The Nordica Dobermann GSR isn’t interested in bolstering your self-esteem. Its attitude is, if you want to feel better about yourself, take a lesson. Or better yet, hire a coach. For the Dobermann GSR is like a street-legal race car: it’s been detuned for civilian use, but not by much. If you don’t take control of it, the GSR will most definitely take control of you.

When you look at the Non-FIS Race category as a whole, most models have been defanged to the point that they could serve an expert as an all-terrain ski.  Not the Dobermann GSR, which could care less about pandering to non-racers. It’s built on the straightforward assumption that it’s as elite a race ski as any blessed by the FIS, it just doesn’t conform to the dimensional limitations imposed by racing’s sanctioning body.

In other words, if you’re going to take the Nordica Dobermann GSR for a joy ride, buckle up. If you’ve never been on anything like a true race ski before, this is not the place to start. If you can’t commit to a high edge angle and a loaded ski, you are, to all intents and purposes, strapped to a missile you are no longer guiding. “For strong, heavier skiers,” councils Corty Lawrence, who happens to fit that description. “Definitely more for the Power than Finesse skier, it has a traditional, very damp, GS Race feel until you get it up to 45mph, when it starts to sing.”

The reason Lawrence ladles on the plaudits is he’s the perfect pilot for this blue-blood racer, which he readily acknowledges. “This ski has “me” written all over it,” admits the man who knows every millimeter of Mammoth Mountain.  If you’re not Corty’s size, you can always use a shorter length of the GSR; however, if you’re not in Corty’s ability bracket, you’re cruisin’ for a bruisin’.