by Jackson Hogen | Aug 16, 2019
When Nordica introduced the original Enforcer five years ago, it already had a 100mm-underfoot model in its line, the NRGy 100, and the more acutely rockered Enforcer could have been misconstrued as redundant. Yet the Enforcer immediately earned a name for itself as a new breed of all-terrain ski that disguised a fully cambered baseline – and all the power it entails – between rockered extremities. As the Enforcer family grew, first wider, then skinnier, the arrival of an Enforcer 88 became inevitable.
Now that the long and winding road between the first Enforcer and the last has reached its destination, one can only wonder, what took them so long? This ski is a marvel, stable enough to navigate scoured wind crust yet ready to pounce turn to turn on hardpack with barely a transition between the two contrary conditions. Its score for short-radius turns is off the charts, yet it can lay into a big-bellied arc as comfortably as a cat curling up on a sofa.
by Jackson Hogen | Aug 16, 2019
The Nordica Enforcer 93 is only three years old and already it’s a legend. It debuted to instant acclaim and has since maintained its position among the top models in this most competitive of categories. It continues to earn accolades for one all-important reason: the Enforcer 93 takes the term “all-terrain” very much to heart.
The quintessential characteristic of any great all-mountain ski is the ability to transition from one terrain extreme to another and always feel like its the right ski for the job. Jim Schaffner filed this report after taking the Enforcer 93 through mixed conditions at Snow Basin, Utah. “Conditions: about 8 inches of slightly compact powder. A super well-balanced ski, so it’s really easy to find home base in terms of positioning.
“Super predictable and not in a negative way,” Schaffner continues. “Very good at transitioning from powder to cut-up to previously groomed, back into the powder, so I think so I think this ski remains fairly high up in the category. A great all-rounder that worked really well for today’s conditions.”
by Jackson Hogen | Aug 16, 2019
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by Jackson Hogen | Aug 16, 2019
Much as I hate to undermine my own methodology, I encourage you to ignore the niggling difference between the Santa Ana 93’s Power and Finesse scores that allowed it to migrate from the Power collective to the Finesse family this season. Its personality didn’t change over the summer, but a couple of new scores shifted it from one side of the Power/Finesse border to the other. The Santa Ana 93 still favors the strong, technical skier who is comfortable carrying speed, but it’s so good at off-trail skills like drifting and staying calm while crud-busting that it can’t help but earn high marks for Finesse properties.
The very fact that the Santa Ana 93 can slip so easily across the Power/Finesse divide tells you that it’s neither one nor the other, but both. One look at its double-rockered baseline reveals why it moves so smoothly from on-trail to off: the blunt tip bends abruptly upward, doing the job of riding over irregular terrain quickly so most of the ski can be fully cambered. It’s as if a high-powered Frontside ski were hiding inside a loose-tipped powder vehicle.
by Jackson Hogen | Aug 16, 2019
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