For race-like feel and performance without incurring the X-Ium pricing, the Delta Course Skate skis are a fantastic option—one that you won’t have to really sacrifice too much on performance. With a race skate shape and a light weight build, you’ll be cruising all over the Nordic center on these, using your V1 and V2 techniques to their fullest. For high school racers and competitive skiers, the Delta Course skate skis are going to answer the call with each and every stride. Built with a honeycomb lite core and an extra sheet of carbon for stiffness and response, these skis have all you need to take your skate game to the next level. At 570 grams per pair, these things will feel light on your feet, but thanks to that build and Rossi’s K7000 base, you’ll be moving right along, leaving nothing but long stride marks in your wake. We had a fair number of testers on this ski, as it bridges a lot of different applications and is suitable for a variety of skiers, from ex-racers to up-and-comers.
Peg Lackey skied the 180, and in a true nod to versatility, had all 4’s out of 5 for the scores, showing a consistently high-end feel to the ski. “All around great ski. Felt light on my feet and I was able to turn and carve turns without losing stability and speed. Again, I really like this ski.” Carol Van Dyke echoes a lot of those sentiments, as she too was on the 180. Carol’s scores were split pretty evenly along the 3-4 line, with 4’s for stability, maneuverability, and overall impression. Again, this tight grouping of scores shows the well-roundedness of these sticks. “A good medium ski,” Carol notes. “Felt a little tip heavy, but I could move the binding back to shift the weight, so it’s a nice feature. Not much different in the way it performed compared to the Comp model, but a little lighter with the partial carbon inlay.” Definitely a good thing to note, that this ski basically comes in three different levels, the Course being the highest end, with the Comp and the Sport following closely behind. Our third female tester, Sam Purnell, also on the 180 had all 4’s and 5’s on her card, with the 5’s given for stability, maneuverability, and weight. Sam states that as “the highest end of the Delta line, the Course is a ski I would definitely want for myself. A little more technique required to maneuver and get the most out of the ski.”
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For the boys, Jeff Neagle skied the 180 and had mostly 4’s on his scorecard, with a lowly 3 for versatility. As a high-end skate ski, this is not terribly surprising, as they’re basically built and shaped to go fast in a skate stride, and that’s about it. Jeff states that there is a “notable difference from the Delta Sport. I really enjoy skiing these in a similar sense to why I liked the Fischer Aerolite. They are smooth and forgiving, but fast enough that they feel fun, too. Good choice for a High School racer looking to step up their game.” As a former racer himself, Jeff has some good first-hand knowledge about this. On the larger size, the 192, Marcus Shakun touted the stability and maneuverability of these skis, with each of those categories earning 5’s out of 5. His lowest score of 3.5 for weight still isn’t too shabby, and his overall impression and speed scores of 4.5 out of 5 make a lot of sense for this model. “Super-stable skate ski with a lot of energy. Performed well on hard and soft snow equally as good. A bit heavier than the top end skis, but worked perfectly for my size and weight. That weight did seem to make it very stable at speed in my mind.” For skiers looking for that race-like feel but with a bit more beef, and a few less dollars, the Delta Course Skate is a strong option.
Upper-end skiers looking for that great combination of speed, maneuverability, and stability will love the overall performance of the Rossignol Delta Course skate skis. with similar shaping to the highest-end X-Ium race skis but in a more user-friendly package, these skis will find a bigger audience and have more fun with more ability levels. From high school racers to masters skaters, these skis will satisfy the most discriminating of skaters.
