Salomon BBR Ski, a quick review
Salomon’s new BBR ski – quick review
Red Mountain Resort received a couple pairs of Salomon’s wild looking new BBR skis and thanks to Rory and Norm at the rental shop I had a chance to rip some runs on them recently. The conditions were ideal for this “powder ski that carves on-piste,” with 14cms of snow overnight and 24cms in the past 72 hours. First off, here’s what Salomon has to say about the BBR:
BBR is a ski like no other ski ever made. An oversized, surfboard like tip and rocker shape enable the ski to float in powder and adapt to uneven terrain smoothly and predictably…BBR’s narrow waist and pintail, its short radius and short effective edge on-piste provides great grip and playfulness on harder snow. What Salomon calls the ‘V’ shape, is literally two skis in one.
I choose the BBR 8.9 in 186cm length over the BBR 7.9 in 179cm as it was slightly wider underfoot (88mm vs. 79mm) – still a lot narrow than the skis I typically ride. From what I can decipher, the main difference between the 8.9 and 7.9 models is the 8.9 has a sandwich sidewall and the 7.9 has an “edgy” monocoque top sheet/sidewall with a slightly different tail. Both have solid wood cores and are respectably light. The dimensions for the 8.9, 186cm length are: 147mm in the tip, 88mm underfoot and 102mm in the tail. The radius of this model/length was 13.5 metres. The wide tip has an early rise/slight rocker and a semi twin-tip pintail that is quite minimal (it’s certainly not meant to ski switch).
Salomon claims the unique shape of this ski, with a pronounced pointy tip and pintail, “redefines skiing on all types of snow.” While that may be a bit over-the-top, I can say the claim has its merits. Salomon calls this a “V” shape, the brainchild of forward-thinking Salomon ski designer Bertrand Kraft. According to Bertrand – an avid skier and kite surfer – the inspiration for the BBR came from water sports.
My impressions:
If you like to talk to people in the lift line, get this ski. It was impossible to pull up and not have people stare and answer the obligatory inquisition. People would point at me as I skied by. Heck, even I’d get distracted and look down quizzically at them. But looks aside the most important aspect is how it skied.
On my first run I wasted no time (third chair on a pow day) blazing straight to the untracked goods and ripping as fast as I could to get up again. Any hesitation I had on these skis disappeared in the first turn. In fact, it was so easy to turn these skis in the boot-deep powder that I kept waiting for the “effort” of turning to come, but it simply didn’t. The sharp tip seemed to slice through the powder and the soft flex from the wide front continually pushed to the top of the snow. It’s like riding a longboard down an endless wave.
The narrow waist of the BBR made easy side-to-side transitions between tight trees and I also found myself running them out in open bowls like I would fatter skis. A few small 10-foot drops didn’t deter the skis at all, largely due to the stiffer mid section and tail. It was important however to ensure you skied in a forward stance as the stiff pintails were pretty squirrely should you get in the backseat. With the massive tip I never felt the need to lean back, I just kept my weight forward and charged into the next turn.
“Charging” may be an overstatement as it was fine powder at Red this day and I suspect the soft tip may become an issue if the conditions were variable. But they were confidence inspiring at higher speeds in prime conditions.
On the little piste I encountered I found them very quick edge to edge due to the narrow waste and tight turning radius. I carved turns that made my big-boarded friends point and giggle, but it was a hoot. I could arc more gentle turns with them as well, especially in lower angled powder, but these sticks are snappy like a slalom ski if you’re aggressive on groomers.
Overall, I’d say Salomon is on to something special here. For an expert, aggressive skier I don’t think this is enough ski (maybe a slightly stiffer tip, wider-waist version?). But for intermediate or mellowing advanced skier the BBR has a lot to offer. They’re undoubtedly one of the easiest skis I’ve ever experienced in powder without the girth of the new-gen fat skis. They float well, turn on a dime and are very nimble. If you are an intermediate-to-advanced skier looking for a ski that can rip soft conditions and excel in powder (take your game to the next level?) this could be your ski. That said, if you’ve already joined the fat rocker revolution, you might find the narrow width a bit limiting, especially if you’ve learned to love the smear/butter feeling of wide-waisted skis. I suspect, as we saw with the 1080 twin-tip, companies may be following Salomon with similar models in short order…if they haven’t already.
- Ryan Kuhn
