Remember the award-winning Women's Bandit B2? This season's Women's Bandit B78 retains the same shape and performance as last year's Women's Bandit B2 but Rossignol added a new TPI2 Free Binding System beneath the included Saphir 110 Bindings for improved control and exceptional energy transmission. This is a powerful ski for physically-fit advanced and expert female skiers who tend to balance their time between groomed and untracked terrain. You're probably wondering about that "physically-fit" part so here's the deal: The Women's Bandit B78 tends to be a better ski for some experts who struggle with softer skis. Some of these women will even buy men's skis for the stiffness and power --which is a bummer because they cheat themselves of accurate energy transmission to the ski edges because the boys' toys are set up with male-specific binding configurations. The B78 offers much of the same components found on the guy's Bandit series including titanium laminates in the longest (174 cm.) length. It also features rugged 20-degree sidewalls with overlapping material including a layer of dampening Visco material (the second layer reinforces the rigidity throughout the ski). Rossignol also added Visco to their Free Absorber Technology (FAT) an aluminum/Visco construction that enhances the control and stability around the binding area. Like last year we paired this Bandit with the Women's Saphir 110 binding and a new TPI2 Free ski binding system. There's also a special two-millimeter spacer in the heel piece to help absorb vibrations and increase stability. The additional two millimeters of lift in the spacer might not seem like much but it gives you a more natural female-specific stance that can improve your turn initiation--a theory you can test when you duck into the thick gladed runs this season. The new TPI2 Free ski binding system is tool-free and gives the Bandit B78 a freeride feel without the extra customization work. If you're looking for the complete deal in a versatile advanced/expert ski design with performance bindings recommended by the manufacturer this is a package made for you.