Rossignol X-Fight 5 2008

The X-Fight 5 is the baby in the X-Fight range and a world apart from the fearsome pure race Ski-X X-Fight World Cup. The 5's are very tame and easy to use and are probably best suited to being your first pair of skis. They have a helpful sidecut that eases you into carved turns and gives you grip on groomed slopes that will boost your confidence to take on tougher reds. Sporty looking, easy-going and a good package for the sporty beginner to intermediate.

4/ 5

The manufacturer says this about the Rossignol X-Fight 5 2008:

Modern skis for new gliding thrills.

Rossignol X Fight 2 Oversize 2008

A fun slalom-like piste performer. With lively graphics, a sporty flex and a tameable personality the X Fight 2 is perfectly suited to the holiday skier who loves to swoop around the hill taking in their fill of reds and blacks without much desire to head off piste. Also quite nimble in bumps the X Fight 2 is a good allrounder and will certainly get you feeling a carve. A good package for the intermediate-advanced one to two week a year skier.

4.5/ 5

The manufacturer says this about the Rossignol X Fight 2 Oversize 2008:

Skis with a state fo the art sidecut for powerful kicks and maximum "G's".

Rossignol Radical R11 Mutix 2008 detail

Front view of the R11 Mutix "arms"- short feels sharp and snappy, long are smooth and cruisy.

The manufacturer says this about the Rossignol, Radical, R11, Mutix, 2008. detail, image:

Rossignol Radical R11 Mutix 2008 detail

Rearward view of the Mutix "arms". They make a real difference on the R11, the shorter length gives a punchy, slalom feel whilst the longer length lends itself to cruisier, less agressive sking. I preferred the shorter length as you feel the natural flex of the ski.

The manufacturer says this about the Rossignol, Radical, R11, Mutix, 2008, detail, image:

Rossignol Zenith Z11 Mutix 2008

A mean looking pair of skis until you rattle the plastic arms on the top and realise that the arms came free in one of last years Christmas cracker. Perhaps they want to blind you or I with this sort of tacked-on shodiness but it doesn't do anything and will finally benefit neither manufacturer or consumer. And sadly the shape and turn-in of the Zenith Mutix are excellent and let down by the limp flex that requires a good dose of Viagra to pep it up for a sportier ride. A good intermediate or "executive" advanced skiers ski- but at this sort of money you want a little more substance and fewer plastic cup holders for your buck.

3/ 5

The manufacturer says this about the Rossignol, Zenith, Z11, Mutix, 2008:

A new Zenith with Mutix technology. One pair of skis, 2 behaviours. The interchangeable Power Arms on the Zenith Z11 modulate the power:

"Stiff"arms guarantee power and stability for high-performance on hardpack.
"Regular" arms make the skis very forgiving and easily controllable on every kind of terrain.

Rossignol Scratch Girl FS 2008

Gorgeous graphics for the range topping womens Freestlye ski the Scratch Girl FS. With lots of pop out of the tail, Rossignol's dampening system in both tip and tail the ski is both lively yet comfortable. With 80mm underfoot you can aslo ski some powder and they will give you good float but the slightly forward mounting position makes them handier in the Park & Pipe rather than as an allmountain ski.

4.5/ 5

The manufacturer says this about the Rossignol, Scratch, Girl, FS, 2008, Womens, Freestyle, Allmountain, Advanced, Expert, Skis:

Not for you gentle slopes and groomed trails of yesteryear. Designed with Kristi Leskinen, Scratch FS freestyle are strictly modern. Their only limit is your imagination! Innovative with new tricks and flights of fancy! These skis are built to let you do just that. With cosmetics that are top class- and cool too!

Rossignol Radical 140 Ti R11 Mutix 2008

Superb. Not much change from last year and there wasn't much need to change them. For the aggressive advanced skier or expert the R11 Mutix are packed with as much energy as technology. Lightening quick turns with the carbon fibre short arms fitted and a more relaxed cruisy feel with the longer arms fitted.
Not sure you'll be hassled to swap arms after the first few days and you become comfortable with either of the two main setups but they are exceptional skis with huge reserves of grip, life and fun. Truly exhilirating.

4.8/ 5

The manufacturer says this about the Rossignol Radical 140 Ti R11 Mutix SRA 2 2008:

Absolutely unique Mutix technology. Two pairs of skis in one. Short and long radius turns (GS or SL) by just changing the arms to suit your mood and the snow. Sharp, incisive 11 metre or fast stable 16 metre turns.

Rossignol Pucci Women 2008

Not for the faint hearted when it comes to splashing out on fashion. The premium priced Pucci range comes from the pen of the eponymous Emilio. They are bright, you will be noticed and you'll also probably need to keep an eye on them when heading for your regular lunch and coffee stops.

They should prove a good pair of skis for the intermediate to advanced all-terrain skier but really you buy a pair of Rossignol Pucci's because you want to be part of the Club Pucci not because you're looking for ski totemics.

The manufacturer says this about the Rossignol Pucci Women 2008:

Rossignol JCC Women 2008

Designed by veteran French fashionista Jean Charles de Castlebajac the JCC is an allround ski for the style conscious intermediate to advanced skier. With an internal VAS (Vibration Absorption System) fitted the JCC's are smooth and silken over groomed trails. The 72mm underfoot is stable and offers good support whilst the construction is light, nimble and versatile.

The manufacturer says this about the Rossignol JCC Women 2008:

Rossignol Radical R8S Oversize 2008

Softer and tamer than the R9X the R8S will boost your skiing from an intermediate plateau to the edginess and enhanced control of advanced skiers. For lighter advanced skiers you get the aggressive Oversize sidecut of the R9S but without the stiffer flex so you are in for a lighter, less demanding ride.

Good allround slalom skis for the first time race ski buyer, aggressive intermediate or lighter advanced skier.

3.5/ 5

The manufacturer says this about the Rossignol Radical R8S Oversize 2008:

Very well balanced, high gripping skis for tight turns. Designed for very fast, very reliable edge changes.

Rossingol Radical R8X Oversize 2008

Easy going advanced and sporty intermediate GS style skis. The R8X's are deep shovelled, smooth at medium speeds and not too stiff to allow you to experience some real carving sensations at relatively low speeds in comparison to a GS racer. Ideally suited to medium to a slightly longer radius even in the 174 cm they achieve a 16m radius- so not too demanding if you find yourself in need of turning quickly or washing some speed off.

Sharing the same dimensions as their legendary 9X brothers the R8X's will help you develop your skiing into controlled, carvey high-speed cruising- with a touch more forgiveness than brutal race thoroughbreds.

3.5/5

The manufacturer says this about the Rossingol Radical R8X Oversize 2008:

Trail skis for Giant Slalom turns. High speeds with maximum comfort.

Rossignol Radical R9S Ti Oversize

Nippy little slalom skis for the advanced to expert. Deep sidecut carves with ease into hard-pack pistes, the flex is smooth and the dampening adequate. Whilst lacking the finesse and power of the RS IBOX model the R9S remains a staple of many a ski instructor for their precision, comfort and general ski-ability. You can pretty much ski the R9S anywhere over the mountain, they are nimble in bumps, comfortable at medium to high speeds in small and medium radius turns and they offer excellent hold on icy slopes.
For racing at much above mid-club level try the IBOX but for a good allround slalom performer the R9S's are most adept.

4/5

The manufacturer says this about the Rossignol Radical R9S Ti Oversize:

An agile, powerful, balanced,, full-flow ski which releases its energy in tight turns. The sensations accelerate.

Rossignol Radical R9X Ti Oversize 2008

Wider profile and deeper sidecut than the FIS IBOX race ski from Rossignol. The R9X is the ideal ski for the advanced to expert skier who hankers for speed on perfectly groomed pistes but also wants a ski to cope with the less than perfect grooming of a regular ski holiday. The R9X's are quick and stable skis for everyday skiing not for the race track precision of FIS level racing.
In terms of skiing they are firm flexing but nothing to worry an accomplished advanced to expert, the tip grabs the snow and turns-in positively, the plate offers good dampening but is not overly endowed with feel but they are reasonably precise for a shop ski and may be a pleasant surprise for skiers not used to the feel of a "race" but of a more allmountain performers.

Good overall medium-long turning package with lots of va va voom but a touch light on finesse. 4/5

The manufacturer says this about the Rossignol Radical R9X Ti Oversize 2008:

This ski has all the features of racing models. The wide radius turn king, it is extremely stable and micrometrically precise on the snow. And confidence building.

Rossignol Radical RS World Cup IBOX 2008

Wonderfully agile and grippy race department slalom skis. Ideal for junior or senior FIS racing, club races or just training and skiing on a wicked pair of slalom skis. Technically and physically they are demanding but you do reap rewards.

For expert and pro skiers the RS's are what you would expect, remain balanced and centred over the ski and they provide you with heaps of grip and feel on the firmest of pistes. If you find yourself over the tails then you can probably expect to have your pride and performance jettisoned rather quickly.

As opposed to the regular shop R9S or the Mutix style Rossignol skis the RS is slightly narrower profiled and therefore quicker edge-to-edge and slightly more stable at speed. The RS's are designed for pure performance and not for cruising even in the hands of strong skiers.

Excellent slalom performance. 150 cm for juniors, 155 for women and a 165 for men.

The manufacturer says this about the Rossignol Radical RS World Cup IBOX 2008:

Derived from racing when every second counts and you win or loose by 100th of a second. The Radical rangefeatures all that is best in Rossignol techonolgy. Radical. But not unskiable!

FIS approved World Cup slalom ski.

Rossignol Radical RX World Cup 2008

Superb race skis with a flex smoother than Sean Connery's spiel.

Full Rossignol World Cup construction provides the power and grip for expert and pro skiers who love GS turns and seriously high speed thrills. This ski pair of skis are not for wannabe's- they are a pair of boards for the seriously accomplished who know their FIS skis from regular rack skis.

Available from the junior size of 167cm right up to the mens FIS version at 191cm- the RX World Cups are fast, slick and very rapid through gates. For accomplished female skiers/racers head for the 181cm, masters racers or junior men the 184's and for serious skiers the 191cm.

The manufacturer says this about the Rossignol Radical RX World Cup 2008:

Derived from racing when every second counts and you win or loose by 100th of a second. The Radical rangefeatures all that is best in Rossignol techonolgy. Radical. But not unskiable!

FIS approved World Cup giant slalom ski.

Giorgio Rocca joins Salomon until 2010.

Salomon and Giorgio Rocca are glad to announce their agreement for the next 3 seasons till Vancouver 2010. The Italian ski champion, after a surgery at his right knee last February, is going to come back to ski again around on may 15th with Salomon skis & boots.

Giorgio Rocca, Slalom 2005 World Cup winner, 21 times on the World Cup podium including 11 victories, has already started working with Salomon team of engineers and race technicians: "I am very satisfied of my choice and I am sure to be supported and helped: Salomon has always demonstrated its great competence and ability to optimize the champions' technical and athletic skills. This is the right year, waiting 2009 world championship, to test and find the best technical asset. Salomon people are ready to answer to my specific needs and I will personally give my cooperation in product development".

Augusto Prati, Communication and Marketing Director of Salomon Italiy, is very proud of the negotiation: "It is a honour for us to have in our team a big champion as Giorgio Rocca actually is. We are very happy especially because his decision to join us comes from his confidence in Salomon technical experience and competence. We feel that the quality of our products as well as the innovative and reliable solutions, have received an important review. We hold Giorgio in high esteem, as we always do with our athletes, and we make as much as we can to support him."

First ski descent of Rochefort Ridges, Mont Blanc.

First ski descent of Rochefort Ridges/ Mont Blanc Massif by P. TARDIVEL and J. JANODY.

P. TARDIVEL on LQ 170 DYNASTAR mountaineering ski prototypes, shares his feelings about steep skiing; a dream has become reality!


North face of Rochefort ridges 3900m- First ski descent by P. TARDIVEL, J. JANODY and F. GUIGNARD- 500m ED : 50°, 1 rappel of 40m, 5.5- E4.

P. TARDIVEL, J. JANODY (with F. GUIGNARD): the DYNASTAR duo shares their experience with us.
N face of Rochefort ridges 3900m/ FRANCE, June 2, 2007.

By P. TARDIVEL

An old dream -- We can see the face from the “Mer de Glace”. Hundreds of extreme skiers dream of the steep, windward face while they ski the “Vallée Blanche”. I always thought we’d have to wait for a “monsoon spring” and amazing snowfall --conditions I have often known in my skiing career; though previously my descents were easier to find and watch. Under those circumstances we would devote one day to walk back up the “Mer de Glace” to check out the face, though this June the “Vallée Blanche” was no longer climbable.

Finally I found a solution to take a look at the face: on an IGN map, I drew a course with a ruler from Rochefort Ridges, went across “Les Gorges de la Mer de Glace” and on to “Aiguilles Rouges”.

This spring I watched with my binoculars a couple of times to keep an eye on the snowfall evolution. I was really excited, thanks to my weather report!

J. Janody, my closest extreme skiing friend was available. We included his friend, an excellent skier and climber, Florian GUIGNARD from Chamonix.

Goal: The normal route for climbing Rochefort Ridges. We would never have thought to climb the face walking below the serac and planned to reach it from the top. After quickly passing the “Col du Géant”, we used skins for a half hour of mountaineering. The North face, very steep, was still in the shade which made it easier to cross Rochefort Ridges.

After this famous ledge, we put our skis on for a couple of turns which brought us to the table above the serac. We kept going on good snow. The June sun made the face nice and smooth. From the summit, we had a serious descent. First turns on hard snow are difficult. We approached the couloir along the serac and discussed our options: we decided to rappel.

40m below, we balanced on icy snow to take off our crampons and put on skis: a delicate exercise where we had to concentrate. We quickly gained confidence and 100m below we started our freeride session, at high speeds with vast distance to stop. I proposed a “technical variant” (we would have avoided this if we had seen it first!); we crossed a small rock on our skis while hanging on with ice axes. Below us, 150m of steep skiing! We had to pass a crevasse… then land, decompression, relief! We turned around to check out the terrain we climbed: it’s insane!

Because of the warm temperatures, we choose to ascend with skins to the right of the “Vallée Blanche” and take the cable-car, instead of skiing the avalanche prone slopes of “Point Yeld” which had good skiing until 2400m. From there it became icy at the “Mer de Glace”. Below 2000m, you have to take off and carry your skis and walk through rock in your boots. We made it to the train 5 min before it closed!

Rossignol X Fight 1 Oversize 2008

Top-of-the-line medium to long radius piste skis with much more versatility than the thoroughbred WC IBox skis from Rossignol. As with the 9X Oversize model the X Fight 1 is an allround piste ski for the high speed cruiser that likes a blend of medium radius turns- they have a large sidecut so turn-in without fuss, the grip on the majority of firm packed piste is very adequate and the IPS Race plate offers a reasonable amount of dampening but without the sensitivity of Rossignols race siblings.
A good performer for the advanced to expert skier looking for a nippy cruiser.

The manufacturer says this about the Rossignol X Fight 1 Oversize 2008:

GS sidecut for this fighter built to win fast-moving skicross contests.

A tough character with excellent turn initiation and easy control.

X Fight 1 World Cup I Box 2008

Superb race skis with flex smoother than Connery's spiel. Full Rossignol World Cup construction provides the power and grip for expert and pro skiers who love GS turns and seriously high speed thrills. This ski is very much based around the new RX IBox WC so it is not a ski for the wannabe's its a pair of boards for the seriously accomplished who know their FIS skis from regular rack skis.
So for the experienced they turn-in sweetly, carve like diamonds through granite and are definitely at the top of their game.

The manufacturer says this about the X Fight 1 World Cup I Box 2008:

FIS Approved X-Games racing skis.

Size 184cm
Radius >21m

Three K's up.

And you thought global warming may keep you from shivering throughout the summer!

Summiting the heady atmosphere of Europe's highest road pass, the Col de l'Iseran, lies one of Frances few remaining summer skiing glaciers, Val d'Isere's glacier de Pisailles. Menaced by swirling clouds the light snow scurries around us as we engage in a bitter cold battle to prise on our ski gear and prise our minds from the warmth of our beds to the harshness of minus 5 plus 50 mph of gusting, bone chilling, winds.

A few runs later I've set the gates and red and blue flashes by as the boys focus on thier line and bury thoughts in to improving their performance. But this is July! The Tour de France is coming over this very pass in a matter of days and we are being bombarded. There is a relentless pummelling as the icy winds drive shards of snow into our cheeks, the wind penetrates through my three layers of jackets and I stand there perplexed by our decision to not go to the beach.

A most amiable Chief of pistes and mountain security drops by with a grin like Gollum when he has spotted The Ring lurking in squalid depths , "Are you guys ok to carry on?", is he asking me because I am British and will be the first to crack under the darkened skies, to scurry back down the hill away from such hardship? Or is he too, with his leathery complexion, bright husky-like eyes shaded by his non-vintage '60's Vuarnets and hardened veteran of the never winnable battle with Mother Nature, looking for a reason to get the hell out of there and back to the bossom of the boulangerie?!

So the call comes over the radio, "the Col de l'Iseran is closing, there are snow drifts on the road." As I look towards the void three kilometres above sea level where there was once an ocean of beauty and majestic hills laying in wait soon to be devoured by the titans of the Tour de France there now lies a murky sea, a mist of memories, a heart-quickening fear of the descent, the snow and an implausible chill.

At times like this I have become barely the troubadour, we make haste for the comforts of our Bavarian beast with wishful thoughts of January skiing that seemed just so much more pleasant. Thankfully the Bavarian lights up and warms up without any of the complexities of a human relationship- man once again connects with mechanical beast.

As we crawl through the remnants of the glacial road we breach onto the summit of the Col where eight years ago the Tour passed-by, not on two wheels but on many more. Stunned by conditions rarely seen in the winters midst I grab the video camera and start to film with my hand out of the window- its too much and I retract as the first snow bequeaths itself upon sheer leech-like tarmac. Sticking like a newborn to its mother the snow had rapidly engulfed the road as our Michelin friends at the corner of the Bavarian squirm for traction.

Forty minutes of nervous chatter and impact into some poor unsuspecting Italian driver who just happened to be trawling through the same patch of dark salvation amongst the slippery white perilousness of our route, like a nit attempting to garner purchase on the locks of one of the Italians less salubrious relatives, is thankfully avoided.

Finally we draw up into the OK Corral of French mountain civilisation, the Boulangerie. Nestled with espresso's stronger than a Gallic mans breath and memories barely a year old we reminisce of when a Continental summer was hotter than the Chanel clothed honeys of the Champs Elysee, we could nitpick at their preference for Socialism and entice ourselves to quaff from La Domain d’Ott.

Not this year though, summer quivers with the chill only the titans of the Tour will feel when they look three kilometres skywards and realise that the Alps are not yet conquered.