Blizzard Black Pearl

[NewEnglandSkier]

This weekend I finally got to ski my new Black Pearls. (I'm 5'4", 110 lbs, intermediate skier).
Now, I had demoed these before I purchased them but this was the first time I actually got to use my own pair. I went with the 159cm length, as I tend to prefer shorter skis when there are 2 lengths that are both appropriate. Even though they have rocker they feel perfectly stable to me.
The conditions on Saturday started as varied from groomed with about 5 inches of powder on top, to groomed with 1 inch of powder on top, and of course ungroomed. By the time I started at 8:45am most of the powder in the areas I ski was skied out and chopped up, pushed around, cruddy.
I had started the morning on my Kenjas (and while they were great on the groomed with a dusting on top, I was getting tossed around in the crud).
So I brought out my Black Pearls instead. The Black Pearls were great! I'm not sure whether it was the rockered tip or the flex, but they were much more comfortable in the crud (for me---and I admit my technique in any fresh snow and crud needs lots of work, since those are conditions I don't get to ski very often). They didn't toss me, while the Kenjas sort of wanted to try and plow through any push piles which resulted in my feeling tossed, the Black Pearls had a tendency to want to sort of go more over the piles I think.
I did manage to find one steep run with some blown off hardpack areas (it was very windy on that slope) and they held an edge very well on that too.
So, while they were excellent in crud, I still had yet to try them on packed powder. Sunday, I took them on the packed powder groomers and they were great there too. They inspired confidence in every run, as they handled all the conditions from the weekend extremely well.
I also took a mogul lesson on them and they were easy to maneuver.
In fact, I even took them into the mini terrain park and did some small boxes with them and little jumps. I took multiple trips through the park. That was really fun too! (of course the whole time I was in there I kept thinking I must be crazy, as I was thinking the boxes would probably trash my nice new bases and edges)----And I've never even been in the terrain park before. Confidence inspiring for sure.

 

[maggie198]

Lol, I think the Black Pearls are great as a one ski quiver. They can pretty much handle any condition. And with so much fun...

 

[Christy]

Good to know you liked them in moguls. I am just a smidge bigger than you and I demoed the longer ones (160-something) and while I liked them just fine on the groomers, they did not work in the bumps for me. I wondered if it was the length.

 

[diymom]

Interesting that you have both Kenja and BP. It often sounds like it is either one or the other, but not love for both. I am really wanting to be somewhere to demo both. And then there is the question of what length for each.

 

[Tammy]

Arrghh! I can't wait to get mine . They're supposed to be here on Wednesday.

 

[NewEnglandSkier]

Yeah, I like both of them for different reasons/conditions. The Kenja is definitely stiffer, which I think is why it works less well for me (lightweight) on anything other than nice groomed terrain or a groomer with 1-3 inches of unskied powder. On groomed terrain it's really smooth, stable and confidence inspiring and I'd give it a slight edge on edge hold over the BP. I think I definitely like the Volkl feel ( I have another pair of Volkl carvers that I like as well)-- and the Kenjas feel MUCH lighter than the BPs.
The BPs are the only Blizzard ski I've tried, but I definitely want to try some more--perhaps some carvers to see how they feel.

 

[maggie198]

Yes, the Kenjas do hold an edge a bit more. But the BPs are extremely light - I felt they were way lighter than the Kenjas. Do you have the same binding on both?

 

[NewEnglandSkier]

For the binding on the Kenja I have the Marker Squire and for the binding on the BP I have the Salomon Z10.
Perhaps it is the binding weight that makes the difference, as my BPs are definitely heavier than my Kenjas for sure

 

[maggie198]

Ahh, that's why. The Z10s ARE heavier. I was going to use them on my BPs, but went with the Squires because of the lighter weight. I love the lightness of the BPs with the Squires, and luckily haven't had any of the issues some Squire users have had.

 

[NewEnglandSkier]

yeah, i haven't had any issues with my Squires yet either, but I've been on some Squire demo bindings that did have the issue. The binding would engage partway and then I'd have to pick up the ski and slam it on the ground to get a full lock in.
I was afraid to chance it for fear of getting one of the finicky pairs so I went with the Z10---I wanted the Z10ti but couldn't find it with a wide enough brake.

 

[maggie198]

The Solly Z10s are a good binding though. Never any problems with them, always release when you need them to.

 

[B.E.G.]

I had the Z10s on the BPs, and the Z10 ti's with my Rossis. What I really love about those bindings is that I can easily snap my boot in by hand if I'm in really soft snow. That happened last time I was skiing - took a fall on a soft cruddy black, and between the steepness of the pitch and the really soft snow, I couldn't exert enough force to snap into my uphill ski. After struggling for 10 horrible min., I realized that I could VERY easily just snap the bindings in with my hand!

 

[litterbug]

OT--how did you get the boot in? Did you grab your ski and pull it toward you?

 

[B.E.G.]

I had my downhill ski dug in and got my uphill boot positioned, and exerted a little bit of force (really the only amount of force I *could* exert) while pulling up on my brake. And voila! I was in, and so relieved.