2025 Blizzard Anomaly 88

All-new for 2025, the Blizzard Anomaly 88 has some big shoes to fill. The Brahma 88 has been a stalwart ski in this division for as long as many can remember, and for good reason. Brahma 88 was one of the most solid, sturdy, and tough-as-nails skis on the market, so having to replace that took some guts. Anomaly 88 is here for it, though, offering a ton of performance, a sophisticated feel, and a more versatile performance spectrum. While some skiers will find that the ski lacks the last bit of performance of the Brahma, it’s probably about 2% missing. That small percentage will not be missed by 99% of the skiers out there. This is a good move for Blizzard, and it’s a great ski. We spent a lot of time on it, especially in the early season, where we got all sorts of conditions thrown at us, including a relatively deep and soft first two weeks of December. Mixed with normal boilerplate early season groomers, and we had a pretty good testing ground for this new stick.

Built from the ground-up with a TrueBlend All-Mountain wood core, the Anomaly features a blend of poplar and beech stringers that run lengthwise through the ski. The Beech occupies more of the middle and central portion to boost stability and smoothness. We also get a full layer of titanal below the core and one full sheet on top. There’s a wrinkle with the upper laminate, though, as it’d divided into three parts. We get two arms on the outside and one central spine in the middle. This allows for greater articulation and edge grip. The whole idea here was to boost versatility without losing carving power, and we’ve found that it’s been a largely successful endeavor. Tester Benny Wax found this to be true as well, noting that the new Anomaly 88 is “Pretty diverse. Skis great in powder, floats easily, carves and arcs smoothly on groomers, and transitions smoothly from long radius turns to short ones.” That last part is the big one. The ski is not locked into a particular turn shape or style, giving the Anomaly 88 an uncommon feel in this realm, with versatility built in. In the 176, the ski still hits 2000 grams on the scale, so this is no lightweight option here.

As far as shape and profile is concerned, the overall footprint isn’t that dissimilar to the Brahma 88. Turn radius is about the same, but the rocker is where we see some differences starting to take form. The tip rocker of the Anomaly is more dramatic than Brahma. There’s more tail rocker as well, but the tips are the more noticeable side. Dave Raybould notes that “There's a reason why this sits atop of the all-mountain category. It can literally do it all at a high to very high level. The width and rocker profile give it some float in soft snow and bumps, the metal makes it stiff enough to carve turns, and the redesign makes it a little more playful and nimbler.” These ideas of boosted versatility show through in the shape. The build is still extremely sturdy, so the shape makes the bigger difference here. Upon looking back at some of the photos we took this past season, a lot of the mid-turn shots featured a tip that was flexed more and rising above the surface. The Brahma simply would have gone straight when encountering new snow. These revelatory shots make the new Anomaly 88 almost Rustler 8-ish in the front—something that a lot of skiers should consider—could be a positive or negative depending on what you’re looking for.

Either way, this ski is still squarely in the expert realm. It’s a bit more accessible, but it doesn’t lose much off the top. The range is most certainly increased to meet in the middle somewhere. This opens the ski up for more skiers, especially in the all-mountain realm versus the high-end carving power that the Brahma 88 provided. Anomaly allows for more discretion on the skier’s part, and that’s a very good thing for high-end skiers who are looking for a more versatile version of the ski it replaces.