Blizzard have been bothering the upper echelons of ski awards for a few years since their reintroduction into the UK.
The Cochise is a freeride staple, and now there’s an all-mountain ski in the Latigo using the same core and rocker technology which has well excited the masses in similar fashion.
The Latigo is a narrowish ski for Fall-Line to get fired up about, but it’s heading a new breed of hardpack-orientated, go (almost) anywhere power-rippers.
The Latigo has plenty of beef, with two-and-a-half layers of metal adding punch and damping, plus full sidewall construction revealing just how much ski there is underfoot.
It skis livelier than the build suggests, with a vigour out of turns that reminds us of… well, other brilliant Blizzard skis. That long turn radius makes the Latigo a screamer over a whippersnapper, but despite the speed and grip it was the feedback that won over the testers.
And then, just when you’ve committed to big arcs and wide pistes, it tightens up and you have to too. Squat a little, power up the tail and the Latigo pulls its ace out of its sleeve – it pops and pivots on a superb tail and turns crud into a mogul course.
We bounced, we skidded, we spun. Anyone looking to liven up their piste repertoire and add in some sidecountry would be highly advised to look at a Latigo.