If you like your turns short, accurate and effortless, the Nordica GT 80 Ti is your kind of ski. Once you establish a steady rhythm, the ski takes over and strings the next twenty turns together on its own. The way it amplifies the skier’s efforts makes a less skilled carver feel like a world-beater and great skier feel like he’s doing nothing at all.

One reason the GT 80 Ti feels so simple to ski is that its Titanal laminates aren’t full sheets; the forebody in both the top and bottom laminates is cut into a crosshatch latticework, dubbed Torsion Bridge, that makes them more supple. The ski reacts to less pressure while retaining the shock-damping qualities only metal provides. Neither the hard snow of winter nor the heft of spring slop can loosen its grip or alter its trajectory.

Its point guard quicks come in handy in bumps, where it can fit through fall line fissures no wider than a keyhole. The GT 80 Ti’s idea of Nirvana is an endless, undulating white carpet where it can double-rail its relatively short carved turns all day long. About the only condition it would prefer to avoid is two feet of fresh, where its hourglass shape is a liability.

Antipathy towards deep powder is hardly a hanging offense for a carving ski, particularly one as skilled – and relatively inexpensive – as the GT 80 Ti. For $799 with binding, an advanced skier gets an everyday ski that’s responsive at both mild and aggressive edge angles. The faster it goes, the better it skis, but it doesn’t require high speed to shine. “Great groomer ski at all speeds,” says Bobo’s Steve Sheehan. “Easy to change direction even at slow speeds – no effort to change edges.”