski is intended to be skied by aggressive skiers who’s style is specific to their own skiing. The Black Ops lets your personality shine through. Brooks did feel like it “loses a little stability at high speeds, but seems like it would be a dream in deep snow.” We didn’t have super deep powder to test the Black Ops in, and we’re not 100% sure what’s inside the ski in terms of construction, but we can attest that its shape is certainly intended to be used in deep snow and we’re not surprised that it loses a touch of stability as it does use an abundant amount of rocker.
Caroline Kessler thought it would be an “awesome powder ski for an aggressive skier.” She thought it was “playful and fun around the whole mountain,” despite its 118 mm waist width. There is some camber underfoot, so it’s not overly sloppy or unresponsive when you’re not in deep snow and will actually even carve some turns despite Rossignol calling the turn radius a Pivoty Shmear-Fest. Caroline even went as far as scoring it 5 out of 5 for torsional stiffness and edge hold!
Steve Sulin has some advice for you: “This ski is in store only. If you can find one, buy one.” There are a couple pairs at Pinnacle Ski and Sports, which Steve manages, so go pick up a pair from him if you’re in the Stowe, VT area! Steve had a blast testing the Black Ops, calling it a “big fun powder ski.” Steve is pretty well connected within the ski industry and gave us a little bit of insight into the future of the Black Ops: “Limited release, but more models and sizes to come.”
In the meantime if you want this special, limited edition powder ski you’re going to have to do a bit of looking. It’s the type of ski that’s worth searching for if you know what you want. In a world of early tapered powder skis, it’s nice seeing a ski with big, fat tips and tails. It’s undoubtedly going to provide insane amounts of float, not to mention a super balanced, playful platform for throwing tricks in the backcountry.
