by Jackson Hogen | Sep 3, 2024
I’m leery of recommending a Powder ski for all-terrain skiing, for if it’s equally adept at all conditions, why not ski it every day? A ski so polyvalent would not only render any notion of ski categories an absurd pretension, it would erode the very foundations of logic itself. Well, the new Blizzard Rustler 11 comes pretty damn close to pulling down the twin pillars of logic and methodology, for it seems to transition from soft snow to firm without batting an eye.
If there’s a trick to this sleight of hand, it lies in the Rustler 11’s construction, beginning with its dimensions, which straddle the border between the Big Mountain and Powder genres, depending on which length one chooses from the five available sizes. The Freeride Trueblend core ups the amount of Paulownia in its 3-wood matrix to keep the overall weight, and in particular mass beyond the binding area, from ballooning as the ski’s dimensions expand. To keep the Rustler 11 from feeling ponderous, Blizzard trims the percentage of Titanal used in its make-up compared to its skinnier siblings, the Rustler 10 and 9.
Aside from the Trueblend core, the biggest difference between this generation of Rustlers and the one that preceded it is how the FluxForm design distributes its allocation of Titanal. A nearly full-length strip of metal rides over each edge, but stops short of wrapping around the tip or tail. In the middle of the ski, a separate, disconnected swath of Ti fills the space between the outer bands, to lend additional strength and rigidity to the midsection. Fluxform creates a ski that feels secure on edge anywhere it travels, with just enough tolerance for twist at the tip and tail to allow the ski to flow over choppy terrain rather than fight it.
So, who needs a Rustler 11 more, a powder novice or an expert? Trick question: of course, the lower skill skier would be more grateful, but the expert will get more out of it. For the lower skill skier looking for a crutch that will disguise his lack of ability, its relatively soft, balanced flex and overall stability will make deep snow feel more consistent. For the expert, it’s game-on: no further coaching is required, just stand on it and go.
by Jackson Hogen | Sep 3, 2024
When it was introduced in 2020 as the Enforcer 104 Free, there already was an Enforcer 100 and an Enforcer 110, to go along with a 115, and a 93 and an 88. At the time, it seemed like a classic case of over-reach: why try to fit a 104 into an already over-served market for fat skis?
The original Enforcer 104 Free proved it belonged from the very first turn. It was easier to mix up turn shape and change direction in deep snow than on the Enforcer 110, while floating close enough to the surface to deliver the ease one seeks on a fat ski. In the duel between the two models for the off-trail skier’s affections, it was the 104’s greater maneuverability and terrain versatility that won out over the 110’s greater surface area. The agile 104 shape is still in the line; the more lugubrious 110 is not.
Now that it’s the chubbiest kid in the family, the Enforcer 104 is transparently Nordica’s best tool for tootling through the chop that is the prevailing condition on powder days. An ever-evolving crud field best describes the condition we encountered on the gently flowing slopes of the Shirley Lake area at Palisades Tahoe when we sallied forth with a quartet of Enforcers. Here’s the lightly edited testimony of Jim Schaffner after he had sampled the test batch.
“The Enforcer 104 was the perfect choice for the conditions today. I love how this ski drifts. It allows for amazing versatility in all terrain, all conditions, all turn shapes. Overall, the entire Enforcer group is the most cohesive group of skis that I have tested this spring. The versatility, perfect balance and ski-ability in all terrain make the 104 the best pick for someone that likes to travel off the beaten path, always looking for some chopped up or rougher snow conditions to plunder.”
One of the distinguishing characteristics of the Enforcer 104 is it can handle buffeting whether traveling straight downhill or completing every turn. Normally, precision in the fall line comes at some cost of drift-ability, but you can etch the top of a turn on the 104 and smear the bottom of the same arc, and the Enforcer 104 makes it all feel as natural as breathing.
by Jackson Hogen | Sep 3, 2024
The biggest problem with skis as wide as the Kore 111 is that their shortcomings start to show up as the powder “day” fizzles out around mid-morning. The Kore 111 could care less that the powder is kaput. Perhaps because Head replaced the Koroyd used in previous Kore cores with Karuba and poplar, the Kore 111 provides the feedback of a classic, wood and fiberglass chassis despite belonging in the same weight class as an anorexic Alpine Touring model.
I realize this sounds like a stupid thing to say, but the Kore 111 doesn’t ski wide, or at least not as wide as it measures, in part because it lacks Titanal laminates. Titanal accentuates torsional rigidity, which in turn augments the sensation of width because there’s no give along the longitudinal axis of the ski. Two sheets of Titanal is also a heavy load to haul around, particularly in powder, where they promote sinking over floating. The Kore 111 can afford to kick Titanal to the curb because it has Graphene in its guts, carbon in a matrix one atom thick that’s absurdly strong and damp.
The Kore construction didn’t need the 111 to validate its growing reputation as one of the great off-trail series of all time, yet it may be the archetypical Kore that epitomizes what this design does best. One of the defining characteristics of a great ski is its ability to perform tasks at an elite level that it was never designed to do. Starting from scratch, without design or cost limitations, I doubt anyone could make a ski better adapted to off-trail skiing than the Kore 111. Yet it transitions to hard snow so seamlessly you almost want to look down to be sure they haven’t shrunk to a Frontside waistline.
About the only caveat I can concoct is that the Kore 111 could use a little cushion to push against. By that I mean, if the top 1mm of the snow surface is unrelenting, of course it’s going to drift; but if there’s even an ounce of cream for the base to brace itself, the Kore 111 knows how to come around on a line. While we don’t recommend skis this wide for all-day, hard-snow skiing, the Kore 111 can handle it if you can.
by Jackson Hogen | Sep 3, 2024
I’m not privy to Fischer’s sales numbers, but I’d bet dollars to donuts that the Ranger 102 FR was its most popular Ranger until it was discontinued two years ago to make way for the latest Ranger 102 (sans suffix). The qualities that made the 102 FR the star product of the old Rangers were its smeary, playful baseline, its metal-free construction – making it lighter and torsionally softer – and the fact that it had the most distinctive snow feel compared to its competition in the Big Mountain genre. As Fischer made the transition to the new Ranger series that added a dab of Titanal to every model, preserving the on-snow properties of its flagship Ranger was likely to be a high priority. Once you have an established fan club, you don’t want to disappoint it.
Devotees of the retired Ranger FR 102 can relax. If you loved the FR for its surfy attitude, you’ll be at least as enamored of the 2025 Ranger 102. This is still a decidedly soft snow ski, as several testers lamented who essayed the Ranger 102 in 2022’s skinny season. “In fresh snow, you’ll love this ski,” reassured Mark Rafferty from Peter Glenn. “Plenty wide and playful for first tracks. If no new fresh for a few weeks, the Ranger 102 will rip fast turns on the groomers. Strong for blasting through crud. A true marvel,” he raved.
Our test feedback suggests that the current Ranger 102 is at least as potent a Power ski as its predecessor, while its calmer edge through the belly of a big turn helped move it up our Finesse ranks. All things considered, the 2025 Ranger 102 amplifies its forebear’s best assets without changing its fundamental character.
Fischer draws no distinction between men’s and women’s models, so any man who fancies a mauve topsheet can get the Ranger 102 in lengths as long as 190cm.
by Jackson Hogen | Sep 3, 2024
When Salomon launched the first edition of the Stance series in the 20/21 season, they were well aware that they were entering all-mountain categories already brimming with options. Most of the established image leaders in the pivotal All-Mountain West genre were Power models loaded stem to stern with dual Titanal laminates. To create some space for Stance in this crowd, Salomon had to both match what the category leaders were doing yet somehow be different from them. The solution was to replace swatches of Ti in the top sheet with its proprietary C/FX fibers, so the Stances would feel a bit less ponderous than the competition.
The changes instituted in the latest Stance series took this effort at differentiation a step further, slightly disengaging the Ti top layer from the core, creating the sensation of a softer-flexing ski that’s still torsionally rigid enough to bite into boilerplate. Sally also lightened up the core by adding Karuba to what had been an all-poplar affair. The net effect is a high-octane ski that is simplicity itself to steer. As incarnated in the Stance 102, the new changes transformed what had been a back-of-the-pack wannabe into one of the very best Finesse skis in the over-served Big Mountain market. Its nickname should be Crud Lite, for it excels in soft snow, where it maintains a mellow, fall-line orientation through thick and thin.
One of the Stance 102’s most striking attributes is how it feels narrower than it measures. At least part of this sensation is due to a tail that is, in fact, narrower than the norm in the Big Mountain genre, so the ski has a tendency to gently release the turn after it crosses the fall line. The perception of being on a more tapered platform is accentuated by smooth, even flex that bows under modest pressure.
