2025 Rossignol Sender Free 118

The Blackops 118 gets a re-brand for 2025. For years, we’ve looked at this ski and dreamed of being in the right zone to properly deploy the Sender Free 118 from Rossignol. This 2025 version remains mostly the same with a different name and still allows skiers in the expert range the ability to stay on top of any depth of fresh snow as well as being able to play, drift, smear, and slarve to your heart’s content. As an athlete-inspired ski, it’s reserved for big terrain, strong skiing, and deep snow. In those realms, this ski reigns supreme. Sure, it’s one-dimensional, but in that dimension, this ski can do no wrong. With the sturdiness of a tank and the flotation of a boat, this ski can do a lot when it comes to big mountains and deep snow.

We get some heft with this ski. Built with a poplar wood core and a kevlar/carbon reinforcement, this ski is built to handle aggressive skiing, huge airs, and deep snow. With all that material held together by fiberglass and epoxy, we’re looking at a hefty ski. In fact, the 186 cm length hits the scale at 2550 grams per ski, which is about as heavy as it gets. The shape and profile allow it to be surfy, but just by the numbers, this ski is a pork chop. For the weight, though, it’s still got some fun-loving flex to it, and that’s great news for skiers who like the playful feeling of a fat twin tip. The rubber goes a long way in keeping these mammoth tips and tails supple and silent while the overall personality of the ski is very silent and composed. It’s about as smooth as it gets in the freeride world.

At 118 mm underfoot, this ski is built to float. There’s a ton of surface area here, and when combined with the rocker profile and taper shape, it gets tough to sink this ski. The 146 mm tips and 141 mm tails lead to a symmetrical shape. The arc is long, coming in at 25-meters in the 186, and this makes the ski very drifty because of this blend of symmetry and sidecut. There’s a good amount of taper in the tips and tails, and the one time we got to ski them in about 10 inches of snow, there was little to no submersion whatsoever. Additionally, they were super easy and fun to throw sideways, despite the weight, making them some of the most playful skis in this realm. There’s quite a bit of splay, but it’s at the behest of very long rocker. There’s still camber underfoot, but for the most part, this thing has a lot of bend to it.

Advanced and expert skiers fall in line with this ski. The combination of heavy weight, big rocker, long taper, symmetrical shape, and long sidecut creates one of the most floaty and playful skis on the planet. With the inspiration of Parker White, this ski can handle some of the biggest lines and deepest zones out there. There’s always a right tool for the job, and when the snow gets deep and the terrain calls for creativity and passion, there’s not a whole lot better out there than this ski. While it’s wide in shape, it’s narrow in scope.