2027 Blizzard Canvas Collection Introduction and First Impressions

On April 16, 2024, I sat in a conference room at the Blizzard headquarters in Mittersill, Austria eagerly awaiting information on a new ski collection that had only been previously teased with comments like “we’re working on something you’re going to like.” The project was called Carte Blanche, a nod to the blank slate approach Blizzard took to the development. Marcus Caston presented the project to a group of media and retail personnel across the industry, and he pretty quickly admitted that what they were working on what not necessarily designed for him and was even a bit foreign to his taste. Twin tips! We were looking at twin tips!

Now, this situation I’m describing happened a year and a half ago, but you’d have to go back another year and a half to get to the actual start of this project for Blizzard. It was, in fact, the biggest development project ever for Blizzard as a brand. Taking a moment to consider all of the successful skis they have produced, it’s quite impressive to me this was their largest development project to date. Over the course of 3 years, Blizzard produced 165 different prototypes with 85 of those making it to on snow testing right here in North America. This was truly a carte blanche, ground up, athlete-driven project. We were lucky enough to try a handful of those prototypes along the way, and the attention to detail and small tweaks being made were immediately noticeable even among the skis we were able to get on. When you expand that to 165 different prototypes, it’s amazing to think about all the decisions that were made, why they were made, and the commitment to creating a truly unique twin tip, which is getting harder and harder to do.

We’ll fast forward that same year and a half from my time in Mittersill to today, and we have the new Blizzard Canvas line! The Carte Blanche name that was used throughout development is essentially gone in exchange for Canvas, specifically Canvas 100, Canvas 108, and Canvas 118. The 108 is available now, and we’ll talk about each ski individually later in this article, but before that there’s plenty more to talk about that applies to the whole line.

First and foremost, at least in my opinion, these skis needed to be different than an already very successful line of skis from Blizzard: Rustler. Rustlers aren’t really twin tips, but they’re not far off. I’m even guilty of skiing a Rustler 9 in the park during some of our first testing of the newest versions, and to be honest, it did quite well. Still, something was missing from Blizzard’s line and it was real twin tips. Since these skis have been revealed, I’ve hard and seen a lot of people talking about how it’s not what you’d expect from Blizzard. I can understand that, but to me, Blizzard has strong history in twin tips. It wasn’t that long ago that Regulator, Peacemaker, and Gunsmoke were seen on the feet of skiers all across North America, and a lot of skiers have fond memories of those skis.

Blizzard has differentiated from the Rustlers in a lot of ways with these new skis, and in my opinion, they’ve done a great job of it. There might be some people stuck choosing between the two, but realistically, that shouldn’t happen very often. So, what’s inside these things? It starts with a relatively simple poplar and paulownia wood core. On the top and bottom of that core are prepreg glass layers each with three unidirectional carbon stringers. One of the most interesting aspects of the Canvas construction, at least in my opinion, is a narrow and thin strip of metal that runs from tip to tail right in the middle of the ski. It’s about 1.5 inches wide and .4 mm thick, and it’s really not intended to do what most of us expect from metal construction. It’s specifically designed to not increase torsional stiffness and they’re really not trying to infuse a bunch of power into these skis through metal. Instead, the metal is used in the pressing of the ski to retain the skis rocker and camber profile through all the use and abuse they’ll see on snow. Through Blizzard’s testing and development, they addressed other skis (not their skis) that come out of the plastic with an excellent shape, feel great initially, but over the course of a season, start to lose their camber and their pizazz. The metal in the middle of these skis is intended to extend the longevity of the shape and the performance of the skis. It’s a story that speaks directly to me as I’m guilty of essentially bending the camber out of skis, especially park skis, and it’s always a bit disappointing when that happens.

We’ll talk more about shape when we get to each ski, but the graphic story is fun to tell for these new Canvas skis. What do you think of when you think of the word canvas? For me, and probably most, I think of art. That’s exactly the approach Blizzard is taking. You can think of these both as skis and as a true canvas. Each year, Blizzard will collaborate with a different artist to develop the graphic for the Canvas skis. For the inaugural season, the artist is Penelope Misa out of Big Cottonwood Canyon, Utah. Penelope is known for flowing, emotional, and mountain-inspired artwork. She took an interesting approach to the Canvas skis through the use of Monotype printmaking. This process creates a single, unique artwork that’s essentially impossible to reproduce in the same form. She drew inspiration from the uniqueness of skiing, the creativity each skier brings to the mountain, and that concept carries through to the skis exceptionally well.

Full disclosure before we dive into the three skis: we’ve barely skied the production versions of these skis, so it would be irresponsible to label anything as an actual review. That said, we’ve skied several prototype versions, I (Jeff) now own one of the latest rounds of prototypes for the Canvas 108, and we do feel comfortable sharing our first impressions of at least the 100 and 108. We haven’t yet been lucky enough to ski the 118, as that requires the right conditions, but we’re certainly looking forward to that opportunity.

At a Glance:

2027 Blizzard Canvas 100 Skis

The narrowest ski in this new collection is the Canvas 100. I think it’s important to include price here as it indicates what existing skis it will go up against. At just $649.99, it’s exactly aligned with the current Bent 100 and Reckoner 102, $50 less than a Sender Free 100, $100 less than a Playmaker 101 or M-Free 100, just to use some popular examples. That’s an impressive price point, and while it’s not like the Canvas skis are packed full of technology, when you consider the development process and the end result, it’s not like producing these new skis was cheap, at least I can’t imagine it was. While these are the most freestyle or freeski leaning skis Blizzard is offering, they’re not just park skis. That said, the Canvas 100 definitely has park potential, and by design. The 180 cm length has dimensions of 132/100/120 mm, so it’s far from symmetrical in sidecut shape, but the tip and tail rocker is more balanced and Blizzard does include a true center mark on the skis, which I take as a nod to the fact you can customize mount point and overall performance.

Coming in at 1790 g in the 180 cm length, they feel quite light on your feet (we’ve actually skied the final production Canvas 100). The flickability of these skis and the lightweight feel is the first thing I noticed, especially if you think about the difference between Canvas and Rustler. They are exceptionally easy to throw sideways. Releasing the tail edge of the ski happens as soon as you even think about it. That concept is helped and enhanced by a good amount of early taper in the tips and tails. They don’t want the ski to hook up and turn if you don’t want it to. The skier is in total control here to leave their personal mark on the mountain. It’s a much more straight/sideways mentality than the roundness of the Rustler.

I do, however, think it’s important for brands to not lose their identity when developing something that’s different than what people expect from them. For Blizzard, I think of strong, powerful skis that can hold an edge well. Even Rustlers with their seemingly endless versatility off a groomer can rip some turns on firm snow. The Canvas 100 has some of that too. Not as much as a Rustler, but the amount these things grip in a turn is quite impressive. Again, they don’t really want to create round carving turns like the Rustler does, and the skier has to be more involved as the rocker and taper in the tip won’t pull you into a turn, but when you consider their maneuverability and quickness, I’m impressed by how trustworthy they are for their weight, their shape, and their price.

At a Glance:

2027 Blizzard Canvas 108 Skis

The Canvas 108 is the ski you can actually buy right now. For the 100 and 118, you’ll have to wait until next season. I’m quite sure when it’s all said and done, Blizzard will sell more Canvas 100 than Canvas 108, which leads me to wonder why they didn’t do an early release of the 100, but to be honest, I’m glad they didn’t. I think the Canvas 108 carries the personality of the whole collection extremely well. If skiers try a Canvas 108, they’ll understand the overall story.

For me, as an aging park skier who loves skiing powder, the Canvas 108is a DREAM. I feel so lucky to own the prototype version I have, which like I mentioned before, it quite close to the final production version. As we’ve basically had more snow than anywhere else in the country so far this season, I’ve actually had a lot of opportunities to ski it. Compared to Rustlers, it’s a much more floaty, drifty, and playful soft snow ski. There’s still a bit of strength to it, like the 100, but it’s not what you benefit from most. It’s ability to bounce, float, smear, slash, and play is immediately apparent from the first turns you make. The rocker and taper lines are relatively long, so again you’re not getting as much bite or edge grip as you do in a Rustler, but you still get enough for skiers who like this style. It’s still trustworthy, while also encouraging you to be silly and jump off of stuff and try little nose butters here and there.

While it’s developed with the same freeski/freestyle focus and mentality, and it too has a relatively balanced tip and tail rocker shape, it’s so good as a powder ski, I think it’s going to extend past the freeski audience for its approval and adoption. I could genuinely see a purely directional skier enjoying the Canvas 108 as a go to powder ski. It’s going to work great for those who want to hit backcountry jumps, do tricks off natural features in the resort, and even land switch in soft snow, but I don’t think you necessarily have to do those things to enjoy it. Each width of the Canvas line increased by $100, which places the Canvas 108 among, but slightly less, than a lot of popular freeride/powder skis.

I’ve been skiing it in the 180 cm length here at Stowe and it’s surprisingly appropriate for our terrain. Sometimes, when you get this wide, they just don’t feel great here in Vermont with our tighter trees and rocky terrain. They can start to feel sluggish and kind of annoying, but the Canvas 108 is nicely flickable just like the 100. I think out west, I’d prefer the 186 cm length, but the 180 has been a blast so far.

At a Glance:

2027 Blizzard Canvas 118 Skis

In my opinion, the Canvas 118 looks the best. I love how the graphic displays more white than the narrower skis and I love the pink accents. I know that’s somewhat superficial, but it’s a really cool looking ski. I kind of wish one of the narrower skis had this graphic just because I think they’re going to be more useful for more skiers, but it’s ok. Blizzard can do whatever they want and I also think there’s something to be said about giving the biggest, widest ski the coolest graphic.

And this thing sure is big and wide! 118 isn’t crazy, lots of manufacturers make skis that wide and wider, but it’s still pretty darn wide. What I like about Blizzard’s take on a twin tip powder ski this wide is they kept it pretty lightweight. There are some skis with very similar shapes and the same width that are so heavy they’re kind of exhausting for me. The 188 cm length here comes in at just 1980 g, which is impressively lightweight for a ski this big. I absolutely can’t wait to ski this thing, and I’m planning at least one ski day at Alta with the Blizzard team in late January, so if everyone could collectively do their snow dances around that time, that would be great. It’s research. It’s very important.

Overall, I’m pretty psyched with this new line of skis. There’s still more to learn. I’m equally as excited to ski the Canvas 100 in the park as I am to ski the Canvas 118 at Alta. I love the 100 mm twin tip range, as many of you probably already know. There are just SO MANY good skis in this range now. To be honest, I was a little nervous that Blizzard wouldn’t be able to differentiate their skis from others in the category, but I’m happy to report they somehow have done just that. There are other skis you can compare them to and they do share similarities with many, but every time I think of another ski and think of one of those similarities, I also think of a list of of differences. More twin tips on the market? I’ll take it.

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