2023 Rossignol FIS SL

[Tony S]

ski-country north of Toronto

? Has there been a major geologic upheaval of which I was unaware?

 

[ARL67]

Yes, all 650 ft of vertical at Blue Mountain in Collingwood, ON ( part of the Niagara Escarpment, created from erosion ). The Collingwood area is also home to 5-6 private ski clubs.

Niagara Escarpment - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Paul Lutes]

Ha! Escarpment = giant step.

 

[Tony Storaro]

All of a sudden, everyone and their grandmother is clamoring about FIS SL. Did they just started making them for the general public?

That's your prize for indoctrinating the audience long enough...

 

[Tony Storaro]

It seems so many posts have a "get an FIS SL" recommendation.
I have never owned an SL ski and have been mostly an "all-mountain" guy of varying widths and lengths. Though I do have a K2 Disruption STi 170 ( 72mm ) with 14.4m radius in the current quiver, which I quite like. I'm always buying and trying a couple skis a season for the fun of it, so happy to experiment and have success / failure.

I see that a 2021/2022 Hero Athlete SL 157cm ( with R22 & binding & A12 on the tail ) got posted in my local Buy & Sell, and at a good price. I'm wondering is this might be too much ski ( and possibly too short ? ) to venture into the SL arena, or would something more "consumer" oriented at 165cm be a better starting point ? I do plan to participate in some lessons & clinics next season as we are moving to ski-country north of Toronto. thanks - Andy

Well look FWIW I did not like the consumer SL ski at all when I was on a pair of them and I too had my doubts about the FIS SL. Turns out they are MUCH MUCH better overall. Unlike the softer consumer ski which tend to stick to a given radius and were hard (for me) to modulate the edging, the FIS SL are way more versatile in terms of turn shape. Higher speed limit too. No nasty surprises along the way. Predictable is a term often used for these here and yes-predictable they are.

As for length-let's just page @James to the courtesy phone and see what he has to say about the pros/cons vs 165. I am strongly considering getting a pair of them too. After all-if they are good enough for Mikaela, they should be good enough for me too...
Although truth be told I weigh like 1.5 Mikaelas so dunno...

 

[KingGrump]

If you are a big guy running gates with good technique and/or simply trenching groomers looking for the kick in the pants. The 165 will provide most rebound out of the gate.

Free skiing, off piste, go with the 157. Even if you are 100+ Kg.

 

[smctigue]

It’s been a tough year here on the east coast, he’ll I’ve even given it a thought many times.

27 days on the man made glacier that is the Catskills this year. 24 of them have been on the 21/22 Rossi. They’ve been a godsend.

 

[ARL67]

I have taken His Highness's @KingGrump advice, the nudge that I needed to leap over the precipice, and pulled the trigger on those 157. A beer awaits him should we ever meet

 

[Lvovsky /Pasha/Pavel]

Where can we find product catalogs in downloadable pdf?

 

[tomahawkins]

Anyone spend time on Heads? Never see them mentioned.

 

[Tony Storaro]

I have taken His Highness's @KingGrump advice, the nudge that I needed to leap over the precipice, and pulled the trigger on those 157. A beer awaits him should we ever meet

Those are sweeeeeeet! Please be sure to report back when you test them. As for @KingGrump he has like 25 beers from me for the advise on how to simply find out if you need to move the bindings back or forth. At that rate the dude's gonna be fat and constantly tipsy pretty soon...

 

[KingGrump]

At that rate the dude's gonna be fat and constantly tipsy pretty soon...

I am already fat. Don't need any help there.

 

[James]

Well look FWIW I did not like the consumer SL ski at all when I was on a pair of them

I’ve spent probably 6 days on the Atomic S9 Sl consumer, renting in Switzerland. Didn’t like it much. To me it’s dead, and frankly much harder to ski than an Fis Sl. It’s ok once you’re in the turn and has a pretty good tail, but it just feels cumbersome.
The first year I rented it, I actually traded it in for the old Atomic double deck they had. That was more nimble.

This year, they tried to foist on me the S9 again. My only other good choice was the Head eRally. It’s a nice ski. But this huge tip thing I find generally annoying.
To me, it gives you much less choice in how to ski, because the huge tip is going to do what it wants.

I think that’s the thing people don’t understand about racing sl skis. It’s really important that they release as much as it is they hook up. SL racers are not making C turns in the course. That’s slow. It’s on and off quickly, usually carving from the fall line down.

The advantage of that for recreational skiing is it gives you huge choice of turn shapes. I keep getting told by people who never ski them they only make one type of turn. That’s absurd.

 

[smctigue]

Well, I mean...

View attachment 193405


View attachment 193406


Look, I'll be honest with you. I do not understand what the fuss is all about. There is a scientific term for what these are and it is cheating.

These turn by themselves, hold an edge on icy like crazy and their tails have the power to shoot you into next Friday. You just need to hold tight.
I didn't even know I could make turns so beautifully rounded.

Not as smooth as the WRT but I already knew that, my main concern was how good these will be in medium/long-ish turns. Turns out nothing to worry about, they do everything admirably.
I do not even remember all the details about why I disliked the consumer SL so much that I had not been on SL ski for like 3 seasons until last spring but whatever it was there is nothing of it in these. Or perhaps..

View attachment 193407

Who knows...

Without a shadow of a doubt these will be my main tool for working on technique and I am quite sure they will make my skiing suck at much higher level.

Amazing ski.



Oh by the way...12 or 13m...nobody cares!

I’m jealous of your roosters. Much better than a big old R.

 

[ARL67]

Curious if anyone found out the difference between the R22 and R23 plates ?

Also, what on-snow differences / feel might exist between the Rossi Hero Athlete FIS SL and its counterpart Dynastar Speed Omeglass FIS SL ? The Rossi "tech" speaks of it's LCT and beech/poplar core, while the Dynastar has an ash core ( though some sites list beech/poplar ? ) Could they actually be identical but Dynastar can't promote LCT ?

 

[Zirbl]

Also, what on-snow differences / feel might exist between the Rossi Hero Athlete FIS SL and its counterpart Dynastar Speed Omeglass FIS SL ?

Are two Rossi FIS SLs even going to feel the same? Genuine question, not smartarsery. Equally interested in the different core listing.

 

[DocGKR]

I currently have a Rossi 165 FIS SL, as well as Dynaster 165 FIS SL (same ski, different graphics)--both feel the same. Likewise I have two pairs of Blizzard 165 FIS RD SL's--identical feel.

 

[ARL67]

Thanks Doc for the info.
I pulled the trigger on these about 2 hours ago, as a local shop had some limited stock on FIS skis at 40% off.

I am curious that these are A12 and not A13.

 

[ARL67]

Got on the above 165 today in very challenging conditions for first chairs at our 600ft hill > light rain yesterday then a refreeze overnight. Thank goodness it was early and few witnesses to my sloppiness, but after 5-6 runs I started to find my game, and then some fresh started to fall. The main thing I noticed ( compared to my previous used 2021/2022 Rossi 157 ) is that these tails have some serious energy when loaded, either intentionally or accidentally . Not the best slopes for my first time out on these, but I know these will make me a better skier and I look forward to lessons and clinics next season as we will be living 12 minutes from the slopes.

FYI this weekend at my new home-hill Craiglieth, they were/are running the last FIS Ski-Cross event of the season -> very cool to watch the action close-up !

 

[Tony Storaro]

I am curious that these are A12 and not A13.

Oh boy here we go again…

If you look back you will see this question was among the main reasons for the existence of this thread.

Believe me, you will soon forget what it says on the tails.