Salomon BBR 8.9 Skis 2013

Comments about Salomon BBR 8.9 Skis 2013:

I am a PSIA certified ski instructor, and I will have to say that these are the best skis ever. I demoed many skis-- fat to carving-- and these worked out the best.

Powder--They float in the powder, and I really feel comfortable leaning hard into my turns.

Groomed--They make nice round turns, and they grip nicely too. Short and wide turns are both easy to do, and great fun.

Bumps--They are on the stiffer side, but if you are a good skier, they really flow nicely through the bumps.

Crud-- They plow through the crud like, well... boats

They are really fun, and they are the best ski for all conditions. Flotation, and carving.

Comments about Salomon BBR 8.9 Skis 2013:

I love these skis! They inspire confidence, really help me carve, and skiing on-piste both on very hard hardpack & icy conditions, with surface snow cut up by boarders, these skis went exactly where I wanted them to go.

I demo'd these skis at The Canyons. It has been a dry winter without much snow - so mostly man-made snow on-piste.

I'm going to demo them again on a powder day - if they behave as I expect them to, I'm buying these skis.

They are a bit heavy -- they had rental bindings on them when I demo'd them. The weight seems to add to their stability at speed through variable terrain.

Normally I ride on K2 Apache Recons. Switching back to my Recons in the afternoon, I wished I were back on these BBRs.

Comments about Salomon BBR 8.9 Skis 2013:

Rode the BBR 8.9 at Revelstoke Mountain Resort this past weekend. 3.7 metres on the ground, 21 cm fresh. The BBR is perfectly suited for truly varied conditions. I skied shoulder-deep glades, powder-caked runs and cruddy groomers with this and found it up to the task in everything. was especially impressed with their float (comparable at least to the Sultan 94s I've ridden in similar conditions).

They turned just fine in the pow, with the big shovels digging in. If you're planning on using them a fair bit on piste, use the same length as you'd use with a full camber ski, and you'll turn fine.

The skis are incredibly heavy for their length and quite soft, especially through the front.

If you're doing mostly groomers or mostly powder, get a more specialized ski. But if you truly ride everything in a day, the BBR is impressive.

Comments about Salomon BBR 8.9 Skis 2013:

I ski Fischer Atuas in a 186 & Elan 888 in a 185. The BBRs skied very similar to the Fischers, but was more stable in icy conditions, had more float (slightly) and had quicker response. The ski carved well and allowed all turn shapes with ease. It did not hook like other early rise skis I've tried. I found it to be a great all-around ski.

Comments about Salomon BBR 8.9 Skis 2013:

This is a whole new breed of ski. The narrow waist and sharp radius makes it turn like a slalom ski, yet the incredibly wide surf-board rockered tip gives you a water ski for the deep stuff. The tapered tail is forgiving and easy to release from a turn. The BBR will allow anyone to have fun on groomers or powder. My only complaint is that the wide tip is hooky and too turny if you get forward on the ski while on hard pack.

Comments about Salomon BBR 8.9 Skis 2013:

Turned fine but felt like a dead plank. Rode beautifully through the crud though. Not for high energy quick turns. Sorry to say that I least liked this ski out of all my demo days.

Comments about Salomon BBR 8.9 Skis 2013:

Within 4 turns I realized that these were the best skiis I've ever been on. Being skiing for 25 years - this ski is a gamechanger.

Comments about Salomon BBR 8.9 Skis 2013:

This ski will turn any intermediate skier into an advanced skier after one fantastic morning on piste and off. This ski begs you to lay it on edge and allow the plentiful sidecut to carve arc after arc on smooth courduroy. The ski does not like to be force out of its arc into very snappy short turns, but will reward you for letting the skis open up to a larger turn arc. The Huge shovel really does the trick when off-piste in soft snow as well!

Comments about Salomon BBR 8.9 Skis 2013:

great functioning skis on all terrain

Comments about Salomon BBR 8.9 Skis 2013:

So honestly I took one look at this ski and was skeptical to say the least. It looks strange, big wide tip, skinny little tail, how could this thing possible ski well? I didn’t love it, but it does ski surprisingly well. You can practically stand straight up on this ski or even lean back and turn it easily. It is different for sure but the surfy feel is there. Didn't get a chance to try it on a big powder day but strangely fun on the hardpack.