Before this season, it had been since 2003 since I skied. I told the ski store guy that I was an advanced beginner/intermediate. So I got fitted with some decent Salomon S1 skis. Well, I was an advanced/expert skier 15 years ago and I now I have gotten back to form. Now my skis are not working for me. I need some new ones. I have got my eye on the new Salomon BBR skis. They are supposed to be revolutionary in that they are designed to be amazing on powder/off piste as well as on groomed pistes. They are huge on the tips and narrow on the ends. They are like surfboards. Has anyone used these things or know someone who has? I would love some local reviews before I drop 900 chuffs on these badboys.

i have seen load in the Intersport at the base station at Engelberg. The way they are stored I assume they are for rent. I would assume there must be some other places that would also have them for rent.

That way you can try them yourself and see whether you like them or not.

At that price you should try before you buy! I currently have 5 pairs of skis, 4 of which less than 2 years old, they are all different. There is no 1 perfect ski, some of the cross skis are very good but a huge compromise.

As Fatman says, you should definitely try before you buy. I've not skied these myself, so can't comment specifically, although it's a fact that for many years skis have been getting more versatile and polyvalent.

Having said that, none of the all-round skis I've used and owned over the last few years is anything like as good on hard piste as a dedicated piste ski, so it's clear that compromises still need to be made. I currently choose between the aforementioned piste skis (rossi 9x); my fat-fat off-piste babies - Salomon Czar, with big front rockers that make powder simply divine and float over the crud; and then my stand-by 1080 Foils, old and worn-out perhaps, but still better on-piste than the Czars and better off-piste than the Rossis.

So whatever you get will always be a compromise of some sort; it's up to you to determine if it's a compromise you're happy with.

I myself haven't tried any deep powder skis, but I just upgraded my 1080 Spaceframes to the Twenty-Twelves and I'm super impressed!

The 1080s did well in off-piste, although back then there weren't many other options from Salomon other than the Pocket Rockets. They were amazing in the park and half pipe, but definitely lacked at highspeed carving.

The Twenty-twelves, although only slightly wider than the 1080s, have performed amazing off-piste (only touched snow knee deep so far), and are very fast and solid on carving. Haven't tried them in the park or pipe yet, but so far, the best all-mountain ski I've ridden.

Sorry this doesn't quite answer your question, but hopefully gives some input to someone.