The Nordica Enforcer 104 Free and Enforcer 110 Free are both first-class Big Mountain Finesse skis – they’ve each recently held top billing in the genre – but they earn their high ratings for ease of use in different ways. The Enforcer 110 Free is inherently better at drifting and flotation, simply by dint of its superior surface area. These are critical properties for a Big Mountain ski, but they aren’t the only admirable attributes. The Enforcer 104 Free out-finesses its bigger bro with easy-steering agility, able to hew to a tighter radius whether on edge or off.
The Enforcer 104 Free even feels quicker than the narrower 185cm Enforcer 100, because you don’t detect its extra 4mm of width as much as you notice its lively response to lighter pressure. It seems to hover like a water bug over wind-battered crud, floating just above the havoc underfoot where it’s still able to move freely side to side. It smooths out the ruffles in the most ravaged terrain, turning a ratty collage of ruts into a dance floor.
Back-to-back runs on the 110 and 104 in 10 inches of partially tracked powder confirmed what one might suspect a priori – that the narrower ski was noticeably easier to steer no matter how you slice it. Whether pivoting your feet to make a short turn shorter or banking off a wind drift, the Enforcer 104 took less force to guide. To the obvious question – is a 104-waist width really necessary in a line that already has cornerstone models on its flanks in the original Enforcer 100 and the 110? – we have an equally obvious answer: oh, yes.
At the 104mm width, the girth of the ski is less of a liability and more of an asset as it takes less muscle power to maneuver. It still feels as stable as a mini-tanker – the overriding sensation is that you can’t be knocked off your feet no matter what you hit in the flat light that often prevails on powder days – yet it remains lively and responsive to pressure. It doesn’t just reward competence; it bestows grace.
Jim Schaffner, the XXL owner of Start Haus who moonlights as a race coach when he’s not fitting boots for US Team members, put the Enforcer 104 Free through its paces at Snow Basin in wind-affected crud and came away duly impressed. “What a really, really fun ski,” he raves after stepping out of a 186cm. (It even comes in a 191cm, suitable for anyone with the strength of Thor.) “It allowed me to relax quite a bit more in the broken-up stuff. It doesn’t take so much muscle energy to make the skis go. The biggest thing I noticed compared to the [Enforcer] 93 and the 100 is its ability to just allow you to relax. For sure was the best of the three Nordica skis I tried in today’s conditions.”
There are times when just a small change in geometry lands on a magic combination of shape and energy that amplifies the best qualities in a particular design. The arrival of the Enforcer 104 Free marks just such an occasion. The newest kid on the block already feels, not merely like a member of the band, but its front man.
For its transcendental ease of operation, we again award the Enforcer 104 Free a Silver Skier Selection.
