Paul Forward really liked the Chipotle Banana and
Cy Whitling really liked the Deathwish and Deathwish Tour.
"From current-model skis, the
Moment Chipotle Banana is the best big pow ski I’ve used for smashing around under the lifts"
- Forward, Blister's 2 ski quiver picks 2021/22
"The Deathwish Tour is the most versatile touring ski I’ve ever been on, and the most confidence inspiring. The Deathwish Tour has raised my own personal bar for what a good backcountry ski should be, and that’s the highest praise I can give."
-Whitling, Blister's Deathwish Tour Review
The Wildcat (heavier) and Bibby are special skis, but Blister has been pretty high on some of their other models as well.
Correction accepted.
Funny you should mention that CB! Thanks!
(An unusual ski in its own right, seems like, from the Blistergear - and Paul Forward - reviews.)
Still - pardon the thread drift - that Deathwish tour is an outlier, a touring ski not a directional Alpine ski - and Cy Whitling is a freestyler who jumps, flips and switches down the mountain, an outlier also from the rest of that crew, as are his skis. And that fits that (touring) ski, rather than the skis for more Alpine, directional and freeride skiers at Blister, and around here. How many folks do you know who are in the air and tricking half the time, and in the park too?
Paul Forward's reviews - and opinions on skis - on the other hand, are about directional Alpine skiing, and are among my favorites there, something relevant to me sometimes that I respect and read closely, but centered on Alaska Heli trips and the Alyeska resort, so not always representative of the states. That said, I agree that as of just this past year, that ski got resort respect - but a very recent occurrence - in through the back door, you might say.
( I'd like to try that ski a lot.)
For myself, the CB gets into a different, small category of skis, my favorites, it turns out; about the only kind of powder ski I rank more highly than the "playful charger" category of the Bibbys (though maybe it's like the difference between rubies and sapphires, both top stuff). The CB goes with the heavier tank crud buster class, which are better in crud, in a smoother and damper way, than even the Bibbys - if one can handle the weight. Examples:
1. maybe K2 116 Obsethed (not the earlier, narrower versions)
2. K2 Pettitor 120,
3. Rossi Black Ops 118 (and the 118 Gamer, same ski),
4. maybe Rossi Sender Squad 112 (mounted a bit forward to change how it handles),
5. maybe DPS Koala 119 & 118 (the new revised version
just posted/reviewed at Blistergear today, as it happens, along with deep dive comparisons to the Black Ops and Chipotle Bananas, among others),
6. Chipotle Banana 120.
There may be others I can't recall at the moment, or that others know about, but this is a pretty small set of skis, with only two or three member skis until recently. And these skis also, by themselves, make wider (resort) skis important still, for me and others. Tank crud busters.