Review: Why Blizzard’s New Canvas 108 Feels Like a Brand Reset

Ski brands have reputations, and for an entire generation of skiers, Blizzard’s has undoubtedly been that of being the brand for hard-charging resort skiers looking for powerful on-piste skis and crud-blasting performance. With stiff, damp, directional skis like the Cochise, Sheeva, Anomaly, and Rustler dominating their lineup for the better part of a decade, it’s been a long time since Blizzard delivered a ski aimed at skiers looking for something more playful. They’ve long catered to skiers who come from a racing background, or at least know a thing or two about “traditional” ski technique. With the release of the all-new Canvas line, that’s all changed.

Designed with heavy input from their next generation of freeride athletes, the all-new Blizzard Canvas 108 is something we haven’t seen in a long time from Blizzard: a progressive twin-tip ski without a beefy, metal-reinforced core inside to stiffen things up.

At first glance, it harkens back to the days of the Blizzard Gunsmoke in the mid-2010s era, a twin-tip freeride ski that balanced playfulness and Blizzard’s hard-charging DNA to become a cult-favorite ride among skiers out West. But, after riding it for the better part of the early season here in the Tetons and Wasatch, I’ve found it’s truly something new for Blizzard.

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Blizzard Canvas 108 Specs

• Size skied: 186 cm
• Lengths available: 168cm, 174cm, 180cm, 186cm, 192cm
• Sidecut: 140mm - 108mm - 128mm
• Radius: 19m (186cm)
• Profile: twin rocker, camber underfoot
• Weight: 1870g (186cm)

Shape, Flex and Construction: 

Blizzards are stiff and filled with metal, right? Not this one! The Canvas 108 is a stark departure from what we’re used to seeing from the Austrians at Blizzard. 

Of course, the elephant in the room is the fact that this is a purpose-built twin tip ski, with a suggested mount point closer to center than most. The tip and tail shape is still quintessentially Blizzard (with smoothly rounded taper lines paired with twin-rocker construction and good amount of camber underfoot. The size-specific turn radius (19 meters for the tested 186 length) falls squarely into the middle of the road, balancing both a quick-turning character with more high-speed stability.

The Canvas 108 skips the stiff nature of just about every other ski in the existing blizzard lineup–its poplar and paulownia wood core provides a soft, poppy, and very round flex profile. I was actually surprised to learn that a small strip of metal runs down the center of the ski, since it doesn’t add a “heavy metal” feel to the ski by any means. It’s no noodle, but I found it quite easy to flex. In fact, I can butter up onto the tips of these without too much effort–something I’ve never been able to do with any other Blizzard ski. 

That softer flex also comes at the cost of some damping–an attribute many skiers have loved Blizzard’s other freeride skis for. However, it’s clear the design/athlete team wanted to do something different, so instead of all-out crud-busting dampness, they went in the direction of loads of energy, poppiness, and a ski that can ollie and boost off features like a skateboard.

The poppiness is further enhanced by how light the ski is. At 1870g per ski, the 186cm length falls closer to the category of backcountry touring skis than mid-fat all-mountain rippers. 

For reference, I skied these mounted with a Look Pivot 2.0 and Atomic Remedy 130 boots. 

On-Snow Performance: 

Ski testing so far this winter has been much more challenging than most. Most resorts struggled to open on time, and warm temperatures combined with rain to ruin an already fragile snowpack once they did. I’m used to skiing pow starting around Thanksgiving here in the Tetons, so I was a bit bummed to be stuck riding chopped-up man-made snow on various Slopes of Hope/Ribbons of Death for most of December. 

My mind wants to immediately compare it to other Blizzard skis to paint a picture about it, but I want to describe it for what it is, not what it isn’t. That being said, the Canvas 108 might as well have been the perfect ski for our collective early-season situation. The first word I’d use to describe this ski is very simple: “fun.” But it goes far beyond that.

The Canvas 108 is extremely easy to ski, initiating turns without much effort, and offers a substantial amount of “draw” for a twin twip (the feeling of a ski pulling you into a carved turn and across the fall line). It is a Blizzard after all, and these guys have a whole video series extolling the virtues of “The Turn,” so that responsiveness is not all too surprising. In my experience, most twin-tipped skis with a mount point this close to center don’t offer that, instead providing a more centered, neutral, and pivot-y character.

However, the Canvas 108 doesn’t need your full front-of-the-boot attention to feel like you can control it. In fact, it wants to be pivoted, smeared, and buttered just as much as it wants to carve. It’s stupidly fun on skied-out groomers littered with sidehits where you’re carving a few turns, slashing some soft bumps, and lining up sidehit airs to spin, shifty, or perform whatever aerial maneuvers you please. In steeper trees, bumped out or chalky snow, the ski feels similarly alive, with the light weight and impressive pop making it easy to air over moguls, press through troughs, and drift high-speed turns in chalky windbuffed bowls.

The one downside to the sprightly nature of these skis is that they don’t have quite enough mass to punch through heavy, wet, and cut-up snow. While the tip rocker profile and loose tails help with maneuverability in those conditions (which we’ve unfortunately had more of this early season that I would wish on my worst enemy), they do get tossed around quite a bit when trying to ski fast in them. 

I did head into some deeper snow out of bounds once it started falling in late December to get a feel for how these perform in big-mountain terrain. That included a few laps out the gates at Jackson Hole (once they re-opened after a forced closure) and some time on my favorite local backcountry bootpack on Mt. Glory. Unsurprisingly, the Canvas 108 is ridiculously fun in pow. The mid-fat waist width isn’t the floatiest option by any means, and I’d probably opt for the soon-to-be-released Canvas 118 for dedicated pow use, but the twin-rocker shape and approachable flex make these extremely fun to bounce around in deep snow aboard, encouraging slashes, nosebutters, and just all-around playful skiing.

Comparisons: 

About 10 years ago, the mid-fat twin tip was a very popular category in skiing, with just about every brand offering something to fill that slot. In recent years, that seemed to shift towards more directional offerings, especially from race-pedigree brands like Blizzard, Völkl, or Atomic. As always, the industry operates in circles, and today, I feel like that twin-tip style is making a comeback.

The first and perhaps most similarly-intentioned ski I’d compare the Canvas 108 to is the Faction Studio 2. Both fall into the all-mountain twin-tip category and are meant to balance playful and hard-charging characteristics, but do so very differently. I’ve found the Studio 2 to be stiffer and much more piste-oriented than the Canvas 108. It’s a bit quicker and more nimble and offers better edge hold on icy slopes, but I’d tap the Canvas for versatility and think it would make a more usable and fun resort ski for most skiers.

On the soft-snow freestyle front, I think the closest comparison is to the Atomic Bent 110. At nearly identical weights and very similar shapes, I expected these skis to feel more similar than they do. The Canvas feels much more energetic and “alive” than the Bent 110, making it a better option for inbounds skiing in variable conditions. Conversely, the more time I’ve spent on the Bent 110, I think it makes for an excellent freestyle touring ski that’s best kept to untouched soft snow. 

Finally, for all you Blizzard diehards out there, I want to compare this to the Blizzard Rustler 11. These skis are nothing alike. That’s not to say that if you love the Rustler 11 you won’t like the Canvas–it’s just very different. Where the Rustler wants to blast high-speed directional turns through whatever lies in its path, the Canvas wants to dance around, air over, and style its way through similar terrain. The Rustler 11 wants to be in contact with the snow going straight, while the Canvas 108 doesn’t care whether it’s in the air, sideways, backwards, or upside down.

What type of skier is the Blizzard Canvas 108 best for? 

As such a stark departure from what we’ve seen coming out of the Blizzard factory these last few years, I think the Canvas 108 is a ski that’s going to be best suited for an entirely different set of skiers than a Rustler, Anomaly, Sheeva, Black Pearl or Cochise. Truth be told, the Canvas breathes some much-needed fresh life into Blizzard’s ski lineup and will be a great choice for any modern, progressive freeskier looking for a do-it-all resort ski for riding out West, or a pow-day ski for East Coast riding.

The best part? Thanks to its still excellent on-piste performance, I don’t think it will alienate skiers who still demand a ski that can carve and make a “real” ski turn–it can do that plus hang in the park, slash and butter in pow, and turn all the resort sidehits into your personal fun zone.