Review: 2027 Blizzard Canvas 118 Skis

Powder skis don’t all have to be stiff and scary. At least that’s the lesson that Blizzard seems to have learned with the widest ski in the all-new athlete-designed Canvas lineup, the 2027 Blizzard Canvas 118. Sure, Blizzard’s reputation has been upheld by skiers looking for powerful, stiff, and overbuilt skis built for groomer and crud-blasting performance. The existing powder ski, the Rustler 11 dominated the lineup for the better part of a decade, taking the place of an even bigger ski, the Spur a few seasons ago. In fact, it’s been a very long time since Blizzard built a ski that could be considered playful. But the release of the all-new Canvas line changes that all.

Designed with heavy input from their next generation of freeride athletes, the all-new Blizzard Canvas 118 is a progressive twin-tip powder ski that skips the metal-reinforced core to bring a surfy, playful and freestyle-forward vibe to deep days. Like the smaller Canvas 108 and 100, the 118 harkens back to the days of the Blizzard Gunsmoke in the mid-2010s era, a twin-tip freeride/powder ski that balanced playfulness and Blizzard’s hard-charging DNA to become a cult-favorite ride among skiers out West. 

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Blizzard Canvas 118 Specs

• Size skied: 188 cm
• Lengths available: 172cm, 180cm, 188cm
• Sidecut: 146mm – 118mm – 135mm
• Radius: 20m (188cm)
• Profile: twin rocker, camber underfoot
• Weight: 1960g (188cm)

Shape, Flex and Construction

After spending the better part of the ‘25/26 season on the Canvas 108 (those samples came out first, and ‘25/26 wasn’t exactly the deepest year of our lives in the Tetons), I had high expectations for the new Canvas 118. 

Visually, it’s quite similar to the Canvas 108 with nearly identical top sheet art courtesy of Penelope Misa,  a pronounced twin tip shape and those classically rounded Blizzard tips and tails. In fact, from afar, the skis look almost exactly the same. I accidentally grabbed the 108 instead of the 118 a few times while heading out the door to the hill. 

The tip shape is a bit different from the 108, with slightly less taper in the front and back, giving the tip a bit more precision and ability to engage into a turn in deep snow. 

Like in the smaller Canvas 108, the Canvas 118 foregoes the stiffness of every other ski in the Blizzard lineup–its poplar and paulownia wood core provides a softer, poppy, and very round flex profile. It’s no noodle, but it’s not the Spur of yesteryear. 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 pure crud-busting dampness, the designers went in the direction of loads of energy, poppiness, and a ski that can ollie and boost off features like a skateboard.

For reference, I skied these mounted with a CAST Freetour/Look Pivot 2.0 and both Atomic Remedy 130 as well as the Tecnica Decoy Pro boots. 

On-Snow Performance

Testing powder skis last winter turned out to be far more challenging than most years, but I’ll happily say that the first day I had on the Blizzard Canvas 118 was likely the deepest day of the year. That day didn’t happen until April at Grand Targhee, but it was AWESOME. It was Day 5, Friday of POWDER Week 2026, and it snowed nearly two feet overnight.

I would describe the energy of that morning as “full-on,” with a dozen testers and crew brimming with excitement as we got early ups to ski untracked storm snow directly under the chairlift. The mountain was not crowded, so fresh tracks remained plentiful for nearly the whole day.

Last season, I spent the majority of my time inbounds on the Canvas 108, so I already had a pretty good feeling of what the 118 would be about that morning. I’m usually hesitant to grab a new-to-me pair of skis on a day where the conditions are going to be that epic, but I was truly stoked to click into the new Canvas 118 at the top of Dreamcatcher.

Like the Canvas 108, the 118 is extremely easy to ski, initiating turns without much effort, and even offers a higher amount of “draw” (the feeling of a ski pulling you into a carved turn and across the fall line). Where it starts to differ is in how it floats in deeper snow. The 118 is pretty much unsinkable, even in extremely light, low-density pow. The extra width in the tip keeps these things on top of anything, even with the very centered mount point. That does lead to extra-long tails, which encourage a surfier, more upright style—one I always find to be supremely fun in powder. Leaning back and wheelie-ing these down an entire fall-line run never gets old.

Of course, that pow day turned into an absolute send-fest, as our crew worked our way into Targhee’s signature big-mountain terrain. Despite the overall softer flex, hitting cliffs on these is very confidence-inspiring, and I rarely found myself tossed into the back seat or washing out on landings. I found myself popping harder and boosting bigger off natural jumps just because, and the low swing weight makes spins and shifties feel really good.

Directly after Powder Week, I headed up Cooke City, Montana with these in tow for a week of backcountry sled skiing. Whether I was skiing steep couloirs, or ripping turns down wide-open faces (both in pow and in corn), the ski excelled—though it has a very unique character. It’s surfy, slashy, and wants to pop and play, but it’s not afraid of going fast. 

A note on boots: After skiing them with the race-spec Atomic Remedy 130 boots, I switched over to the new Tecnica Decoy Pro in Cooke City—a softer but still very damp freetouring boot. That definitely changed the character of the ski a bit, but in the backcountry where the snow’s generally much softer and less riddled with surprises, it’s the perfect pairing.

Comparisons

Fat twintip skis are having a moment right now, and the Canvas 118 is joining the party.

The first and perhaps most similarly-intentioned ski I’d compare the Canvas 118 to is the Rossignol Sender Free 118. Both fall into the powder twin-tip category and are meant to balance playful and hard-charging characteristics, but do so a bit differently. I find the Sender Free 118 to be way stiffer and more speed-focused than the Canvas 118. It’s a better choice for bigger skiers, or those looking to hit truly massive airs and crazy speeds, but I’d tap the Canvas for versatility and think it would make a more usable ski for most skiers.

On the soft-snow freestyle front, I think the closest comparison is to the Salomon QST X. Despite having similarly soft flex patterns and comparable dimensions, they ski quite differently. The Canvas feels much more energetic and poppy than the QST X, making it a better option for resort powder skiing. Conversely, the more time I’ve spent on the QST X, I think it makes for the best powder touring ski out currently, but it’s best kept to soft snow. 

Finally, for all you Blizzard diehards out there, it’s worth comparing this to the Blizzard Rustler 11. Like the Canvas 108, these skis are nothing alike. I’ll quote what I said in my review of the 108: “It’s not to say that if you love the Rustler 11 you won’t like the Canvas–they’re 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 118 doesn’t care whether it’s in the air, sideways, backwards, or upside down.”

What type of skier is the Blizzard Canvas 118 best for? 

The Canvas 118 joins the Blizzard collection as 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 118 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 powder ski, whether in the resort or the backcountry.

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.