Last year the Nordica Enforcer 110 owned the title of easiest Big Mountain ski; for 20/20, the crown stays in the family but it passes to a new king of kindness, the Enforcer 104 Free. (The “Free” is a fresh suffix this year that denotes the slightly lighter wood core that’s been in the 110 since its introduction.) The Enforcer 104 Free leapfrogged to the front of our Finesse rankings by being even more maneuverable and responsive than the highly recommended ski that served as its role model.
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 now 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 your 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 today.”
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 award the new Enforcer 104 Free a Silver Skier Selection.
