The Firebird SRC is more or less designed for one thing: making precise short-radius turns on firm snow, and it does that darn well. The Firebird collection was developed to bring some fun back into the world of frontside carving, or as Blizzard states, a "rock n' roll attitude with Austrian engineering to back it up." Makes perfect sense to us, and we could basically end this write-up right after that quote and you'd walk away with a pretty good understanding of the ski. If you know us, however, that's not really out style. We'll poke and prod at a ski more than any other company out there. Why? Well, mostly because we just like skiing a lot, but we also like to paint out own picture of what a ski is like. So, what's the recipe of the Firebird SRC? 68 mm waist width, 12.5 m turn radius in the 165 cm length, two sheets of metal, and Blizzard's Carbon Armor and Carbon Spine technology.
ROCKER PROFILE
Camber
CORE MATERIALS
Carbon Armor and Carbon Spine
PREFERRED TERRAIN
Groomers
That mouth-watering recipe leads to an ultra-quick ski that loves to make slalom style turns on firm snow. Marcus Shakun got on that 165 cm length with the 12.5 m turn radius and called it a "precise leg burner." Marcus awarded the Firebird SRC 5 out of 5 scores for stability, quickness/maneuverability, and torsional stiffness/edge grip. In fact, only flotation and versatility dropped below 4 out of 5, which makes sense. The 68 mm waist isn't going to float much, and the Firebird SRC has a pretty darn specific goal. "Meant for the guy who wants to make the most turns in the day. Firm snow or corduroy, don't take it off trail. Doesn't like to run straight or make anything other than short radius turns. Be ready to hit the hot tub and ice packs after a full day of skiing this ski… as well as a cold six pack of beer." Make a bunch of turns, then apres in a hot tub? Sounds good to us, Marcus.
Jeff Neagle also tested the 165 cm Firebird SRC. His scores practically matched Marcus' identically. High scores for stability, quickness, and edge grip, with versatility and flotation both dropping to pretty low scores. "I don't spend much time on skis like this. I like frontside carving skis, but slalom radius skis aren't really my cup of tea. That said, I had fun skiing these. I wouldn't necessarily want to ski them every day, but boy do they generate some G-Forces and lateral acceleration. You have to be on it because the ski is so quick. If you're not, you'll find yourself late, then later, then super late, then you'll have to shut it down. If you're on it and stay on top of the skis, however, it's super fun." Jamie Stewart also tested the 165 cm and again his scores were very similar to both Marcus' and Jeff's. "If you want to make a lot of turns and you ski somewhere with a lot of groomers, this would be a great pick. Not too edgy or demanding to ski, but if you want to really get the most grip out of it, it should be skied pretty aggressively." It's nice to know that Jamie didn't necessarily find it as demanding as Jeff, although we do think it's safe to say the Firebird SRC is more in line with an advanced/expert level skier rather than an intermediate.
Ex-racers who love to harken back to their glory days, ski instructors who like to show off, maybe you've got a local slalom ski bum race league, there are plenty of people who will really like this ski. You should remember that it's pretty focused on one type of performance, that being quick turns on firm snow. It's not an all-mountain ski, you probably shouldn't take it off trail, at least not very often, but if you're looking to lay down a ton of slalom radius turns, it doesn't get much better or more rewarding than the Firebird SRC.
