People are loving the Rustler series from Blizzard these days. Featuring skis ranging from 94 mm underfoot all the way to 114, the Rustler line has a ski for every freeride and all-mountain skier to enjoy. The 2019 Blizzard Rustler 9 is the narrow one, ideally suited for all-mountain thrashing, it finds itself at home on the groomers, in the fresh, through the trees, and anywhere else you can think to bring it. It’s a total Swiss-Army knife type of ski—one that excels at pretty much anything and everything. Featuring Blizzard’s carbon flipcore construction technique, the skis are the top-end freeride constructed model that has lots of different woods mixed into the core. Additionally, the use of metal in an underfoot capacity makes the ski absolutely rail on the hardpack. Like the other members of the Rustler series, our testers were pretty much enamored with the product.
Michael Carroll-Sherwin skied the 180 cm Rustler 9 and had a lot of positive things to say about it. Among them, “the rebound is incredible! Pop from edge to edge leaves you confident and yearning for more!” What a great way to start a review! He gave it 5 out of 5 for torsional stiffness and edge hold, which, for a 94 mm waisted ski without a complete sheet of metal is high praise. In that light, though, he noted that “at high speed it was very stable but their inherent quickness makes hard turns very snappy, so be ready!” This is as a result of the shorter turn radius and the quick-turning nature of the ski. All in all, it sounds like Mike wants a pair.
Kelsey Boleski wanted to take a rip on the 180’s too, and loved the quickness, maneuverability, torsional stiffness, and edge hold of the Rustler 9’s. She felt they lacked a bit in playfulness and forgiveness, but loved the versatility and overall impression. She comments that “the Rustler 9’s feel more stable at higher speed and on harder snow conditions than their bigger brothers,” but felt that the 9 was a “welcome addition to the already loveable Rustler Family.” She concludes by saying that “this could easily be my go-to, every day east coast companion.”
Jake Inger agrees with Kelsey. He, too, skied the 180 and said that “if you could only have one ski, this would be it. The ski is able to handle anything you throw at it; big bumps, steep trails, jumps—can’t find a weakness, this ski was great!” We cannot really think of a better or more definitive review for a particular ski, and it sounds like Blizzard might be on to something here!
Another assenter to the one-ski quiver debate, Justin Perry said: “Just wow! Super-fun. Cannot believe no metal except underfoot. I could ski this ski everyday in every condition.” Justin gave mostly 5 out of 5 scores for the 180 cm that he skied, and did not find anything wrong with it. He simply loved the versatility and stability that the skis provided.
Marcus Shakun, a big guy, skied the 180, found it to ski true to size, and was pretty much all 5’s and a few 4’s in his score sheet. He noted especially how versatile he found the ski to be, and how it would please a large group of skiers from various backgrounds and ability levels. “Steady Betty, Fun, lively, playful, stable, energetic, and versatile,” he says. “Meant for a skier who wants versatility and performance.” Who doesn’t want those features in a ski, amiright?
We had a total of seven skiers test the Rustler 9 for our test, and did not find one negative comment, or any score lower than 3 out of 5 on any tester sheet. While we’re not into winners and losers in a ski test, it’s hard not to note the overwhelmingly positive feedback for the 2019 Blizzard Rustler 9.
