DESCRIPTION

When Cody Townsend calls the Salomon El Dictator Ski 'teenager-at-a-strip-club stiff,' you can be sure it's no noodle. He ought to know, because he and cult freeski legend Kaj Zackrisson designed it to be. Their goal was a big-mountain expert's dream ski: big, fast, and burly, but incorporating all the recent design innovations that make powder skiing a pleasure, not a chore. The result is El Dictator, a flat-tailed, wood-cored charger with just enough tip rocker to pull you up from the depths of a 60-footer's bombhole. In a market trending toward forgiveness and all-mountain versatility, few skis stand apart to represent the old school. This is one of them.