It takes a bit of courage for a ski manufacturer to admit it took a wrong turn, but Blizzard has done exactly that with the Bodacious and chops to the Austrian company for stopping to ask for directions!
For two seasons the skis changed significantly from the hard-charging slope crushers that was the signature plank of former free-riding great Arne Backstrom, becoming largely metal-free and with the core changed to a mix of bamboo, poplar and lightweight foam.
They were good skis, they just wasn't the ride that many skiers had come to love and rely on.
Roll forward to the coming season and the Bodacious return in their original incarnation - mean, dark, moody and ready to charge once more.
Back comes a double titanal sheet, poplar-beech woodcore and sandwich compound sidewall, but staying put is the Flipcore tech which uses multi-directional carbon in the tip and tail and in a few other judicious places as well.
There's rocker at both ends for float but also a traditional camber so the skis performs better when on compact snow.
The Bodacious only come in two lengths, 186cm and 196cm with an 118mm waist, so they're big and boisterous planks for charging the whole mountain. Additional good news is that Blizzard will donate a percentage from their sales to the Arne Backstrom Memorial Fund.
This is a ski that free-riders can feel good about on many different levels.
