Review: Blizzard Anomaly 102

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It’s a long-running law of the ski industry: Blizzard has a reputation for making burly high-performance skis best ridden by strong, speedy ex-racer types. The brand-new Anomaly 102 is no exception–but it’s one of the most accessible Blizzard skis yet. The Brahma, Bonafide, and Cochise lines were getting a bit long in the tooth, so it was time for a full revamp. Those have been discontinued, and replaced by the all-mountain focused Anomaly series. Building on the construction of the freeride-oriented Rustler series that places metal strategically to balance stiffness and dampness, the Anomaly 102 offers finely tuned flex that’s satisfyingly powerful on hard snow, but not overpowering when things soften up.

In a nutshell:

• Lengths Skied: 182, 188 cm
• Stated Weight: 2240 g
• Stated Dimensions: 136 / 102 / 123 mm
• Stated Sidecut: 21 m

Shape, Length and Mount Point:

Aside from the very eye-catching purple topsheet, the Blizzard Anomaly 102 actually looks like one of the most traditional skis we tested this year. There’s a nearly completely flat tail, with subtle tip rocker and almost no taper up front. It feels quite stiff when hand flexing, but on snow, it certainly feels much more balanced, especially torsionally–that’s Blizzard’s FluxForm core at work.

The ski is offered in four sizes: 176, 182, 188, and 192 cm, which definitely skews towards the longer end of the spectrum. Recommended mount point is also very traditional, and most testers were wishing for a bit more tail. Moving your binding up 2-3 cm remedied those woes without sacrificing much performance.

Where does the Blizzard Anomaly 102 shine?

Unsurprisingly, the Anomaly 102 wants to go fast. What we came to like, however, was how easy it was to get up to speed and control. There are plenty of skis out there that don’t have a speed limit, but many can be pretty scary to ride unless you’re a master of edge control and forward pressure in your boots. The Anomaly isn’t one of those.

Some of our favorite laps were on steep wide-open groomers, where there was plenty of room to take advantage of the longer 21-meter turning radius. Despite a really quiet ride feel, the tall camber of the ski still feels energetic, giving it a good amount of liveliness when cranking from turn to turn.

One tester raved, “It’s an insane groomer ski. This is what I'd take out on a morning where the forecast looks sad but the mountain got a corduroy remodel overnight. There’s an effortless feel while carving (much easier than older Blizzards) but the Anomaly 102 doesn't seem to have a speed limit. It’s easy to slash and flex into whatever turn shape you wish when it's on edge.”

That damp ride feel also shines when things get chopped up, with the ski delivering a confident and stable platform for pushing through all manner of ungroomed snow like windbuff, chalk, and cut-up post-storm crud. It’s just as happy on and off-piste, as long as the snow isn’t too deep.

As another tester put it, “This is the ski you’re looking for when you want to charge through anything and still feel stable. It builds confidence as you let it rip through almost anything. The wood core/metal sandwich construction gives it that silky smooth feeling especially when conditions are not that silky.”

Where does the Blizzard Anomaly 102 make some compromises?

The super-quiet and damp feel comes at the expense of pop and playfulness for a more freestyle oriented skier. It’s not the ski for you if you prefer to slash and pivot your turns all over the mountain, instead it’s hungry to get on edge and rail high-speed carves. One tester said, “The Anomaly 102 was really a bit too damp for my liking - very little pop, it eats up smaller compressions and lips, making it hard to get off the ground.”

While it can plow through crud, the Anomaly 102 felt like an anchor in fresh powder. The narrow waist width, lack of tip and tail rocker and the heavy construction did not translate to a floaty ski–but that’s ok given the ski’s intentions.

What would a perfect day on the Blizzard Anomaly 102 look like?

If you’re a high-performance skier living in a place that doesn’t frequently see fresh snow inbounds, the Blizzard Anomaly 102 would make an excellent choice as a daily driver. It balances power, agility, and excellent edge hold and loves cranking high-speed turns on hard snow. Grab a pair for those quiet mornings a few days after a storm when there’s fresh cord, no lift lines, and you want to channel your inner World Cup racer.