2027 Blizzard Canvas 108 Ski Review

The 2027 Blizzard Canvas 108 is a surfy and fun freeride twin tip that operates incredibly well in deep snow. What’s fun about this ski is that it also has a surprising all-mountain character. Certainly, 108 underfoot is quite wide for a daily ski, but there’s no debating that we’ve had a lot of fun in an on-trail setting on these new twins. Canvas is an entirely new line from Blizzard consisting of three different widths, the versatile 100, this 108, and a fat 118. So far, we’ve found that if you are looking for a ski that is light, surfy, smeary, and playful, the 108 checks a ton of those boxes. We did a Canvas line overview earlier this season, but with many more miles on the 108, we now have way more feedback to share when it comes to on-snow performance.

To recap construction, these skis are built with a blend of poplar and paulownia. They don’t use Blizzard’s Trueblend wood core construction, but it doesn’t feel needed here. We also get a titanal band that runs through the center chord of the ski. This, we’ve been told, is more to keep the shape of the ski intact over time rather than acting like a damping agent, but we have certainly found it to be helpful, at least, when it comes to torsional stiffness management. In addition, these skis use carbon stringers and a fiberglass laminate to boost the energy and responsiveness of the on-snow rebound properties. These materials add up to a weight of just over 1800 grams per ski in the 186 cm length. That’s on the lighter side for skis of this width, but Blizzard does a nice job keeping them feeling smooth and composed relative to that weight. The flex of the ski is on the softer side in the tips and tails, but it does get stiffer underfoot, and that does give the ski its power especially torsionally when you’re up on a higher edge angle.

At a Glance:

2027 Blizzard Canvas 108 Skis

At 108 mm underfoot, this is a soft snow ski first and foremost. It operates extremely well in deeper snow and has a slashy mentality that make it easy and fun to throw sideways and smear through turns. While you can push on a ski like the Rustler, you can push through the Canvas when trying to manipulate the skis’s shape and flex. This Canvas 108 uses measurements of 140/108/128 to generate a 19-meter radius in the 186. We’ve found that to be fairly accurate of what the ski enjoys doing and where it prefers to be in a carved turn. When you release the edges and start to swing the ski around, it’s able to make all sorts of shorter turns of varying styles and degrees. We get a decent amount of rocker, splay, and taper in these skis, although it does still feel like it’s on the directional rather than symmetrical side of the spectrum. That directional nature is also indicated in the mount point of –6cm from center. If you were looking to boost the freestyle and trick aspect of the ski, you could go a few forward from there, but most skiers will likely be happy on the line. Overall, the footprint of this ski is very round in nature, and that is a large contributor to the friendliness and fun-loving character of this Canvas 108.

Jeff here and I’m hijacking the rest of this article. I talked about it quite a bit in our Canvas Collection Introduction article and video, but I’ve known about these skis for a while now, ever since a trip to Mittersill, Austria about two years ago. It was somewhat challenging to keep my mouth shut about them, as I’m sure was also true for others who were on that trip, but particularly for me as this new line of skis speaks directly to me with a more freeski and freestyle focus than anything else Blizzard produces. I was thrilled to be able to spend a considerable amount of time on them this past season; mostly the 108, but a good amount of time on the 100 too. It’s important to point out that a lot of my time on the 108 was actually spent on my personal pair, which isn’t exactly a production model. My pair of Canvas 108 is actually one of the final rounds of prototyping, and is basically the production ski, although is technically slightly heavier. That said, having gone back and forth between my skis and production demo Canvas 108s, it was tough to notice much of a difference. In other words, I feel strongly that the time spent on my personal pair is perfectly appropriate to apply for an overall review.

For a soft snow, powder, freeride ski, the Canvas 108 basically hits all the sweet spots for me. In recent years, there have been a handful of skis in this width range that have worked really well for me personally. The Nordica Enforcer 110 Free (now discontinued) and the Rossignol Sender Free 110 come to mind as good examples. I’ve always loved their shapes and how they take a twin tip personality and repackage it into a highly capable freeride/powder ski. Of course, that’s not necessarily a new thing as there have been wide twin tips for a long time, but those two skis have certainly worked well for me recently. The downside has always been their weight. I’m not that big and while sometimes I ski fast, I generally lean more towards playfulness and creativity in my approach to freeride and off-piste terrain. So, skis like the Enforcer and the Sender Free, while incredibly enjoyable, are relatively fatiguing too. The Canvas 108 applies a similar shape, but in a much lighter and softer flexing format. For some skiers, that’s not going to provide the stability they’re looking for, especially if you’re considerably bigger than me (I’m 5’10” and about 165 lbs) and/or if you ski a lot faster.

For me, however, the weight and flex of the Canvas 108 just works. The smooth rocker and taper lines, combined with the lightweight feel, gives the ski effortless maneuverability. Even with a slightly more forward mount point, the Canvas 108 quickly became one of my favorite skis for navigating the tight trees here in Vermont. In a lot of skis, this width is overkill here in Vermont, but the Canvas is so easy to control, it just works. I found they provide an excellent amount of float for the conditions we get in Stowe. The tip shape allows the ski to sink into the snow just enough that it helps with speed control, but it always feels easy to release the tail edge. It’s always kind of a balance between the two around here. If you go too wide, you plane out so quickly, you just get going too fast too soon in tight Vermont trees. If you go narrower, your tails start to sink in and it requires more active unweighting to get the ski to come around behind you. For me personally, the Canvas 108 just hits that sweet spot of easy speed control and easy maneuverability in trees.

I have a feeling that most skiers would enjoy and appreciate their capabilities and overall performance in soft snow while skiing trees. Even skiers who aren’t used to their more centered mount point would still enjoy skiing them. I think when you get them out into more open terrain and start opening up speeds, there’s more of a conversation regarding whether you’ll like it or not. Skis like the Sender Free 110, M-Free 108, and you could even include the Rustler 11 from Blizzard, exist for a reason. A lot of skiers out there want a shape like this that also boasts strong stability. It’s important that those skis exist. It’s also important to understand that’s not what the Canvas 108 is trying to be. If you point them down the fall line in steep, ungroomed terrain and expect the ski to do all the work for you, you’ll probably be disappointed. If you’re not paying attention, they’ll get deflected fairly easily and you’ll find yourself a bit out of control and honestly. If, however, you’re comfortable on lighter skis with a lot of rocker, you’ll be totally fine skiing fast on them. It’s a conversation we have a lot here at SkiEssentials. The stability and balance here, particularly at speed in off-piste terrain, needs to come more from the skier than the ski. Think of Candide skipping over things as he flies down the mountain. You don’t need to be Candide to enjoy these, but it’s the best visual example I can think of to explain the ideal method of skiing fast on a Canvas 108. In summary, in regards to soft snow, they are exceptionally agile, super fun in tight terrain, and inspire creativity. They’re not notably strong or stable at speed. They also ski switch exceptionally well in soft snow, which is kind of the whole point.

These are twin tips. If you’re not skiing them backwards, while it might sound slightly pretentious, you should go buy a different ski. They want to be skied switch. They want you to land switch in soft snow. They want you to go gather up some friends and build a backcountry jump somewhere, or hike to mini golf sidecountry terrain, or challenge each other to see who can do a 180 into powder off that cat track. If you don’t think like that when you ski, if you don’t like doing those things, there’s a very good chance the Canvas 108 isn’t for you. I skied it on a low snow day at Alta. It would have been a lot more fun if there had been soft snow, but it was a good test for the Canvas 108. It handled a chalky, fast High Rustler lap without any major issues, but that’s the type of terrain where the stability has to come from the skier. Alta had catch fences setup on High Rustler this season because it was such low snow and so fast. Most skiers, in that situation, would’ve been more comfortable on a heavier ski with a bit more vibration damping and a longer effective edge. The type of ski that you just know you won’t fall on. Skiing that terrain on the Canvas 108 required a more delicate touch. Alta is undoubtedly a great spot to take a Canvas 108, but it kind of feels more like a ski you’d take and just session the terrain off the Wildcat lift. Natural hits, jumps built by locals, and one upping yourself run after run with different tricks feels more like the ideal scenario for a Canvas 108 rather than high speed laps down High Boy.

Is it a ski for everyone? Certainly not. Would more skiers out there prefer the Rustler line for their freeride, soft snow skis? Yes, I think so. Almost definitely. I would actually be shocked if that went the other way or even came close to an even split. Is the Canvas 108 a good ski for its intended market and intended use? In my opinion, that’s a resounding yes, and I feel confident saying that considering I fall pretty squarely into that demographic.

Keep Exploring the 2027 Blizzard Canvas 108:

2027 Blizzard Canvas 108 - Product Page

2027 Blizzard Canvas Collection Introduction & First Impressions

2027 Blizzard Canvas 100 vs. Rustler 10 Comparison Article