The 2026 Blizzard Thunderbird R15 82 LTD is a burly new front side ski that rips race-like turns through crud, chop, groomers, or anywhere else you can imagine. This new shape follows the same format as the R15 76 Thunderbird while sharing a platform with the new Stormbird 82 DTI also from Blizzard. In addition, by adding the Race Plate Pro to the mix and Comp 12 bindings, Blizzard elevates the stability and smoothness of the ski versus the non-LTD version. When we were first presented with this option, it seemed strange that any skier would opt for the non-LTD edition, but after skiing them back-to-back, it was interesting to see just how different these two setups were.