Another new ski to be added to Black Diamond’s 2011/2012 roster is the Warrant. The nice lady inside Black Diamond’s All Mountain Demo tent at Solitude told me there are many changes to the lineup, with some skis (like the Havoc) going away, and others being replaced with new models. The Warrant replaces the old Kilowatt ski and will appear in retail stores this fall.
The Black Diamond Warrant closely resembles its deceased brother, the Kilowatt in terms of personality. On Solitude’s packed-powder-on-ice conditions, the Warrant were supremely stable and never once gave me sewing-machine legs in normally chatter filled chop.
Taking the Warrant into the trees proved their noble powder capability, and also showed me that they love to make very tight turns despite their 21m radius. Of course when I opened them up beneath some frontside pines off the Eagle Express lift, they howled when making wide turns too.
The Warrant are just really fun skis to turn edge to edge, are basically capable, and don’t take any guff from crap snow thrown in front of them. At least, it seemed that way based on only a couple of runs. But judging by those few tests, I wouldn’t hesitate to add the Warrant to my resort ski quiver.
The Warrant will also be available in a women’s version, called the Ember.
Below are the specifications from Black Diamond.
168(128-95-116)
178(130-95-118)
188(132-95-119)
Sidecut radius: 21m
Although these new skis won’t be available until Fall 2011, you can still check out Black Diamond’s current offerings.