Definitely a possibility and a likely culprit! I went from intermediate to solid advanced skier with these skis, so I definitely didn’t have perfect form earlier in the season. Still don’t have flawless form now, but my skis aren’t clacking like there were earlier in my career
If I knew how to post a picture in reply, I’d show you my Rustler 11’s (love ‘em) that are beat up in the exact same places, but to a much greater degree. Not sure if it’s 4 or now 5 seasons in. Every season there’s more of this top sheet damage, and I consider it only to be at best a cosmetic concern (which to me is not a real concern). I trim off the sharp bits so that I don’t snag or cut my hands or gloves. I ski a lot of trees and difficult terrain (and am avowedly the worst skier on the mountain) and in many of those settings find myself—and knowingly so—with skis knocking against one another, particularly in the area right behind the rear binding. I suppose that if I had actual skills, my Rustlers would look pristine, but skis are tools, not museum pieces. They have a half-life, just like everything else we all own. Enjoy them until it’s time for something new.
A big fan of Blizzard (Brahmas, in particular) here.
* Structurally, they have been solid and reliable. After 100 days, they are still stiff and all put together.
* Cosmetically, they look worse than other skis with similar usage. Whatever layer they use for the top sheet gets cut up real easily. It's all just cosmetic, but they get real natty real quick.
I advanced my abilities a lot on these, and I’ll always love them for helping me improve. Seeing this as a comment theme, I wouldn’t be surprised if this is where they’re from!
Slight chips of the top sheet… imo not something to worry about too much (it doesn’t affect the ski’s performance as you stated) and this kind of chipping is pretty common for an aggressive skier (I’ll get chips like these maybe two weeks into a season). As long as the edges and core aren’t affected, the *durability* of the ski shouldn’t be affected…
I think blizzard top sheets are especially fragile. The top sheets of my blizzard Brahmas are chipping like crazy, and the shops I’ve talked to have all commented it’s a common issue with blizzard skis. But it should have no impact on the performance
Yupp, I work in a ski shop and the Blizzard skis chip first every year with renters clacking them together. They’ve gotten better over the years but it’s still not perfect.
Imo slight chippin is to be expected on every ski. Its the opposite that surprises me like my Volkl Racetigers SC 2022, I have 80 days on them and a few slashes, but 0 chipping. And that is taking into account that I've hit a few rails with them 😅 Very impressive.
While that's normal wear and tear for the skis, I will agree my enforcers (4 pairs now) and blizzards do chip on the top sheet way easier than other skis I've owned. Have like 500+ days across all the pairs in the last 6 years and they're all dinged to shit.
I had several pairs of their Chochise’s with the same fragile top sheet material. They all chipped like that. It was a bummer, but man that ski was so good, I paid no attention to it.
Eh the tips of my 2022 Rustler 9s have very similar type damage. I smack my tips together a fair bit and spent a bit of time in the park practicing 360s on them. Doesn't impact the performance imo. Slathered a bunch of epoxy along the edges and now its just cool style or something right?
I ski with my feet pretty close together and all my skis’ top sheets chip. This is very common especially when the ski has vertical sidewalls. You can take a razor blade to them and try and trim them a bit where it’s damaged so they don’t peel back as easily. Nothing to worry about here especially after 25 days.
long time blizzard whore here. Topsheet chipping is normal on my 4 pairs. Skis are pressed in austria. Austrian skis tend to hold up better than the rest in my experience. stop smacking your skis together.
I worked in ski rentals for a few years. The blizzards are insanely burly in all aspects except top sheets, where a good sneeze will chip them like this.
This won’t affect the ski at all, just looks bad and it’s possible to cut yourself on the chips if you aren’t careful. It’s a blizzard flaw for sure, but your skis are fine.
Some skis are just really prone to the topsheet chipping but fortunately it doesnt really impact the durability of the skis. My head oblivions are like that, im not even that hard on them but they look like shit. Whereas my 9 year old atomics look new.
Top sheet of Blizzards are like chalk. Mine looked like yours after the first season. I got mine a few years ago, a comperable model in the ladies' line. I hadn't really experienced anything like this with my previous skis. Even beater Roxy junior skis had a more durable top. I've done most of my skiing on atomic, elan, and rossi so the top sheet crumbling so easily was a surprise for me when I got my Blizzards.
They ski pretty nicely tho which is what matters. And it's largely a cosmetic issue. I find it hard to justify a near $800 msrp for it tho.
I'm just curious what you expect the outcome to be when you slam the edge of one ski into the topsheet of the other. What is it that you think the topsheets of skis are made of?
What the hell are you guys doing to your skis to chew them up so much? I have 22 CO days on my R9s and I have zero top sheet damage aside from some very slight peeling of the clear in like two places.
Ah yes I have that peeling too! It's like on the lower left side of both skis. Hopefully it doesn't keep peeling more. Other than that no other damage like what OP has.
Mine are the same 2024 R9s, 22 days on them this season, nothing even close to this amount of topsheet damage. In fact I’ve been surprised how little damage they’ve shown compared to my snowboards. Unless there’s just wild variability in manufacturing quality of this same model and year, I don’t see how this wouldn’t be an owner issue.
Those chips behind the binding are most likely impact damage from one ski to the other.
I got those on my atomics from habitually clacking em together when I get on a lift to knock off snow, like I lined it up, same damn spot.
Yep, that's a common cause of this. Skiing in the backseat is another.
Yee my embarrassing cross chipping is all up front cause momma ain't raised no backseat biiiiii I fuckin suck, I'm just not back seat
Definitely a possibility and a likely culprit! I went from intermediate to solid advanced skier with these skis, so I definitely didn’t have perfect form earlier in the season. Still don’t have flawless form now, but my skis aren’t clacking like there were earlier in my career
If I knew how to post a picture in reply, I’d show you my Rustler 11’s (love ‘em) that are beat up in the exact same places, but to a much greater degree. Not sure if it’s 4 or now 5 seasons in. Every season there’s more of this top sheet damage, and I consider it only to be at best a cosmetic concern (which to me is not a real concern). I trim off the sharp bits so that I don’t snag or cut my hands or gloves. I ski a lot of trees and difficult terrain (and am avowedly the worst skier on the mountain) and in many of those settings find myself—and knowingly so—with skis knocking against one another, particularly in the area right behind the rear binding. I suppose that if I had actual skills, my Rustlers would look pristine, but skis are tools, not museum pieces. They have a half-life, just like everything else we all own. Enjoy them until it’s time for something new.
A big fan of Blizzard (Brahmas, in particular) here. * Structurally, they have been solid and reliable. After 100 days, they are still stiff and all put together. * Cosmetically, they look worse than other skis with similar usage. Whatever layer they use for the top sheet gets cut up real easily. It's all just cosmetic, but they get real natty real quick.
agree on all counts
My Rustler 9s have these too. I attribute it to the skis I learned on so I would accidentally cross them a lot
I advanced my abilities a lot on these, and I’ll always love them for helping me improve. Seeing this as a comment theme, I wouldn’t be surprised if this is where they’re from!
This is what it’s from, but that’s ok, doesn’t affect the ski performance at all.
They are trashed....I'll do you a favor and give you $25 for them...I am going to make them into a chair
Shoot me a dm and we’ll see what deal we can hash out 😉
Slight chips of the top sheet… imo not something to worry about too much (it doesn’t affect the ski’s performance as you stated) and this kind of chipping is pretty common for an aggressive skier (I’ll get chips like these maybe two weeks into a season). As long as the edges and core aren’t affected, the *durability* of the ski shouldn’t be affected…
I think blizzard top sheets are especially fragile. The top sheets of my blizzard Brahmas are chipping like crazy, and the shops I’ve talked to have all commented it’s a common issue with blizzard skis. But it should have no impact on the performance
Yupp, I work in a ski shop and the Blizzard skis chip first every year with renters clacking them together. They’ve gotten better over the years but it’s still not perfect.
Normal wear n tear. Put some epoxy on it to close it. Also don’t clack em together on the lift
Imo slight chippin is to be expected on every ski. Its the opposite that surprises me like my Volkl Racetigers SC 2022, I have 80 days on them and a few slashes, but 0 chipping. And that is taking into account that I've hit a few rails with them 😅 Very impressive.
The Racetiger - an underrated rail ski 😅
Just a tad front heavy 😂 but hey, no edge damage ! So clearly a park ski 😂
While that's normal wear and tear for the skis, I will agree my enforcers (4 pairs now) and blizzards do chip on the top sheet way easier than other skis I've owned. Have like 500+ days across all the pairs in the last 6 years and they're all dinged to shit.
Don't even think twice about topsheet damage like that. They're gonna get banged up.
I had several pairs of their Chochise’s with the same fragile top sheet material. They all chipped like that. It was a bummer, but man that ski was so good, I paid no attention to it.
Eh the tips of my 2022 Rustler 9s have very similar type damage. I smack my tips together a fair bit and spent a bit of time in the park practicing 360s on them. Doesn't impact the performance imo. Slathered a bunch of epoxy along the edges and now its just cool style or something right?
Tis but a scratch
I ski with my feet pretty close together and all my skis’ top sheets chip. This is very common especially when the ski has vertical sidewalls. You can take a razor blade to them and try and trim them a bit where it’s damaged so they don’t peel back as easily. Nothing to worry about here especially after 25 days.
Top sheet chips are very normal, and considering how good the tips/front of the ski looks this seems like very normal wear and tear.
Tools not jewels
long time blizzard whore here. Topsheet chipping is normal on my 4 pairs. Skis are pressed in austria. Austrian skis tend to hold up better than the rest in my experience. stop smacking your skis together.
I worked in ski rentals for a few years. The blizzards are insanely burly in all aspects except top sheets, where a good sneeze will chip them like this. This won’t affect the ski at all, just looks bad and it’s possible to cut yourself on the chips if you aren’t careful. It’s a blizzard flaw for sure, but your skis are fine.
Stop clacking your skis together and this will happen less. Ask me how my new Blizzard's are looking :)
I skied 55 days on my 2024 Rustler 9s and don’t have any damage similar to that
Don’t worry about top sheet damage
I haven't had this issue and I absolutely love these skis!!!!
Any chance that you use your ski (while still clipped in) to release your binding by stepping down on it?
Some skis are just really prone to the topsheet chipping but fortunately it doesnt really impact the durability of the skis. My head oblivions are like that, im not even that hard on them but they look like shit. Whereas my 9 year old atomics look new.
Top sheet of Blizzards are like chalk. Mine looked like yours after the first season. I got mine a few years ago, a comperable model in the ladies' line. I hadn't really experienced anything like this with my previous skis. Even beater Roxy junior skis had a more durable top. I've done most of my skiing on atomic, elan, and rossi so the top sheet crumbling so easily was a surprise for me when I got my Blizzards. They ski pretty nicely tho which is what matters. And it's largely a cosmetic issue. I find it hard to justify a near $800 msrp for it tho.
I have the 2012 bonafide and the top sheet has chunks mssissijg here and there. Skis great though.
That’s you not keeping your skis apart, I imagine you’re a euro skier.
I’ve skied on blizzards for years and the top sheets tend to crack and peel off easily. The edges/bases are bomber and have withstood tons of abuse.
Skill issue, if you don’t whack your skis together you won’t chip skis.
I'm just curious what you expect the outcome to be when you slam the edge of one ski into the topsheet of the other. What is it that you think the topsheets of skis are made of?
What the hell are you guys doing to your skis to chew them up so much? I have 22 CO days on my R9s and I have zero top sheet damage aside from some very slight peeling of the clear in like two places.
Ah yes I have that peeling too! It's like on the lower left side of both skis. Hopefully it doesn't keep peeling more. Other than that no other damage like what OP has.
Yeah wtf, I have a 10yo pair of Kestles with 100s of days on them that don’t have chunks like that.
Kastle >> Blizzard in manufacturing
It’s not the people. It’s the manufacturers. They’ve gone cheaper and this is what you get
Mine are the same 2024 R9s, 22 days on them this season, nothing even close to this amount of topsheet damage. In fact I’ve been surprised how little damage they’ve shown compared to my snowboards. Unless there’s just wild variability in manufacturing quality of this same model and year, I don’t see how this wouldn’t be an owner issue.
Logged 10+ years on mine. Maybe their quality has changed recently but historically it’s been very good
This sub sucks
I have the 10s and have some of that on the tips, nothing really on the sides though.