Rossignol Hero Elite Skis

A snowHead

I’m looking at getting some Hero elite MTs - either the carbon or titanium, or the plus.

https://www.rossignol.com/uk/catalog/product/view/id/354780/s/rossignol-hero-elite-mt-ti-konect-skis-alpine-rahld01-000-2018-2019/category/411/

I’m using rental 170cm 2017/2018 Rossignol Hero elite ATs at the moment, and really like them.

The new rossignol sizes are 167 or 175, and I am about 176 ish tall and 67kg. Upper intermediate, struggle on steep black runs but get down them. Should I be shooting for the 167 or the 175?

I tried the 2017/2018 163cm AT and it doesn’t feel quite as nice as the 170, but I’m worried that 175 will be too long so am thinking 167?

Should I be going for carbon or titanium? Would carbon be best given that I’m light(ish!)?

Thanks for any input!

A snowHead

Would not suggest going longer, I'd suggest 167 would work better.

Carbon is lighter, less well damped, Titanal heavier, better damped. Personally I'd go metal (it isn't titanium, BTW, just good marketing).

You may find some difference between a rental ski and a retail ski. Manufacturers have been known, especially on "mass market" models, to use somewhat cheaper materials and manufacturing in rental skis, but with the same graphics.

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I haven't used them but based on your stats and preferences I would go 167. Not sure either about the different models but I would tend towards the lighter and softer option. Good choice but quite a high performance ski so get some input from a good instructor to make sure you are using them properly!

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Another option is the React R8 series. I'm 174 cm, 85 kg and have these in a 176, a bit more manageable that the Hero's and although I've only used in a snowdome so far, do all I ask,

I think at your weight 167 is good.

https://www.rossignol.com/uk/railf02-000.html

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Thanks folks - some great advice. I’ll go for the 167 then.

I also tried the Rossignol 84 experience AI 168cm and loved those on a powdery day. I was surprised as I tried all mountain skis in Aspen last Jan and didn’t like them. Appreciate many variables though...

As those are all mountain skis, should I be sizing up to 176cm?

The 168 were great, but conscious of the fact I’ll hopefully progress and I’ve been told to go a bit longer with all mountain.

May buy both skis.

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Just sold my full retail 2017/18 Hero Elite All Turns as I managed to acquire a pair of 2018/19 Hero Elite plus Ti with the intention of selling the one I liked least.

The Allturns have been lovely but the Elite plus are better so the Allturns had to go.

The Elite plus go from edge to edge just as quickly, 4mm wider in the waist, the Elite plus is heavier but much more stiff and stable when the piste gets clattery. Both carve short radius turns easily and open up easily into the longer turns.

One caveat I weigh 100kg and find the Elite plus at 167 perfect.

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@anjunabeats, I wouldn't think the Exp 84s are sufficiently different to the Heros to make much if any difference.

"All mountain" IMHO is 95mm+ ... and I don't think you necessarily need to go longer for "all mountain".

After all it is free

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@Timc, interesting. I got some HE ATs just after you, I recall. Still enjoying them very much as a short radius all-round ski, although I've always really wanted the STs (when I can afford then). Get used on well-pisted and soft, chopped and Scottish conditions.

I was going to suggest to the OP to look at the All Turns - a really good all round ski and pretty lightweight (to carry as well as to ski), a great boon for a maturing, smallish, lighter weight, aching girly like me!

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@Grizzler, Yes, I remember, I loved mine 95% of the time but they let me down a couple of times on early morning steep icy pistes. I got the Elite +Ti's for an absolute bargain from Ebay in the summer, tried them against each other prior to the ski test at Hemel in October and loved them both but the TI's better. Took the Tis in the Pre season bash which confirmed my new love and just sold the Allturns today. I think that the extra stiffness in the Tis suit my 100kg better. Got more for my Allturns than I paid for the TIs Double win Smile

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@anjunabeats, you might have “felt” a difference on piste, but off piste, they are not going to be as much help as other stuff worth looking at Happy

Skis don't know your height, but they do know your weight. 167.

You know it makes sense.

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

@anjunabeats, there are those on here who would disagree but I think about 95-100 underfoot is a good compromise.

If you like Rossis, they have a couple of models, well reviewed.

I’d also think Völkl.

A snowHead

On ski length, have you got time to pop to a snow done before you buy? They often have a single make/model of ski for general hire - but in a range of lengths. Start with one length then swap them for longer/shorter half way through your session.

I'm a smilar height/weight but find I prefer skis that are 'too long' for me. I tried the above test and preferred the longer ones but then maybe I'm just used to longer skis - from memory my old Rossi. Radical 8SL's at 176 and my Sky 7HD's are 188.

A snowHead

@anjunabeats, I tried the Elite MT CA in 167cm at the PSB last year and liked them a lot. I just bought some Elite MT Ti in 167cm and having been using them these past four days at a small resort near Stockholm. I’m 180 and 83 kg and was debating the longer length, but decided to go with the shorter skis. Happy with my choice.

Other similar option that I only hear good things about are the Dynastar speedzone 12.

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@anjunabeats, oooh. Park City. Love it. Yes, Utah snow can be awesome.

After all it is free

Been doing a bit more research as I have time before I pull the trigger on my skis before my next alps trip to the 3Vs in Jan.

Where would skis like the Volkl Deacon 74 or 76 sit against the Rossignol? Would the Volkl racetiger (SL?) be too serious a ski?

My concerns are nimbleness and also not getting a ski that’s too stiff for my ability/weight etc. Stiffness wise the carbon Rossi AT 170cm 2017/2018 was fine. Hopefully the Ti Rossi MT won’t be “worse” for me? I struggle to invest in the carbon MT when the Ti is available....!

Is there any negative to the racing plate versions of these skis as well? I don’t mind spending the money for the right skis...

The deacon 84 was also recommended to me by an instructor (I assume I’d be looking at the 172 of that ski given it has a little more rocker?) as a great all rounder.

On paper I just think I’d prefer to be on a more typical narrow waist piste ski and then get a 2nd mid width ski to go with it for the choppier days and maybe the odd drift off to the side of piste. I have BA gold so it’s easy for me to check in a double ski bag for free...

As mentioned before, I liked the Rossi Experience 84AI on a fresh snow day. As I’m mainly skiing in the alps, serious powder days are quite rare anyway, and the start of this season has been abnormal.

As Under A New Name points out above there may not be enough of a difference between 74mm and 84 or so.

In my mind all roads eventually point to 3 skis - 74mm detuned race ski (Rossi Hero or similar), 84-88(?) all mountain ski and then one day a proper off piste ski if I get more into that. Or have I got this all wrong?!

I am not someone who likes compromise with this - I’d rather look at the weather/conditions and take the right ski out rather than hack around on “safe” all mountain skis whatever the conditions!

Skis I’ve enjoyed on the piste before have been: Rossignol pursuit 500 163cm (a bit unstable at speed though - should have gone longer but I wasn’t ski-savvy when I was handed them in the hire shop), Rossignol Hero AT 170cm, 2018/2019 atomic g7 167cm.

Hated atomic X9 168cm (non wide body)- very dull ski. Not sure why it felt so different from my memory of the G7? It has similar dimensions.

I skied the Volkl Deacon 74 at the OkTest2018 and gave them a 10. Loved them but couldn't justify spending that amount of money (still have an ebay alert set up for them but they never seem to come up for sale). From memory they impressed as great piste skis but were much stiffer than the Hero Elite All Turns with a larger turn radius which may not be what you want at your weight. It is difficult to compare the one ski Volkl Deacon 74 with the Rossignol Hero range with its very varied width, turn radius and even design brief. Definitely the rental AT will be a lot softer than the Deacons.

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That’s useful thanks - yeah, I noted the radius being bigger. Seems volkl skis have tendency to be a bit more “serious” perhaps. Hoping they have some volkl in Utah this week.

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This is a great review of the deacon 74:

http://youtube.com/v/xIpl1341Zt0

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Made it to park city and I’ve ended up renting Rossignol experience 88ti 173cm (I’m 176cm / 67kg) as there is fresh snow and I didn’t want to be wading through it on anything too narrow.

I’m impressed with these skis. As someone who hasn’t ridden on anything above 84mm, they feel surprisingly playful and I had them on some untracked powder and enjoyed them. They’ve never felt nervous or unstable.

In line with my thinking to start with buying both an all mountain ski and a focused piste ski, I may try the Volkl Mantra M5 later in the week once (170 or 177) I’ve enjoyed a few more days on the Rossis.

Anyone tried both of these? The 96mm of the M5 sounds like it will be like a plank to me coming from detuned race skis, but I think it’s worth a try.

I was expecting a wide (for me!) ski to be hard work, but the the Rossignol handle short or long turns really well and blast through crud well. Just require a little more commitment than a narrower piste ski.

88mm is not a wide ski. If you've got fresh snow take the opportunity to hire wider. The original Mantra had the Racetiger GS construnction but the latest M5 is not as burly but you should try it. See if you can get on the Blizzard Brahma and Bonafide's as well.

Open your mind!

You know it makes sense.

Yep - appreciate that but remember my brain is in piste-land still... going to be taken to snowbird this week so maybe will try fat ones there!

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

To update this, having been on the 173 Rossi 88ti all week (which I think is great but just a bit too stiff for my ability/body weight), I tested a few more piste skis for my final day at Park City Utah.

Conditions were packed powder with a nice little fresh dusting on top that grew during the day.

I wanted to try the Magnum in 170, but it was out on test, so they gave me the speed instead.

Head Supershape Speed:
An amazing ski. Felt super damp/a little heavy but glued to the piste on its edges. On rails feeling. I felt like I would have been better off on the 163cm, and I felt stuck in the radius of the ski a little. I was only on it for an hour but, so barely settling in, but it was harder to do the more skidded shorter turns if I wanted to. This is obviously also linked to my ability. It wasn’t a particularly playful ski to me - rather serious and confidence inspiring in terms of grip levels. They didn’t have the 163 to try and I’m not sure I’d want to buy a 163...Based on Head’s description, I had expected the supershape Speed would be too stiff for me to flex, but it seemed ok. Maybe also because I’d just come off the Rossi 88ti which is a surprisingly stiff ski.

Head Supershape Rally 170cm:
I found this to be a very fun ski indeed. Much lighter than the speed, and way more playful. Part of that playfulness didn’t inspire such confidence when around 40mph ish though. At 30mph or so it was lovely in medium radius turns. This ski reminded me of the 2017/2018 Rossi all turn carbon 170 I had skied on in Val Thorens. The radius (13.7) felt about right to me. It was a huge amount of fun, but I did wonder if it would make me lazy technique wise, as it was all so easy. Maybe that’s not a bad thing! Despite being the same 170cm length, it skied shorter than the Speed, probably because of the extra bit of rocker and less weight etc.

Fischer RC4:
164cm. This felt somewhere between the 2 skis for me, perhaps because of the length (I think I should have been on the 171). The edge hold felt sharp, but the ski a bit weedy (length too short). By the point in the day I tried it, there was a lot of fresh snow and it was not the right ski, however I was surprised how for a race style piste ski I was able to blast through quite a lot of powder on it fairly easily and confidently. It felt like a good ski but I didn’t walk away wanting to buy it, but must take into account the wrong length/thicker snow conditions.

Now having tried these skis I have a clearer idea of what I’m looking for in a piste ski.

I may just order the 167 Rossi MT Ti as a “safe” bet, though have only ridden the old 2017/2018 carbon @ 170cm as my next ski trip starts on 21st Jan, and I want something for then...

One question I have is whether the Head Magnum somewhere between the Speed and Rally in terms of stiffness and how damp it is? If it’s in the middle then that’s probably where I need to be.

I felt like I wanted something a little more serious than the 170cm Head Rally (but would gladly ski on that all day long - so easy, just not sure I would buy it), and a bit more fun/lively/playful than the Head Speed.

A ski I’d really like to try is the Dynastar Speed Zone 12ti 166 cm, and also the Head Magnum 170cm. The Dynastar seems to get glowing reviews everywhere but buying it blind makes me a bit nervous.... The radius of the Dynastar at 14m looks more on point than the Head Magnum.

A snowHead

A snowHead

It sounds like the Titans are a good ski but in the context of building a collection I’d perhaps be better off with something like the magnum (or Dynastar / rossi MT) and then maybe the Rossi 84ai as a middling ski which should be even better for soft snow than the Titan I would have thought (which seems to be a wide piste ski rather than pushing towards “all mountain”).

The thing that bugs me slightly about the magnum is the radius being a little short. That will surely be fun, but I feel like 14m or so is probably the sweet spot for a piste ski, rather than pushing towards Slalom. Obviously at 177cm the radius isn’t too short, but I’d be looking at the 170 magnum I think.

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I'm around 178/65kg and loved the Magnums in a 170, when I hired them for a week. I could happily own them - but can't compare to anything else you've mentioned.

The only Rossignol I've been on, were some Zenith Z9s, which made life easier.....but that was probably 14 years ago.

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the dynasty 12's will be a bit more torsionally stiffer than the head titans and rally's and give a bit more edge hold whilst being relatively flexible along the length.

The deacons with a plate are a nice ski with a more stiffer "GS" ski feel if that is what you are after. The integrated bindings on these are pretty stiff as well and seem a solid setup unlike the Rossi ones imv..

The Rossis have so many variants it is hard to compare

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The above replies are hugely helpful for me - thank you. It’s such a minefield out there that all this information is very useful.

Which deacon? The 74?

I think full GS will be a bit much for me as I’d have thought I’d need more space for that.

I’m leaning towards the Dynastar Speed Zone 12 ti 166cm, and there seems to be little bad said about them.

Based on @oldfartbag ‘s build and my tests of the other heads it looks like the 170cm magnum will work well for me too.

I definitely want good torsional stiffness for edge hold, but at 67kg and my skiing level (people say I tend to under rate my ability and I’ve skied since I was 5 or so, but at the same time I personally do struggle on super steep stuff and bumps etc where it all falls to pieces), but also some longitudinal flex which it sounds like I should get from the Dynastar still. The Head Rallys felt super flexible/fun, but definitely had a speed limit.

Obviously a different genre of ski, but a week on the Rossi 88ti 173 and my legs were fairly tired - they feel like a big piste ski with some rocker, yet I could tell this would never have happened if I’d have spent the week on the Head Rally for example.

On the softer snow the 88ti were less tiring as you didn’t need to put them on edge much in those kinds of conditions, but the lack of flex started to bother me by the end of the week. Amazing for blasting through crud without fear though! A taller, more experienced friend who was on the next size up 88ti also felt they were too stiff.

I wish they did flex ratings for skis like there are on boots (even if they are a bit inconsistent...).

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I've got the I. Speeds and love them. They are 177 and I am 186 and 90kg. I really like the radius and love the edge hold. I have tried hero elite long turns off the same sort of length and like them too but the radius is right on the edge of what can usefully be used on a piste with other people. The heads are also similar to the blizzard supersonic or sonic iq (it's been a while since I tried them...), Which were also similarly grippy.

I have a friend who is a more sedate skier and he really likes the magnums which are a slightly milder version of the speeds.

Head make excellent skis, IMO.

After all it is free

Found what seems to be a great deal here:

https://www.speck-sports.com/en/men-s-skis-packs/23729-dynastar-speed-zone-12-ti-spx-12-konect-aw-b80-3607683131624.html?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIkICL0pX75gIVRLTtCh2-ZAOqEAkYASABEgILTfD_BwE

Should I be concerned that the binding says “AW” instead of the “GW” listed on the Dynastar web site?

http://www.dynastar.com/en-us/product/speed-zone-12-ti-konect

I presume it could be a typo, but have emailed them anyway. No response yet.

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