Still within the all mountain category, but only just, the Soul 7 is more a big mountain freeride ski that performs better than most other skis of its type on harder snow and groomed piste.

Great for :

a freeride skis that does reasonably well on harder snow too

Not so great for :

it’s still a very long way from being a piste ski

Target ability level :

One of the skis everyone’s talking about this year, the Soul 7 is billed by Rossi as a versatile freeride ski which floats effortlessly, and is effortlessly manoeuvrable, easy to control, lightweight and agile. We’d add smooth, balanced, predictable and user-friendly – a rare beast, a backcountry freeride ski that will do more than just get you from A to B on groomed slopes as well.

Powder Turn Rocker uses 50% traditional camber underfoot with 50% rocker in the tip and tail. The very long and gradual tip rocker gives great flotation and effortless manoeuvrability, the tail rocker helps vary turns for steering and control in difficult conditions while the camber section helps with grip on harder snow and pistes.

The sidecut is pretty straight and gradual though the 17 metre sidecut radius for the 180 ski isn’t overly long for a ski of this style and width. Air Tip construction keeps the tip light and the centre of gravity close to the centre of sidecut while maintaining some element of torsional rigidity for hard snow performance.

A lovely ski in soft snow of all sorts, from powder to spring snow and slush, the Soul 7’s not the ideal option for high speed charging through chopped up crud. And they need to be skied long.