Overview

Nordica’s opportunities as a ski brand took a fundamental turn for the better when the Tecnica Group bought the Blizzard factory and shifted Nordica production over to their new, refurbished facility.   Prior to this happy development, Nordica skis had endured a checkered history. It began when the self-important sweater-maker Benetton owned Nordica – an investment they would live to rue – and decided to acquire the venerable Austrian ski manufacturer Kästle. As Benetton managed to do with all their sport properties – it single-handedly destroyed the in-line skate market with its shrewd stewardship of Rollerblade – it drove Nordica and Kästle directly downward.   By the time Nordica was re-acquired by its original ownership for dimes on the dollar, the Kästle brand had been euthanized and replaced with the first Nordica skis.

Nordica’s sustained importance as a boot brand allowed the ski line to survive a rocky adolescence. Now that it has a permanent home, it also has emerged as a major player. As Nordica developed as a ski brand, it earned a foothold in the Carving world with a series of exceptional Frontside models, then busted into the critical All-Mountain categories with the Steadfast and the Hell-and-Back, two of the best all-fiberglass skis in recent years. They proceeded to hit a series of home runs – technically if not commercially – with the Big Mountain models Patron, Helldorado and El Capo.

He who sits still gets run over, so Nordica modified their all-terrain construction by adding a latticework of Titanal on top of their already torsionally rigid I-Core construction in the NRGy series introduced in 2015. In keeping with Nordica’s technical heritage, the NRGy models were strong skis that all but required the skier to drive them from a high edge.

When Nordica launched the Enforcer, back before it needed the suffix “100” to differentiate it from its offspring, it was a tipping point for the brand. The first Enforcer spin-off, the Enforcer 93, immediately became a benchmark model in the crowded All-Mountain East market. In 2018, Nordica added to the Enforcer family, creating the Enforcer 110 and Enforcer Pro, both avatars of excellence in their respective categories.

Nordica has always taken the women’s ski project seriously. The eternal quest for a lighter structure began with I-Core, with a central wood stringer replaced with foam, followed by WI-Core, with 2 foam channels, then Balsa Core CA, with balsa microlaminates as the ski’s core component. In 2018, Nordica rolled out Energy Ti Balsa, which uses the weight savings inherent in carbon to slip two sheets of Titanium into several women’s models.

As other brands have discovered, two full sheets of Titanal can be overkill even for advanced women. So after several seasons of testing, Nordica arrived at a new construction called Terrain Specific Metal (TSM) that uses a single topsheet of Ti that’s trimmed down in the center section according to which of the five new Santa Ana it’s applied to. In the Santa Ana 88, the middle of the Ti sheet is nearly edge-to-edge for peak performance on piste, while the TSM platform is narrower underfoot on the Santa Ana 104 Free to enhance drift at the end of the turn.

Not only does TSM vary by model, each size in each model has its own baseline, sidecut and flex. Of the five new Santa Anas, the 104 Free is new to the line-up, the SA 98 replaces the 100 and the SA 93 sports a completely new shape and rocker profile.

In step with the Santa Anas’ new homogenous construction, Nordica also brought its first generation Enforcer 100 and Enforcer 93 up to the design standard set in 2020 by the Enforcer 104 Free and Enforcer 88. This entails a switch to a carbon-infused wood core to reduce weight, and new, size-specific sidecuts, rocker lines and flexes.

The 2021 Nordica Season

Last season, Nordica stretched its cornerstone Enforcer and Santa Ana franchises about as far as they could go. This season, the focus is on tidying up both collections so each uses a common construction and design execution.

 

In the case of the Enforcers, this meant applying the lessons learned creating the second generation of Enforcers to the pioneer models, the 100 and 93. Now all Enforcers use carbon chassis instead of heavier glass laminates to create livelier, more responsive skis. All Enforcers now use True Tip Technology, an extension of the core that reduces the amount of weighty ABS needed to build out the shovel. Perhaps the best news of all for the prospective ski buyer is that each size of Enforcer has a unique baseline, sidecut and flex so all design aspects are in perfect harmony.

 

The same meticulous approach to sizing applies to the all-new, 5-model Santa Ana collection. The signature unifying technology of the 2021 Santa Ana series is called Terrain Specific Metal (TSM), an end-to-end topsheet of Titanal with a midsection that varies in width by model. The expectation is that the Santa Ana 88 will see more duty on trail, so it’s TSM component runs nearly to the edge for more precise grip. The Santa Ana 110 is made for powder, where forgiveness trumps precision, so the TSM is whittled down to a narrower strip.

 

In addition to TSM, all the 2021 Santa Anas use carbon chassis and True Tip, just as on the boys’ Enforcers. Because each model’s essential design parameters are adapted by size, size selection is more important than ever. A close inspection of the 2021 Santa Anas will reveal new size splits along with additional sizes for the SA 98 and SA 93, so women have more options in their quest for the perfect mate.