Rossignol Soul 7 review
The Rossignol Soul 7 has been causing a bit of a stir this season. While the concept of a fat ski that can also handle itself on piste is not new – indeed, a look at the other reviews on this site will show that it is now getting hard to find a ski that doesn’t offer this combination to some degree – the Soul 7 has moved the formula on to the next step. With 136mm at the tip and 126mm at the tail, plus 106mm underfoot, this is a solidly fat ski; yet it manages to come in with a radius of only 17m. The tips have an “air tip” honeycomb construction to save weight, which both reduces the swing weight and concentrates the mass to under the skiier’s foot to improve edge grip and control. It also means that the tips are less prone to flap about when running fast, particularly on piste. The ski has a rockered camber, though its profile is somewhat less aggressive than other skis in this class, especially at the tail, which no doubt contributes to the Soul 7’s handling of firmer snow conditions.
So how does it perform? In a word – brilliantly. In power the width, rocker profile and light weight of the Soul 7 give it outstanding floatation and control as might expected, making it an absolute blast to ski. However, it’s in firmer conditions that the Soul 7 really impresses. For such a wide rockered ski, the edge grip and turning ability are almost unsurpassed – this is genuinely a ski that can be enjoyed as much on piste as it can in the power, without any real compromise on either. Rossignol categorise this ski as being “80% powder, 20% all mountain” and for sure, there are skis out there that will be faster edge-to-edge on piste. But those skis will also be about 20mm narrower underfoot, and the Soul 7 will simply leave them standing in soft snow conditions. If you’re a skier who primarily wants to ski powder when it is available, but wants a genuine “one quiver” do-it-all ski, then the Soul 7 is a game changer.