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2022 Rossignol Experience 86 Ti

SkiTalk Test Team

Testing skis so you don't have to.
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Philpug: To quote Jon Lovett, “That's the ticket.” The original Experience 88 was a binary wide carver with a flared tip and tail. The outgoing Exp 88 was a relaxed, easy-skiing 88 with a gradual tip. With the new Experience 86 Ti, Rossignol has brought the pendulum back to incorporate the best of both skis. The 86 Ti has married the two best attributes: the shape in the tip and tail of Gen 1 and the rise of Gen 2. These are two positives that do work together.

This new Rossignol had a construction that holds on the hard snow and enters and finishes a turn with the precision of a strong 86 yet doesn’t get hung up in the mixed conditions and bumps. I am not sure you can ask anything more from a ski in this class.

Insider tip: Bypass the Konect system and slap on a Pivot 15; you won’t be disappointed.​
 
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Who is it for?
Rippers, let 'em run.
Who is it not for?
Lighter finesse skiers might get bucked a little, but no worries because there is a lighter basalt version or even a narrower 82mm Ti offering.
Skier ability
  1. Advanced
  2. Expert
Ski category
  1. Frontside
  2. All Mountain
Ski attributes
  1. Groomers
  2. Moguls
  3. Off Piste
Segment
  1. Men

Specifications

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Available sizes
167, 176, 185
Dimensions
132-86-112
Radius
16m@176cm
Rocker profile
  1. Camber with tip rocker
Size Scaling
  1. None
Construction design
  1. All new
Binding options
  1. Flat
  2. System
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Philpug

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Long term update: Have I mentioned that I like what Rossignol did with the all new Experience 86Ti? No? Well I do. The Experience 86Ti is indeed the best of the previous two incarnations, tight and solid built in turn of the original Experience 88 and the mixed snow versatility of the previous generation. How smooth is this new ski? I skied it all morning without ever setting the bindings, they were set on a 5.
 

Philpug

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tempImageh3XUU7.png
Long term update:
I was hoping to spend more time on the 86Ti today, it was going to be a groomer zoomer day ... or at least I hoped it was. We got to Mt. Rose and the sky was blue and the main arteries were manicured, so I was hoping for some high G turns. Well that didn't turn out as planned. We got in one run on the groomers then ran into one of our posses that were hell bent on off piste. The conditions on the Slide side had some serious leftovers and while the 86Ti could handle them, we would be holding the group up. With all that said, in that first run and a short wind buff groomer section was enough to remind me that it was worth bringing the Rossis out. And if I know the same day would happen again, I would gladly bring the Rossis out because as they say sometimes one bite of steak is better than a whole hamburger.
 

Andy Mink

Everyone loves spring skiing but not in January
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Long Term Update: Several runs at Mt. Rose on firm groomers with some wind buff spots and sugar on hard spots. No problem! The Exp 86Ti is deceptively quick edge to edge, holds on that edge hard, yet has the flexibility to bop down through some moguls or jump of the edge into skier and wind packed snow in the trees. The 86 skis quietly with little drama even crossing from small wind blown piles to the hard stuff where the snow in those piles used to be. I don't have the experience (get it?) with prior builds of the Experience line but if they were as good or better than this one Rossi should have left them alone. I'm glad they didn't.
 

Philpug

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Long term update: Welcome to Junuary in Tahoe when the sun will shine for a month and the snow will be groomer zoomers and chalky. This is the perfect playground for the Rossignol Experience 86Ti. Remember where I posted in my intial review as an Insider tip to bypass the Konect? Well, our ski arrived with it so I was left no choice to ski it this way and adapt and adapt I did. It is no secret that when I got a ski over 80 mm I want to be as low on the deck as possible and with the Konect being as tall as it is with a 34 mm, roughly a cm higher than it's flat mount counterpart I made a slight adjustment, I moved the binding back a cm and damn if that didn't do it, back to the Nth that I knew the 86Ti was capable of. I will be discussing this demo issue in another thread. Stay tuned
 

WadeHoliday

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Another fan of this ski:
I had the chance to ski this ski with Phil, Andy, Trish and Stephen this week in that same wonderful mid winter snow Olympic Valley is famous for. Some hard snow, many chalky bumps, the occasional groomer to get myself to the next off piste playground. I also skied it for another couple of hours on hard water ice bumps (melted, refrozen hard, did I say loud).

Coming from my stockli dampness, I was worried this ski would be too Lively and Loud, as so many are, but it has a nice quiet composed quality to it, I was very impressed. It's shape is super fun and engaging, the 16m shape skis fun, exciting, but their tip design turns it into a much more versatile 3D snow performer. I loved the tips distinct shape, that smooth early rise without taper that allowed you move it happily through the gullies, bumps, etc that the best off piste runs have to offer. At the "Valley", bumps can get quite long, with very steep ridges, and I often like to add turns on those ridges and skis with a lot of tips shape sometimes try to spear into that surface, but the design of this ski absorbed and moved very naturally through this terrain.

Access groomers, did I say exciting! This ski reminded me of something like my Stockli Laser SC in carved turns, it bends up sweetly and adds some energy out of the turn without being demanding or surprising.

I may buy one, but we all know I have a issue with buying too many toys :).

One more comparison, as I wanted to ski my regular ski right after it, especially in the super hard bumps, so I got my sr 95 out (yes, a bit different niche), my ski felt a bit slow and cumbersome comparatively, but was solid and edge hold was actually a bit better (1 day old fresh tune contributed, for sure), and the stockli was quieter, but it's quieter than most.

This ski is a ski many people should consider, it has such a broad range of wonderful attributes and helped to create a super fun experience!
Cheers!
W
 

Tom K.

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Well, so much for not "needing" any new skis this year. These should arrive early next week in the big boy 185 size and Konnect bindings -- which was my preference.

Hoping for a more engaging groomer performer than my current, slightly off-piste oriented, Enforcer 88s (which need to become rock skis soon anyhoo).

I've never owned a Rossi, unless you count a pair of $10 used up Strato 105s I bought for rock skis during my ski bum youth in JH, so new brand time!

Thanks or curses to @Philpug, @Andy Mink and @WadeHoliday for all the input. This kind of sealed it for me:

I am not sure you can ask anything more from a ski in this class.
 

noggin

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I joined The Experience 86 Ti, with STH2s, club two weeks and they are a blast! Solid, fun and does not punish.
 

Tom K.

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ONE DAY REVIEW BY THE NUMBERS:

1. As noted by @Philpug the sweet spot is minus 1 click.

2. The tip pulls across the hill into a turn very nicely -- much better than my Enforcer 88s.

3. They RIP crud and bumps. Having read a few reviews, I expected a bit of weakness here. There is none.

4. Nice energy. Some pop out of the turns for sure, and not overly damp. Suits my preferences perfectly.

Ummm.....that's it!
 

Tom K.

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Played more with mount point today: OTL, -1 and -2 clicks.

Confirmed the -1 click is the Mama Bear spot for me.

And I have to say, silly as it sounds, this ski kinda feels like it's always saying Let's Party! :yahoo: Some fun, eager energy.

@Philpug may shudder to hear this, but it reminds me more than a little of how I felt the first few days on my old Fire Arrow 80s.......

Finally, probably just me, but this thread is really hard to find.
 

Andy Mink

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Long term update: I took the 86Ti out for some quick laps at Rose today. As has been the case recently the snow remains firm to hard in most places with minimal dust on crust. I didn't stay long enough for anything to remotely soften. What I found today is @noggin hit the nail on the head:
Solid, fun and does not punish.
I was not on top of my game today. My legs are a bit tired and the 86s were OK with that. Longer, easy carving turns instead of high G turns of which the skis are capable. Some tail swishing, slipping and sliding, in the trees. Just a mellow morning and I wasn't punished for not bringing my A game. It's nice to be on a ski that can literally go from 0 to ? and not complain anywhere along the way.
 

Teppaz

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You guys, this is all making me very happy that I won those skis in the SkiTalk giveaway! And no, I still haven't gotten them mounted because I'm carless in NYC and my first ski trip isn't until next week and arrrrgh!
 

Andy Mink

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Long Term Update: Another day, another grin or many. I started the day on the Exp 86Ti with some relaxing, easy turns on a mellow blue. No problem. On the greens back to the lift, with wind in my face, I wasn't going fast so did some slow, low angle carving working on keeping balanced while still leaving railroad tracks at very slow speeds. Easy peasy, no complaints. Then some higher speed carving when my favorite run opened. Money. These skis have such a wide bandwidth of speed while still being able to turn however you want. We've finally got some deeper dust on crust and the slight tip rocker just flows through it yet holds an edge when you get back to the hard pack with nothing on top. Several spots were like sifted flour, maybe up to 3-4" deep where the last few days had deposited what was getting scraped off. Even in the odd shaped hard bumps the skis are relaxed and not demanding. And the final run...a high speed run carving down a wide open steeper groomer. Again, up to the task. Are these the perfect Tahoe-type-snow one ski quiver? Maybe not for the deep days, but they sure do step up for everything else I've had them in or, more accurately, on. One of these days it'll snow again and they'll spend some time IN the snow instead of ON the snow.
 

Teppaz

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OK, time to check with the 86Ti hive mind! I'm skiing Big Sky on Sunday-Wednesday. Forecast calls for between 1" and 5" daily — nothing awesome but nice refreshers. Should I bring the 86Ti's (which I haven't tried yet so new to me) or my Salomon QST 99s (with which I'm familiar)? I'm a solid skier, not expert.

Screen Shot 2022-02-03 at 12.58.15 PM.png
 

Teppaz

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My first day on those skis and it was at Big Sky, where it hasn’t snowed in several days. Mostly hard pack, some wind-blown buffed areas.

Agree with everything in this thread: I had a ton of fun! Couldn’t find the speed limit on groomers and I was surprised by how good the skis felt in bumps: They’re not my strong point but I felt so comfortable that I ended up doing a lot of them.

The Konect setup is a little heavy but hey, I’ll live.
 

Andy Mink

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Long Term update: I had the 86Ti out at Mt. Rose today. There was this weird stuff on top of the groomers called snow! From the early run scratchy groomers to the heavier piles and softening scraped off snow (it was in the 50s when we left around noon), the Rossignols rocked. They are a very easy going ski at slower speeds with a lot of oomph up top. Seriously, it was the first time in over a month that there was a significant amount of snow to ski IN, as opposed to on. Towards the bottom of a few runs it was almost spring snow. The Experience just worked really well all over as the conditions changed during the morning. No fuss, no muss, just good times.
 
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Tom K.

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Agree with everything @Andy Mink says. A great combination of high-po, ease of use, and fun. Good in new shallow snow, but the Enforcer 100s are better (don't feel the bottom as much).

My only other comment is that this thread would get a LOT more action if it were in the Gear Reviews and Comparisons forum. KInd of like when Phil does an article, and makes a comment thread elsewhere.
 

Philpug

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My only other comment is that this thread would get a LOT more action if it were in the Gear Reviews and Comparisons forum. KInd of like when Phil does an article, and makes a comment thread elsewhere.
Actually these are much more internet searchable. This one for example have well over 3500 views and comes up in the "New Posts" tab.
 

Teppaz

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Took the Ti’s on a 4-resort swing in Colorado where they got tested in a relatively wide range of conditions and terrain: hard-packed then spring corn then 9”. Not ideal in that powder but not completely horrible either. The most fun was in bumps (both kinda scraped out and very soft and awesome) and in gloriously untracked trees at Winter Park. I was surprised by how nimble this ski can be considering how freaking heavy those Konect bindings are! (Lugging my ski bag through airports is definitely building up my strength.)
 

Andy Mink

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Long Term Update: The 86Ti was put to good use today in mixed conditions at Palisades/Olympic Valley today. Conditions ranged from "Oh, that's crispier than it looks" to some really fun spring conditions with some bumps thrown in for good measure. They handled everything oh so easily. Even in some very hard bumps, they worked really, really well. For me, bumps are a nemesis and I felt very comfortable on the 86Ti. For those who are worried the Ti may be a bit too strong, I'd say don't unless you are a very light skier or relatively fresh in the sport. I've found few skis that are so forgiving yet can really lay down some tracks when pushed.

When the time comes for these to be retired from the long term SkiTalk test fleet they may find a home in my quiver. Short of deep fresh, they are a OSQ for Tahoe.
 

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