Rossignol Zenith Z5 Oversize (2008)

For the last two seasons, I had decided not buy skis.  I rented good skis and great skis here and there.  Then I skied for two days on these Z5’s.  Wow!  Total shock: Great control.  Great acceleration.  Great carving capacity.  Awesome in short and long radius turns.  Great in moguls.  They could be a bit more stable in long radius at high speed.  They are an awesome all-around ski.  I will admit that they are not at the level of the demo Völkl’s I tried in Switzerland.  But at that price (Z5 demos were $425.00 plus taxes), they beat the Völkl’s ($1200).  And they do almost as good in every area.  Two reasons to glide down with a stupid grin on my face. Seriously, I enjoyed every moment on them Z5’s.  And, considering I bought them, I will not be renting any skis for a while.  And I have that grin on my face while typing this…

For the last two seasons, I had decided not buy skis.  I wanted to try lots and lots of high end skis.  I am a bit over 6 ft. and I weigh 210 lbs.  So, I rented good skis and great skis here and there.  Then I skied for two days on these 170cm Z5’s.  Wow!  Total shock!! These skis have it all: Great control.  Great acceleration.  Great carving capacity.  Awesome in short and long radius turns.  Great in moguls.  They could be a bit more stable in long radius turns at high speed.  Regardless, they are an awesome all-around ski.  I will admit that they are not at the level of the demo Völkl’s I tried in Switzerland.  But at that price (Z5 demos were $425.00 plus taxes), they beat the Völkl’s ($1200).  And they do almost as good in every area.  Two reasons to glide down with a stupid grin on my face. Seriously, I enjoyed every moment on them Z5’s.  And, considering I bought them, I will not be renting any skis for a while.  And I have that grin on my face while typing this…

I am a bit nervous that the ski won’t be as good as everyone says it is- I just bought it. It is kinda wierd that the Rossignol home page doesn’t even have those skis on them. Crossing my fingers!!

I’m sure that the reason they aren’t listed on the Rossi site is that the Z5 is last year’s model (07-08). The same ski is sold this year as the Z6, with different cosmetics. Similarly, the Z9 is now the Z10.

Have just skied the Z5’s in France and loved them - does anyone out there know how the Z7’sor Z9’s compare/differ. I am now ready to buy and was going to look for the Z5’s. Also what is the best size? I am 6’ and 185lbs. Thanks

I have skiied the Z5’s for the past three australian seasons and love them. The original review is utterly correct. They are great for short to medium turns, hang in on long turns unless it’s icy, and dance through bumps. Good width up front for powder, although you’d need more width in the waist for deep stuff. Forgiving enough to ski all day. Real fun, fast all mountain ski.

I am only an upper intermediate skier - so keep that in mind. I have skied these for 2-3 years and have had no problems with them. Very comfortable and forgiving. They ski best on edge and carve great. I don’t think they are very stable when completely flat on the snow, but that could just be my skiing. In my Masters race training I found them great at GS turns, not quite as good at quick slalom turns, but the radius is not slalom anyway, and my ski length is 170cm, perhaps a bit long for that.

Zenith Z7 they are one of my best skis in my 25 year ski career. I have skied in Élan, rossignol, Atomic etc but me newer ski like with Zenith z7 model. I was in Bulgaria in Bansko for 10 days where you get mixed clear pist and pist with deep snow with Z7 I ski like I am 20 year younger. I went there not prepared and with injured meniscus I manage to fail only once. I went in place called Brezovica in Kosovo with very difficult ski pist where all of them are black pist and some read pist and 50% humped (Bojan Krizaj one of favourite ski centre) but I managed to ski very good and fast, take small and long turns. I want to mentioned one thing when you ski with Z7 that if you want to ski like expert ore advanced my suggestion is to have expert range Ski boots like Technica dragon, Nordica speedmachine 130,120,110, rossignol zenith 120 ore any other Lange atomic Salomon. That will gave you perfect ski form and stable, confident skiing. There are some friend’s that ski with z7 but boot are for beginner ore intermediate and they find difficult to with them.

I don’t know what are the new models that are the same shape are Z10, z9 ore z6.5 I don’t se them in new models in Rossignol web site