When Nordica opted to add an 85mm ski to its NRGY line of All-Mountain skis, they could have elected to downgrade the product to meet a lower price point. Blessedly for the skiing public, it elected to eschew this option, instead lowering the price without diluting the product. The NRGY 85 uses the same I-Core Torsion Bridge as its big brothers, the NRGY 90 and 100. But while the big boys are fairly rigid beams that take energy to deflect, the NRGY 85 is terrific at short turns, bowing readily into a slalom-radius arc tighter than you’d expect a 19.5m ski to engender.

Some skis with an affinity for short turns are tiring to keep up with, but the NRGY 85 isn’t stuck on short turns; it will adapt to whatever turn shape fits your personal style. “Excellent for just about anyone,” writes one of Viking’s perennial testers, “with a good mix of turns. Easy to like, it feels light, with a good balance [of attributes].”

Because it carves so well, the NRGY 85 feels like it belongs on groomed trails, but it transitions to heavy, off-trail chunder without a hitch in its stride. It doesn’t suddenly become a swivel-stick – it continues to lay into turns as if it were still on the groom – but it does remain easy to bow and strong enough to steer through glop without getting goofy.

As good as the NRGY 85 is, it faces stiff competition, not only from a crowded AME field, but also from other models in its own line. In addition to the NRGY 90 and 100, each of which has their own following, there’s an NRGY 80 and a new Frontside duo worth investigating, the GT 84 Ti EVO and GT 80 Ti EVO. Sometimes the toughest fights one faces are within one’s own family…