There are moments in life when you recognize an instant rapport, be it after a few minutes of dinner party banter or when you sink into the first few arcs of an inaugural run and your skis respond as if your connection were telepathic.
This is how the new Nordica GT 84 Ti EVO introduces itself, as accommodating as the most obsequious servant, unassumingly tearing the mountain to ribbons while ferrying its master, unperturbed, to the end of the gravity stream. Before this season, no one could have ever skied the GT 84 Ti EVO as none existed, yet taking it for a spin feels like coming home.
When Nordica was first trying to find its feet as a ski company, it found a toehold among the firmament of A-list brands in the Frontside genre. A case could be made that, for a few years running, Nordica was making the best carving skis in the world.
Among the major brands, Head probably holds that distinction now, but Nordica’s new GT series serves notice that it would like to reclaim its crown. The new construction of the GT series is a major departure from Nordica’s more recent Frontside family, yet it’s already familiar to Nordica fans. Essentially, it doubles down on the Titanal Torsion Bridge used in the All-Mountain NRGY collection, adding a sheet of the cut-out titanium to the base and replacing the foam core channel with poplar and beech.
Any ski with the geometry of a typical AMW model, including the NRGY 100, will handle well in powder; the more challenging conditions will be everyday hardpack and the heavy glop that is the aftermath of corn. This is where the NRGY 100’s latticework of Titanal shows its mettle, boosting stability on edge on firm snow and imparting sufficient strength to push slush berms aside.
Like many skis this wide, the NRGY 100 takes a moment to connect at the top of the turn, and its innate turn shape is giddy-up long. These properties suggest that the preferred pilot for an NRGY 100 be someone who is comfortable hewing close to the fall line and isn’t perturbed by higher speeds. But the NRGY 100 doesn’t feel like a runaway train; it’s more like a family-friendly roller coaster that feels securely connected to the track.
