Yes, a Blizzard Brahma (at least until this coming year change?) is great for a ~ 90 ski at crud. I keep almost getting it.
And yet the ski in that width I most have a hankering for is the newish Black Crows 88 Orb, in both 179 and 184 (18/19 and 19/20). (Both fantastic!)
To me, this ski is killer, except probably to a much heavier and/or more powerful skier, I'm guessing.
It used to be that the Black Crows Orb and the Corvus were the only skis in the B.C. line-up, according to their reps, that were fairly stiff and powerful, designed for advanced to expert. Blistergear, back then, loved the Orb as an equal to the Brahma, and preferred it off piste.
But the Orb didn't sell. So they softened it up - to me, wrecked it. Dang. Oh, well.
(And they began gradually making the Corvus more user-friendly also, in the past few years - more successfully, seems like.)
Then a year ago, for 18/19, Black Crows stiffened up the Orb again, back to approximately what it had been before, according to the reps - and to me, when I demoed it. Success! And now again the Orb stands out as the odd man out among skis in the Black Crows line-up, the only one stiff as the Brahma, for instance. And yet Blistergear, to me, stopped tracking it accurately: they missed that for three or four years in there it had been softened up to match the rest of their line-up, but no longer! And they missed that it was supposed to be the same stiffer ski as before. (It sure felt that way to me, in agreement with the reps I talked to.)
The Orb these past two seasons got me excited and surprised all over again, for both the 179 and the 184, when I skied them and recognized an old friend resurrected. I'd love it if anyone else got on these also, and found them at least good.
So I have to ask, has anyone outside of Black Crows noticed how great the changes to the Orb are, besides myself?
(No one else on this website, at least, seems to have noticed. )