What a super-fun ride! For years, we’ve looked at this ski and dreamed of being in the right zone to properly deploy the Blackops 118 from Rossignol. This 2024 version remains the same and allows skiers in the expert range the ability to stay on top of any depth of fresh snow as well as being able to play, drift, smear, and slarve to your heart’s content. As an athlete-inspired ski, it’s definitely reserved for big terrain, strong skiing, and deep snow. In those realms, this ski reigns supreme. Sure, it’s pretty one-dimensional, but in that dimension, this ski can do no wrong.

Built with a poplar wood core, an underfoot ABS plate, and rubber inserts in the tips and tails, this ski is built to handle aggressive skiing, huge airs, and deep snow. With all of that material being held together by fiberglass and epoxy, we’re looking at a relatively hefty ski. In fact, the 186 cm length hits the scale at 2550 grams per ski, which is about as heavy as it gets. The shape and profile allow it to be surfy, but just by the numbers, this ski is a pork chop. For the weight, though, it’s still got some fun-loving flex to it, and that’s great news for skiers who like the playful feeling of a fat twin tip. The rubber goes a long way in keeping these mammoth tips and tails supple and silent while the overall personality of the ski is very silent and composed.

At 118 mm underfoot, this ski is built to float. There’s a ton of surface area here, and when that is combined with the rocker profile and taper shape, it gets pretty tough to sink this ski. The 146 mm tips and the 141 mm tails lead to a pretty symmetrical shape. The arc is long, coming in at 25-meters in the 186, and this makes the ski very drifty as a result of this blend of symmetry and sidecut. There’s a good amount of taper in the tips and tails, and the one time we got to ski them in about 10 inches of snow, there was little to no submersion whatsoever. Additionally, they were super easy and fun to throw sideways, despite the weight, making them some of the most playful skis in this realm. There’s quite a bit of splay, but it’s at the behest of very long rocker. There’s still camber underfoot, but for the most part, this thing has a lot of bend to it.

The combination of heavy weight, big rocker, long taper, symmetrical shape, and long sidecut creates one of the most floaty and playful skis on the planet. With the inspiration of Parker White, this ski can handle some of the biggest lines and deepest zones out there. There’s always a right tool for the job, and when the snow gets deep and the terrain calls for creativity and passion, there’s not a whole lot better out there than this ski.