All-Condition, All-Mountain Ski

Rustler 9 - Review 2025

By: Hunter Bierce & Annie Gunton - Updated: April 2025

About this guide

We gave our Review Team one job:
Find the best and most popular products and review them. Our review team always considers durability, price, quality, and value in their reviews.

Our review team:

Hunter Bierce

Editor at SlopeMagazine.com

Hunter is a PSIA ski instructor based in the Northern Cascades.

Annie Gunton

Editor at SlopeMagazine.com

Annie has lived on 4 continents and traveled through 6. Spending her time in places as different as London and the Kalahari she has adapted how she gets out and enjoys what’s around.

Disclosure: We are reader supported, and earn affiliate commissions If you find a good deal on Slope Magazine, you click to the retailer, and you buy the product, we get a commission of the sale. That's how we pay ourselves. It does not make the product pricier for you. when you buy through us.

Where to buy Rustler 9:

Amazon

REI

Backcountry

Evo

Blizzard seems to have a knack for making skis that excel in firm conditions. The Rustler 9 is their take on an all-mountain tool for low-tide. Compared to their infamous Brahma and Black Pearl, the Rustler 9 gives up a little bit of performance on groomed slopes for fun and versatility. It’s nimble and playful, more at home on harder snow than it is at peak season pow days.

The one thing that the Rustler 9 is decidedly not, is a freestyle ski. Their playfulness translates to more of a snappy and turny style than a spinning and trick-oriented one. Still aggressive skiers who don’t expect to see many huge storms at their home mountain but who still like to venture off of the groomers will find a lot to love here.

Notable Features

Carbon Flipcore DRT: A tapered sheet of titanal runs the length of the ski, thickest and most supportive underfoot then gradually thinning out towards the tips and tails where it is replaced by carbon inserts. The end result is a ski that weighs less, with more playful and forgiving shovels that still can hold an edge when called upon.