1 / 6Rossignol ARCADE W 78 XP10
Pre-order · Ships September 2026
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PTO Verdict
“A light, short-turning groomer ski that is easy to like on a first blue run - and easy to outgrow the moment you start to carry speed.”
Best for: Beginner and early-intermediate women skiing groomers - that is where Rossignol aims it too, in its own words. It suits the smaller, lighter skier especially: there is not much ski to swing, and the included binding's DIN span starts at 2.5, a genuinely low floor for someone light. And it suits the skier who wants to buy once and just go skiing - the binding is in the $549.95, it takes both current adult sole norms, and there is nothing left to decide.
Not for: Anyone in a junior boot. Rossignol's own compatibility table says no to ISO 5355 'C' child soles and no to GripWalk 'JR' junior soles, and the binding's sole-length adjustment starts at 261 mm. This ski is built as small as a 132, and our smallest is a 140 - exactly the lengths a shop is tempted to fit to a young or small skier standing in a junior boot. By Rossignol's own table that is a mis-fit, no matter how well the length seems to suit her, so check the sole norm and the 261 mm floor before the size conversation, not after. Strong, fast or aggressive skiers: there is no metal and no carbon in it, the chassis is cap, and both ends are rockered clear of the snow, so it will go loose and wash out when it is pushed, and technique does not fix a parts list. Off-piste and powder skiers: 78 mm, and Rossignol's own copy scopes it to on-piste snow, twice. Anyone who wants long, high-speed arcs: a 9-11 m radius is a short-turn shape and it does not pretend otherwise. And anyone touring: pin-tech inserts are a no, this is an alpine binding.
At a Glance
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Description
The Rossignol Arcade W 78 XP10 is a women's on-piste ski, 78 mm underfoot, sold complete with its Xpress W 10 GW binding for $549.95.
It is the cheaper twin of the Arcade W 80 - the same construction underneath, a hair narrower, and the W 78 saves you $100.
The build is simple: a poplar core and fiberglass in a cap chassis, and there is no metal in it and no carbon. Rocker at both the tip and the tail shortens the edge touching the snow, so the ski hooks up late and lets go early. That is what makes it hard to catch an edge. It is also why it goes vague when pushed hard and fast on firm snow. One decision, both consequences.
One thing you should hear from us up front. Rossignol's own copy credits the grip to sidewall construction, while the spec block lists the construction as CAP. We write the ski from the spec block.
The most useful number on it is the turn radius: 9 m at 140, 10 m at 148, 11 m at 156. That is short, and on a groomer it means the ski comes around with very little asked of you. Per ski it weighs 1.2 to 1.4 kg - light to swing all day.
Rossignol aims it plainly: intermediate and beginner women skiing groomers. The parts list agrees. It is the wrong ski for anyone already carrying speed, and wrong once you leave the groomer. One hard line, and it is a safety line: the included binding is officially not compatible with junior boot soles, and its boot-sole adjustment starts at 261 mm. On a ski this short, that check comes first.
We stock 140, 148 and 156. It is a system ski, so the binding is included and pre-mounted - bring your boots and we will check the sole against the binding before anyone talks about length.
| Length | Sidecut (tip-waist-tail) | Turn Radius |
|---|---|---|
| 140 cm | 129-78-117 mm | 9 m |
| 148 cm | 129-78-117 mm | 10 m |
| 156 cm | 129-78-117 mm | 11 m |
| Category | Women's on-piste / carving ski |
|---|---|
| Waist width | 78 mm |
| Rocker profile | Tip & tail rocker |
| Core | PEFC poplar wood |
| Construction | Cap, fiberglass reinforcement, VAS damping |
| Binding | Xpress W 10 GW, 83 mm brake — included and pre-mounted |
| DIN range | 2.5 – 10 |
The Arcade W 78 suits a beginner through solid intermediate skier who spends her day on groomed runs and wants a ski that does not fight back. The narrow waist and short radius make it quick edge-to-edge, and the rocker means a turn you start badly is still easy to finish.
It is not built for powder or for skiing off the side of the trail — 78 mm underfoot will sink in soft snow. A skier who is already carving hard and fast on a groomer will out-ski this one and should look at a stiffer, wider carver.
We stock the Arcade W 78 in 140, 148 and 156 cm. The sidecut is the same at every length (129-78-117 mm); what changes is the turn radius, which runs from 9 m at 140 cm to 11 m at 156 cm. Shorter is quicker and more forgiving; longer is steadier at speed.
Does the Rossignol Arcade W 78 come with bindings?
Yes. It ships as a system with the Xpress W 10 GW binding (83 mm brake) already mounted. The price shown includes the binding.
Do I need a shop to mount these?
No mounting is needed — the binding is integrated. Your DIN setting still has to be set and tested to your boot, height, weight and ability, which we do in-store.
Is the Arcade W 78 a good beginner ski?
Yes. The rocker, the narrow 78 mm waist and the short 9–11 m radius all make it easy to turn and easy to correct. The included binding runs to DIN 10, so it also stays useful as you get stronger.
Can I ski powder on the Arcade W 78?
Not really. A 78 mm waist is built for groomed snow and will sink in anything deep. It is a piste ski.
Specs
- Waist: 78 mm
- Sidecut: 129-78-117 mm - the same on every length
- Turn radius: 9 m (140) / 10 m (148) / 11 m (156) - radius tracks length, per Rossignol
- Weight: 1.2 kg (140) / 1.3 kg (148) / 1.4 kg (156) - per ski, not per pair
- Profile: Tip & Tail Rocker
- Construction: CAP - cap sidewalls. Rossignol's own structured field, though its marketing copy says sidewall
- Core: Poplar PEFC wood core
- Reinforcement: Fiberglass. No metal and no carbon appear in Rossignol's spec block or technology list - and unlike the Arcade W 80, its copy makes no carbon claim either
- Base: Sintered
- Named technologies: LCT, Sintered Base, Assist Flex, Premium Hardtop, Fiberglass, PEFC Poplar Wood Core, Cap Sidewalls, V-A-S, Extended Sidecut, Tip & Tail Rocker. Rossignol publishes no mechanism for LCT, Assist Flex, Premium Hardtop or Extended Sidecut
- Binding: LOOK/Rossignol Xpress W 10 GW B83 (White/Sparkle), included in the price
- Binding DIN: 2.5-10. That is the span the hardware covers - a setting is a certified technician's job
- Sole compatibility: ISO 5355 "A" yes, GripWalk "A" yes. ISO 5355 "C" no, GripWalk "JR" no. Pin-tech inserts no
- Boot sole length: 261-332 mm
- Brake: B83 - covers ski waists 73-83 mm
- Official level: Rossignol describes who it is for in words - intermediate and beginner - and prints a numberless four-segment ability bar. There are no numerals on it, so no official numeric score exists to quote
- Official scores: Rossignol publishes no terrain or performance ratings for this ski
- Shelf vs copy: Rossignol files it under All Mountain on its site, while its own product copy scopes it to on-piste snow, twice. We follow the copy and the geometry
- Lengths: 140 / 148 / 156 cm stocked. Rossignol also builds a 132 and a 164
- 26/27 status: Not badged new by Rossignol. We could not obtain a previous-season spec sheet to compare against, so we make no carryover claim
Details
- Type
- SKI
- Vendor
- Rossignol
- SKU
- RROFZ06-140
000 / 140
Rossignol Arcade W 78 XP10
By PTO Team, read off Rossignol's own published geometry, construction and binding data, and no carryover claim is made · Spec analysis
The take
“A light, short-turning groomer ski that is easy to like on a first blue run - and easy to outgrow the moment you start to carry speed.”
Start with the honest part. What follows is read off Rossignol's published geometry. What the numbers make plain: on every construction field Rossignol publishes - cap, poplar core, fiberglass, tip-and-tail rocker, the same technology list, the same radius and weight arrays, the same binding - the Arcade W 78 is the Arcade W 80. What separates them is the width of the waist and $100, and this is the cheaper one.
One more difference runs in the W 78's favor. Rossignol's copy for the Arcade W 80 says carbon layers reduce overall weight; the W 78's copy makes no carbon claim at all, yet both skis list the identical fiberglass and the identical weights. Same glass, same weights, and the cheaper ski is the one nobody bothered to dress up.
On snow the shape does the talking. The radius is 9 m on the 140, 10 m on the 148, 11 m on the 156 - short, and with both contact points rockered clear of the snow it starts a turn almost before it is asked. An edge that hooks up late is slow to catch, which matters most in a first season. Per ski it runs 1.2 to 1.4 kg, genuinely light. But there is no metal in the layup to steady it at speed.
Edge grip is where it runs out. A cap chassis feeds less of your input into the edge than a sidewall ski, and both contact points sit rockered off the snow, so at speed on hard snow it washes out. Rossignol shelves the ski under All Mountain on its site; its own sentence about the ski says on-piste, twice. Four names on the list - LCT, Assist Flex, Premium Hardtop, Extended Sidecut - are printed and never explained, and V-A-S, which Rossignol says absorbs shock, is one more. A name in a list is not metal.
For the woman already ducking off the side of the groomer, the Arcade is the wrong tool, and a longer one is not the fix. Rossignol's Soul W 92 is a different ski: a titanal beam, a full sidewall, 90-93 mm underfoot and a 13-15 m radius - the metal, the width and the edge the Arcade does without. It is sold flat at $699.95, so a binding and a mount go on top.
Two notes to close. The sintered base is a real feature at this price and a slow one if it is never waxed. And we stock the 140, the 148 and the 156 - three of Rossignol's five lengths, which is why the radius has to be read off the length, not off a spec table.
Bindings we'd pair with it
Mount point: Factory-mounted integrated system (Xpress W 10 GW B83). Our pick: Xpress W 10 GW B83, included in the price.
Rossignol includes the binding, so there is nothing to mount separately and nothing to shop for. Its release span is DIN 2.5-10 - the range the hardware covers, not a setting. A skier's number comes out of five inputs - weight, height, age, boot sole length and skier type - and a certified technician sets it and tests it against the actual boot; PTO does not put a DIN number on a web page. On sole norms, from Rossignol's own compatibility table: adult alpine ISO 5355 'A' is a yes and adult GripWalk 'A' is a yes, so the boot has to be an adult sole in one of those two norms and measure inside the binding's 261-332 mm range. Junior soles are a no on both counts, and most junior boots fall under that 261 mm floor anyway. Tech inserts are a no - this is an alpine binding, and no touring boot belongs in it. Bring the boot to the shop; the sole gets checked before the size conversation, not after.
Common Questions
- How is the Arcade W 78 different from the Arcade W 80?
- On every construction field Rossignol publishes they are the same ski - cap chassis, poplar core, fiberglass, the same rocker, the same technology list, the same radius and weight arrays, and the same binding model. The differences are the width of the waist and $100, and the W 78 is the cheaper one. There is one more: Rossignol's copy for the W 80 claims carbon, while the W 78's copy makes no carbon claim, and both skis list the same fiberglass. If price is the question, the W 78 is the honest buy. The real decision is which length fits, because the two size runs never line up.
- Can my daughter ride this in her junior boots?
- No. The included Xpress W 10 GW is officially incompatible with children's and junior soles - Rossignol's own table prints a NO against both norms - and its sole-length adjustment does not go below 261 mm, which rules out most junior boots on length alone. Short skis invite the question, so here is the straight answer: an adult boot, or a different setup. Bring her boot in and we will check the norm stamped on it and measure the sole before anyone picks a length.
- What length should I get, and what is the turn radius?
- We stock the 140, the 148 and the 156. Radius goes with length, not with the model: 9 m on the 140, 10 m on the 148, 11 m on the 156. Rossignol publishes a five-length run and keys the radius to that run, not to whatever a shop happens to stock, which is how a listing can end up printing these one column off. Length is a fitting conversation, and it wants your boots in the room.
- Is it any good off the groomer or in powder?
- No, and Rossignol effectively says so - its own copy scopes the ski to on-piste snow, twice. The All Mountain label on the site is the bucket the whole Arcade W family sits in, not a claim about this ski. At 78 mm with no metal and both ends rockered, soft snow is not what it was built for. If you are leaving the groomer, look at the Soul W 92 instead, and budget for a binding, because it is sold flat.
- Is the 26/27 the same as last year's Arcade W 78?
- We cannot say for certain. Rossignol does not badge it as new for 26/27, but we could not obtain a previous-season spec sheet to compare against, so we make no carryover claim and we do not point you at last year's reviews as if they described this ski. What we stand behind is the current published geometry and construction, and that is what this write-up is built on.
