Blizzard Canvas 118 Skis

The Canvas line is Blizzard doing something they haven't really done before: stepping back from the titanal-heavy, performance-first construction that defines the Rustler and Sheeva, and making a ski designed explicitly for playful, creative, expression-first skiing. Three years in development under the working title Carte Blanche, the Canvas 118 is the widest and most powder-specific of the three widths, aimed squarely at deep snow and the kind of skiing that's more about what you do with the terrain than how fast you charge through it.

The construction is deliberately minimal. A poplar and paulownia wood core with a narrow titanal beam running most of the ski's length, carbon stringers, and fiberglass, in a Light Sandwich Full Sidewall construction with no performance metal layering. The titanal is there to preserve camber profile and add just enough stability, not to add drive or stiffness. The result is a ski that Blizzard describes as lighter and softer than anything in their existing freeride lineup, and the flex pattern backs that up: soft tips and tails, progressively stiffening into a firm centre underfoot.

The shape is twin-tipped with tip and tail rocker and traditional camber underfoot. At 19m turn radius in the 180cm length the Canvas 118 isn't a short-turn ski, but the rockered tips and loose tails mean it can be steered playfully and launched without commitment.

This is not a high-speed charger and doesn't pretend to be. At pace in variable or firm snow, the soft tips get tossed around. This is a ski for when it's snowing, when the lines are open, and when the goal is fun rather than efficiency.