Last year Nordica changed the construction of the Santa Ana 100, and while it didn’t fiddle with its shape or baseline, the components of its laminated lay-up were altered in every respect. Its 2017 balsa core was beefed up with poplar and beech and sandwiched between two .4mm Titanal laminates. The Santa Ana metamorphosed from the original, mellowed-out surfer girl into hard-edged gal that won’t take any crap from crud. The great advantage of metal in what’s intended primarily as an off-trail ski is how it behaves in the heavy, harbor-chop crud that can deflect models without Titanal.
The Nordica Astral 88 and Santa Ana 93 both belong in the All-Mountain East genre by dint of their waist width, but they do not spring from the same soil. The Santa Ana is the slenderest of a family of off-trail skis; the Astral 88 is the fattest member of a clan of what you might call on-trail skis with off-trail benefits. The Astral 88 purloined its snub-nosed shape from the Santa Ana series, giving the Astral 88 off-trail adaptability without disconnecting the shovel from the rest of the ski. The squared-off tail traces back to the on-piste Sentra series, with a focus on sustained edge grip. The same Titanium Hex Bridge that makes the men’s Navigator series one of the best values in skiing powers the Astral 88’s crisp, accurate turns.
The Nordica Santa Ana 93 is an exquisitely balanced ski in several senses. Its overall behavioral profile is split almost exactly between Power and Finesse properties. Last season we tagged it with the Finesse label and this year it barely tipped into Power country, indicating that it’s really neither, but a perfect union of both. Its flex is nicely balanced and its weight is modest considering the Santa Ana 93 contains two 4mm sheets of Titanal around a mostly wood, multi-material core. Perhaps most importantly, the Santa Ana 93 is a terrain agnostic, happy to spend its day on groomers if that’s your pleasure, just as thrilled to toddle off-piste and take on the crud field of your choice.
It only takes 100 yards to realize the Nordica GT 84 is going to be very easy to like. Great skis are like that; they let you know right away you’re in the presence of a faithful friend and ally. Fast technical skiing is similar to those falling-backward trust exercises done at team-building seminars, only performed over and over in rapid succession. On GT 84’s, you know they’re going to catch you every time. Nordica’s GT 84 Ti imparts this sense of all-encompassing security because it doesn’t take every ounce of the skier’s energy to bend it. Its clever core construction depends on prepreg sheets of carbon instead of glass, a weight eliminator on a par with liposuction. Its twin sheets of Titanal are also run through a weight loss regimen, producing a crisscross diamond pattern in the forebody that softens longitudinal flex while retaining a rigid beam when set on edge.
If you like your turns short, accurate and effortless, the Nordica GT 80 Ti is your kind of ski. 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. 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. The faster it goes, the better it skis, but it doesn’t require high speed to shine.
