Blizzard Rustler 11

A snowHead

Got a chance to ski on the Blizzard Rustler 11 last weekend at local ski hill. Conditions were fast hard groomers up high. Lower down the spring warmth softened things up nicely. Off-piste was 30cm of cut up pow from a storm that had come through the day prior. Temps had gotten up to just about 0C at the end of the prior day, so the snow was a bit on the heavier side, and on South and SW facing aspects a bit of a very slight hint of a freeze layer underneath 5cm that had fallen during the night. Suffice to say variable conditions were on hand for anyone venturing off the groomer trails.

The new Blizzard Rustler 11 is brand new offering from Blizzard and replaces the venerable Gunsmoke that had quite the cult following. Dims for the 180cm version that I demo'd were 139-112-129. The 188cm version is 142-114-132. The Rustler comes with both tip and tail rocker, however, the tip rocker is very gradual and the tail rocker is very subtle and minimal. Blizzard also has changed the layup of the Rustler from the now retired Gunsmoke version. There is a layer of titanal that is tapered toward the tip and tail. They are relatively light with a ISO-Paulownia-Balsa-Poplar-Beech wood core. The titanal layer adds a nice bit of stiffness under foot, and as it tapers it gives the ski a nice feel in the chopped up crud and cut up pow that I was playing in off-piste.

I really liked the feel of the Rustler 11 in the variable conditions I found them in. The ski has a nice damp feel, but not so damp that it feels dead. There was not tip deflection as I plowed through and over the snow. There also was no noticeable tip flap, or any issues with tip deflection. Blizzard mentions their carbon flip core technology, so that may be part of the reason the tip feels solid but with reduced weight in both the tip and tail, the ski has a nice bit of liveliness to it. There's a not much camber in the ski. It's not flat but pretty close. Sorry no profile pics. So it is somewhat amazing just how easy it is to just put the ski on edge and crank out nice tight turns. At 180cm the Rustler 11 has a 19m radius. At 188cm you are at 21m's. The blizzard goes all the way up to 192cm, and the shortest version is 164cm.

For me at 77 kilos and 180cm in height, I felt the 180cm was a very easy ski to rip on. Moguls were no problem. It's easy to release the edges and schemer the turns or just give a bit of ankle flexion and carve. The subtle tail rocker allowed me to release the tails and slide through the moguls. I did manage to find a small stash of untracked 30cm deep pow to float through, and it was quite apparent that the ski planes right up on the snow, even at just moderate speeds.

While taking these back to the demo tent I ripped through a nice bit of untracked heavy wet snow toward the bottom of the ski resort. Ski tracked nicely, and carved trenches with aplomb. I really like that Blizzard toned down the tip rocker. Much more subtle than the Rossignol Soul 7's but gives up nothing in way of float. I didn't encounter any issues with the tips hooking in the powder or cut up crude. In terms of versatility, there really was no terrain or snow conditions that the Rustler 11 didn't excel at. Truly a fun ski to be on. It was very easy to just get on it and ski. Feels like a really nice, large sweet spot whether you want to ski with forward pressure, or more neutral stance and ski it on the center. Tail felt solid and would probably be just fine if you felt so inclined to huck a few cliffs for the young ones.

Basically Blizzard IMO knocked this one out of the park, and nailed the design and made a major improvement over the Gunsmoke. This could almost be a one ski quiver ski. Powder day? No sweat. Day after pow day in cut up pow and crud? Absolutely! A week after a storm and nice fresh, velvety corduroy? Sure, no problem. Even on hard firm packed groomers this ski would be easy to handle.

A snowHead

Thanks for the write up, great info

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Blizzard Rustler 11

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