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When something claims to be ‘jack of all’ that often translates to ‘compromise’; it does everything well, but doesn’t excel.
Luckily, that’s not the case with Scott’s Crusade skis. This is a pair of planks that will reward you whether you’re safely whizzing down a groomed run on you way to a lunch date on the sun deck or bashing your way through waist deep powder.
Three steps to success
Crusade skis work because Scott has employed a straight-forward but effective formula: shaping, construction and testing.
The shape combines the needs of both off piste and on. The construction ensures they can cope with mixed conditions. And the hours under the feet of the god-like elite of big mountain skiing and mere mortals who enjoy bashing through powder fields confirms these skis work.
Short radius, fat waist
To work off piste a ski needs to be fat. The buxom vital statistics of the Crusades give them the buoyancy to float through the soft, deep powder.
Traditionally, wide skis have a long radius, but not the Crusade. Despite a podgy 92mm waist they have a short radius and this side cut means they can turn more quickly.
Fat skis don’t usually perform particularly well on piste but the Crusades do. This is partly due to the way that the radius dimensions and width have been balanced, but is also due to the metal used in their construction, which adds stability.
Review continues after the break...
The combination is a ski that feels powerful coming out of the turn, grips well and turns easily.
Best of both
The end result is a ski that is mellow in difficult conditions and direct and responsive on hard, fast pistes.
There’s no point buying them if you never venture off piste, but if you do want to leave the groomed runs behind, there’s no better ski on the market for indulging in some back-country carving too.
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