The Blizzard Firebird Competition 76 are a power hybrid of a race ski and a high performance piste ski, and at 76 under the boot not too far away from some all-mountain skis. To say that they are versatile is an understatement.
The first thing you notice when skiing on them is the pick-up and the way the tip engages at the start of the turn. Once you are carving you then feel the edge hold, which seems to come on automatically even if you do not charge them hard into the turn. However, the harder you push them the better they seem to perform.
The construction is wood core but with C-Spine technology; two thin carbon fibre layers are positioned vertically between the middle laminates of the woodcore and run tip to tail. This gives the ski its superb torsional stiffness and rebound at the end of the turn.
The relatively wide waist works against them in short turns, as it takes a fraction of a second longer to switch edges in transition, but at 15m radius they are ideally suited for medium to long radius turns where that edge hold really comes into play.
If you like speed and carving with big edge angles these could be the skis to choose.
