Rossignol Bandit B2 Skis

...out there and in fact, Rossignol designed the B2 for them. It's a testament to how good a ski it is if an intermediate like me can use it so easily

Durability: Survived many encounters with rocks and children!? It's well constructed and despite gouges on the base from the odd rock, the ski looked none the worse for it.

Hardness: To be as capable both on and off piste, it needs to be a little softer than piste skis. But ...
...time, you won't notice as it behaves impeccably. At high speed, it didn't chatter like soft skis sometimes do.

Design: It's gorgeous!!! And it's functional. It has this intelligent composition technology most skis have these days that means you get more out of it with the right bindings.

Type of ski: Definitely all mountain. It's a Jack of all trades, but it masters them all, too!! I can't stress enough how good I found ... more

There I was wandering round the Ski Show at the NEC looking for my dream ski - Salomon's X-Scream Series - at a decent price. I found it several times over, but as usual, overpriced for what they were. Salomon's never seem to be bargains, in my experience. Then the boss of my favourite holiday company suggested looking at Rossignol's Bandit B2. According to him, the French ski shops loved them. Intrigued, I wandered around again looking for them. No luck. They didn't seem to be there. Disappointed, I went home and decided to look on the net for this mysterious ski. I didn't find much there, either. I began to wonder if they really existed.

A week or two later, I bought a skiing magazine that had a review of all the upcoming 2004 skis. And in there, was a review of the mythical beast that was the Rossi B2, along with it's siblings the B1 and B3. It turns out that the B1, B2, and B3, are the successors to the Bandit X, XX, and XXX, respectively. The reputation of the original Bandit series is legendary and living up to it will be some feat. Exceeding it will be miraculous. However, according to this magazine, the Bandit B2 did exactly that in comparison to the Bandit XX. In fact, they called it one of the best ski's they'd ever tested - Ski of the Year 2004, no less. And another skiing magazine agreed! Impressive.

I was now intrigued. I rang my favourite holiday company and asked him to book a demo pair for me.

So there I am, in a French hire shop surrounded by people getting boots fitted, etc., being handed a pair of 170cm Rossi Bandit B2's with Rossi 110 Axium hire bindings on. Normally they'd come with Power 120 S-Plate bindings, but being demo skis you can't be too choosy. First impressions? A bit wide, aren't they??? I expected it, of course, as the magazine review put them in the 50-50 off-piste/on piste bracket. But under foot they were still very wide. I began to worry that they'd be too wide and too heavy. Bindings set up and off we went... the 5 year old lad wanted to try out his new sledge as he couldn't ski there and then!! The B2's would get tested the next day.

So let's take it step by step:

Low speed on piste:
First day, I snap into the skis in the main lift area of the resort. They don't feel too bad. The width is a little disconcerting, but they feel just like any other ski. Not too heavy, not too light. Punting around to the first lift proved that the ski was easy to handle at lower speed belying it's girth. First stop was a wide, straight green run that was used as a teaching area. Working out the knots on the first run I found the Rossi's almost felt like my previous skis - that was OK on this piste, but maybe not on others... but I did find them easy to turn at slow speeds. The off piste qualities of the ski didn't mean it behaved badly on piste at low speeds. In fact, quite the opposite. I liked that and I couldn't wait to get a little more ballistic.

Up to the top of the green again, I decided to put the speed up a bit and try a few things in relative safety. In Franz Klammer style, I went as fast as I could to see how stable they were. My last ski chattered at the tips at higher speed which was a really unnerving feeling. These? Solid as a rock. The mags described them as a little soft, but they felt very stable indeed. Up to the top again for some higher speed pole plant turning. Again, they prove very stable and also proved something I didn't expect from a ski this wide - very quick edge to edge!! The turns were easy to start and it seemed to enjoy bounding from one turn to the next. It almost felt like it wanted me to do more. I was beginning to really like this ski.

Medium to high speed on piste:
A decent blue was next. There were several I tried this time. The first was fairly shady and hardpacked/icy (it was morning and the sun hadn't hit it yet). I began by carving my way down. I'm not exactly the best skier in the world, but this ski made it feel so easy. The carves were nice and long and the ski had a good amount of grip. Further down, I started popping loads of pole plant turns spending as much time as possible facing straight down simply using the skidded turn to control the speed. No problem! This wide ski seemed like an on piste ski instead of the all mountain weapon I was lead to believe. I was really enjoying it though, and I was already thinking that there'd be a pair in the car by the time we left resort for home.

Next up was a different blue. This time covered in about 6 inches of fresh snow. This is usually where I start skiing badly. I never could handle the deeper stuff. Maybe I never had a ski that could handle it before. I quickly found, however, that I did now. The carving and short turns on the previous blue were just as easy to perform on this blue. I hardly noticed the deep snow underneath as I skied it like it was freshly bashed.

But for a ski supposedly good off piste, here was the biggest on piste test- a very well groomed red used for GS training and racing. It even had the gates there! This was a superb carving slope and a serious test of on piste behaviour for any ski with off piste credibility. It passed... with flying colours!! I had tried this ski on every on piste situation I could find and all it proved was that it could handle it all well enough to make you think it could do a lot more besides. It seemed to be telling me I was a wimp for not going faster or harder!

Off piste!!
Off piste skiing was never my strong point. I always thought I had to lean back a little which conflicted with everything you're taught when you learn to ski. But the boss of this holiday company told me otherwise. Taking his clients out in groups, he'd show us some of the hidden gems in the resort allowing us to leave our piste maps in our pockets and enjoying the skiing without any thought to navigation. This guy also proved a good instructor - plus he was also on B2's and could give me pointers on how to get the best out of them. He simply told me to just ski normally... so I did!

The first proper run was a marked but unpisted black run. The superb views were quickly ignored when we looked down it and realised how steep it was. Even the French weren't mad enough to try and drive a piste basher up and down this!! As a result it was a good 8 inches deep in soft snow, parts of which were cut up by previous skiers/boarders, other parts had an icy crust on top, too. And there I was, a not too confident off piste skier on new skis and at the top of the scariest slope I'd ever faced. Hmmm...

I skied like a complete muppet!! But the skis allowed me to at least get down safely. They gripped, they changed direction, they turned easily... they did what was needed. I can't say they did it brilliantly because I skied that badly and was too worried about crashing to notice!! But it was me, not the B2's, causing all the problems. What I do know is that in snow that was up to the thrid buckle on my boots, they still gave me full control, unlike other skis which would have refused to work!! A later, slightly shallower, slope showed that they had amazing floatation managing to stay up on top of an icy crust where others in the group sank through it. The boss, however, is a far more experienced skier. He and his wife showed what these skis really could do by flying over anything like they were on a green run. I felt how good the skis were... they merely showed me how good they really were in the hands of decent skiers!!! The only thing they could complain about was that the ski made it so easy, they worried they'd forget techniques a lesser ski forced them to learn! How's that for a back handed compliment? They complained the ski was too good!!

Standing at the bottom of that terrifying black, out of breath, watching the other B2 owners fly down it like it wasn't there, I made the decision to suffer the 13% apr on the credit card!! Yep! I ordered a pair later on that day. But there was still one more unintended test to come...

The 5 Year Old Test!!
This is the nemesis for any product, ski or otherwise! Will it survive the company of a 5 year old lad who has no regard for his or anyone else's safety, much less concern himself with looking after mere objects?!? I spent an afternoon on greens and shallow blues helping my girlfriend out with her little lad's first ski holiday. In fact, it told me more about the skis than the other runs I'd done. Everything else the ski could do was documented in the magazines I read so I sort of knew what to expect, even though it exceeded my expectations by miles. But keeping a 5 year old on skis under control is something that the B2 was probably never designed for.

So what do I mean? His Nibs liked to go fast. On his little skis he'd start off slow, turning as he was told before suddenly deciding to go straight, base his skis and fly off!! And he's quick for a little'un, too!! The missus' skis are great but not too quick off the mark. Off he went like a rocket rapidly out running his mum who was punting like mad with her poles. Me? One good shove with the poles, ski's straight, and I was off. I matched his speed very quickly, and caught him not long after even with his 10 metre head start. I thought the width of the ski would slow it down, more surface area so more friction, you know? No chance! With acceleration like that, the little bleeder wasn't getting away for long!!

His other little trick was to ski in front of us. Not watching where he was going - as usual!! - he'd completely forget where he was and just turn right in to you. The B2, however, was very good at stopping! They were very easy to turn into a hockey stop to either move away or stop completely. Only once did he manage to surprise me enough to be unable to stop before running into him!! He was a little more circumspect after he'd picked himself up and dusted himself down, cursing my name for running into him in the first place!! He didn't do that again for a while, though ;o)

Summary
So all in all, an extremely good ski. The magazines assertion of it being the best of 2004 certainly seems, from my point of view at least, to be true.

The classifications Ciao shows here need a little explaining, though:

For: I've put intermediate because that's what I am. However, this ski is definitely able to cope with you experts out there and in fact, Rossignol designed the B2 for them. It's a testament to how good a ski it is if an intermediate like me can use it so easily

Durability: Survived many encounters with rocks and children!? It's well constructed and despite gouges on the base from the odd rock, the ski looked none the worse for it.

Hardness: To be as capable both on and off piste, it needs to be a little softer than piste skis. But unless you're an expert using it on piste all the time, you won't notice as it behaves impeccably. At high speed, it didn't chatter like soft skis sometimes do.

Design: It's gorgeous!!! And it's functional. It has this intelligent composition technology most skis have these days that means you get more out of it with the right bindings.

Type of ski: Definitely all mountain. It's a Jack of all trades, but it masters them all, too!! I can't stress enough how good I found this ski on any terrain I skied on.

Price: In the UK, they're about £460 to £480 including Power 120 S-Plate bindings which they were designed to take. However, I bought mine in France and got them for £420. The bindings look a little strange at first, but you get used to them and they are damn good!

All in all, a phenomenal ski that deserves the praise it's been getting. And I can't wait until the next time I can get to the mountains!! 

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