by Jackson Hogen | Sep 3, 2024
When ski makers start from scratch to make a women’s ski, the usual target isn’t the most talented lass, but those less likely to succeed without a little help. All the features that make the Wild Belle DC 84 adapted for women are attuned in particular to ladies who are still ascending the learning curve. It’s cushioned Double Core, two-tiered binding platform and soft, round flex all work to promote better balance and reduced effort on the part of someone still learning the ropes.
The “DC” in the Wild Belle DC 84 stands for Double Core, its tip-to-tail damping technology that inserts a rubber mat between the upper and lower poplar and beech cores. The core makes a ski that’s supple and damp, with a sidecut that promotes early turn entry and a gentle release. Its whole shtick is making a smooth, carved turn on groomed slopes while the pilot operates from a comfortable stance.
by Jackson Hogen | Sep 3, 2024
“The biggest problem in the Enforcer family is making a choice of the best one as an overall tool. I’m not sure you want to own multiple Enforcers; however, somewhere in that family is one that will best suit your style.” These are the pithy ruminations of the multi-talented Jim Schaffner, who can count among his many skills that of race coach, so he knows how to make a ski turn both ways. To expand a bit on Schaffner’s counsel, you can’t make a poor choice unless you make the unlikely mistake of getting the 104 when you never leave groomers or opt for the 89 on a heli trip.
By the way, this virtual interchangeability within a model family is rare. It’s more common for one shining star to out-perform its siblings, or for the family to be structured around descending price points, with only the top model receiving the optimal construction. While there are some slight adaptations among the new Enforcers, it’s along the lines of optimizing the basic design for a specific footprint, not deleting critical components to meet a perceived market dependency on a lower price.
So, what is the skier profile of the prospective partner for an Enforcer 89? We call the genre to which the Enforcer 89 belongs All-Mountain East for a reason: it inherently embodies the traits that are needed to navigate snow that tends to be hard on runs that are often narrow and relatively short. While hard snow surfaces are the norm, if prayers for fresh snow are finally answered, the all-terrain skier wants a ski that can handle it.
While the Enforcer 89 can’t match the flotation of its fatter family members, its combination of agility and stability travels very well in the cut-up chunder that powder quickly evolves into. It’s earned its place on the short list of the best all-mountain skis currently available.
by Jackson Hogen | Sep 3, 2024
The Steadfast 85 DC manages to combine an easy-flexing camber line with a torsionally rigid lay-up that holds its line on hard snow. Its behavior is driven by a Double Core design that splits the wood core in half and inserts a Titanal laminate and a shock-damping polymer dubbed Pulse Core in the middle. As applied to the deep sidecut (51mm drop between tip and waist) and high taper angle (21mm drop from tip to tail) of the Steadfast 85, the Double Core design delivers a carving machine with a velvety flow from turn to turn.
The Steadfast 85’s ability to generate an infinite supply of short- to medium-radius turns left Peter Glenn’s Mark Rafferty gleefully gasping for air. “ I think I need to get in better shape if I’m going to ski the Steadfast 85,” Rafferty concluded after his initial test run. “Not cuz it’s tough to ski,” he explains. “Oh no, it makes every turn with ease. Slow, easy, run-out turns. And ripping, aggressive, high-g carves. I had screamingly powerful turns. Whew! I’m panting, thinking, I gotta do that again. I’m glad I can catch my breath on the chair. Yes, it’s that fun,” he breathlessly concludes.
As Rafferty’s testimony alleges, the carvaholic shape of the Steadfast 85’s forebody has never met a turn it didn’t like, while its high taper angle prompts the tail to release whenever the pilot elects to lower the edge angle. The Steadfast 85 is the rare All-Mountain East model that’s derived from carving DNA, elevating its hard-snow performance above the norm in this most competitive of categories.
If you’re an elite expert who knows how to drive a powerful carving tool, the Steadfast 85 may not have enough horsepower for you. But for the majority of recreational skiers who want a versatile ski that’s geared for the type of terrain they usually enjoy, the Steadfast 85 is spot-on, and it will sell for roughly $200 less than most, if not all, top-of-the-line carvers.
by Jackson Hogen | Sep 3, 2024
The 2024 Nordica Enforcer 94 was not in need of a makeover. It was already one of the most versatile skis of its generation, so easy to steer from any stance and ever ready to switch between a drift or a carve on a whim. What do you fix on a ski that doesn’t require fixing?
The fundamental components of the Enforcer 94’s success are its traditional materials: a vertically laminated wood core and two sheets of Titanal have always been part of the formula, but how the pieces fit together is new. All the 2025 Enforcers have been rebuilt from the inside out, adding a layer of elastomer (dubbed Pulse Core) between two wood laminates and top and bottom sheets of Titanal. This sandwich construction, called Double Core, had humble origins in the Wilde Belle women’s model, but the concept has matured in the hands of the Race Department, where it has already been applied to the Dobermann and Spitfire collections.
Any change to a ski’s core is significant, but Nordica went further, subtly altering the baseline to lengthen the camber pocket and shorten the tip rocker. The shovel also was reshaped into a deeper curvature. The combined effect puts more edge in the snow on groomers and provides a better bumper in the front, where the ski takes the brunt of the impact in choppy conditions.
The net effect of all these alterations is that an already compliant ski has become even simpler to steer. Distilled to their essence, the changes equate to smoothness. It may sound like an esoteric concept, but the magical Enforcer 94 seems to disappear in the flow. The Enforcer 94 acts like a guidance system wired into the skier’s optic nerve: where you look, it goes, without ever calling attention to itself. All the new Enforcers are very, very good skis. The Enforcer 94 is one for the ages. It’s a brilliant achievement in ski design.
by Jackson Hogen | Sep 3, 2024
Nordica’s Santa Ana 92 has a baked-in bias for off-trail skiing, but it can spend all day on groomers and never skip a beat. That’s because its Titanal topsheet scallops only enough metal from its forebody to shed a little weight and soften torsional rigidity, so the ski will conform to irregular terrain instead of trying to crush it.
The sculpted top metal laminate uses different dimensions according to the presumed snow condition a given Santa Ana is likely to encounter. Since the Santa Ana 92 is certain to include a large portion of groomers in its daily diet, its TSM topsheet runs nearly to the edge in the binding area. The sharply rockered shovel plays no role in edge engagement, but once the edge finds the snow, it locks on like a terrier with a tennis ball. When the snow is soft, the double-rockered baseline makes it uber easy to slip and slide to the submerged edge, cornering like a roadster through the rubble.
While Terrain Specific Metal plays a leading part in the Santa Ana 92’s proficiency in a broad range of slope conditions, it’s not the only technology in play. New to the Santa Ana collection this year is a multi-laminate Pulse core, which adds wood and a rubbery elastomer to the TSM sandwich, so it’s easier for a lighter skier to decamber the ski and generate power out of the turn.
