by Jackson Hogen | Sep 1, 2023
The Blizzard Bonafide has been at or near the top of our All-Mountain West rankings since it burst on the scene over a decade ago. While it’s undergone four or five tweaks since its debut, its enduring excellence is due primarily to what hasn’t changed: the original Flipcore construction that removes all stress from the rocker/camber transition. As soon as the ski is pressured, the transition zone disappears and the full length of the ski finds the snow. A Bonafide feels engaged from tip to tail because it is. This is the foundational reason for its sustained success. The Bonafide came out of the chute so well made that the biggest challenge its designers face was figuring out how to fix something that wasn’t broken.
But sustained stardom always attracts naysayers, so over its relatively long lifespan, the Bonafide has found a few thorns in all the roses thrown its way. One criticism is that its brawny build is best managed by experts, and there’s something to this claim in that the Bonafide 97 performs better with some energy flowing through it, meaning it likes to be ridden fast. Some find it boring and wonder what the big deal is. In the Bonafide’s defense, all high-performance skis perform better under an expert’s guidance and an affinity for speed is not, by itself, a demerit. Furthermore, if you want rebound energy out of a Bonafide, you have to load it. If you just stand there looking cute, it won’t react because you haven’t told it to.
While there are worse problems to have, being known as an experts-only ski is a concern nonetheless, one Blizzard addressed two years ago with the introduction of the TrueBlend core. The objective of TrueBlend was a smooth, round flex adapted for every size, married to a flex pattern and baseline likewise adapted by length. The key to its execution was the precise location of denser strips of beech in a predominantly poplar core. Each size was treated like its own model, so the shorter skis were also softer and more accessible to lighter and lower skill skiers.
In 2023, Blizzard took another remedial step towards making the Bonafide easier to bow: they made its TrueBlend core a tad thinner. Not much mind you, but enough to make it noticeably easier to bend. Now that it can be loaded up at lower speeds and/or less force application by the skier, the 2024 Bonafide is a more mellow, tractable ride. The Bonafide hasn’t lost its essential character, which I would describe as complete terrain indifference, but it has improved its handling throughout the recreational speed range.
by Jackson Hogen | Sep 1, 2023
While there are no statistics I can point to substantiate my argument, I would contend that the Enforcer 100 is the most powerful model in the All-Mountain West pantheon. It earns this distinction due to an extra-high camber line that begins to load with stored energy from the moment you stand on it. Nordica alleges that the Enforcer 100 surrenders half of its baseline to rocker: 30% in the front and 20% of the rear running surface are pulled off the snow at one of the most aggressive angles in the genre. Yet despite this inherent loss of snow contact, the Enforcer 100 doesn’t ski “loose,” not at all.
One reason the early vintage Enforcer 100’s were so stout is that, due to molding limitations, all sizes used the same baseline. This was one of the major changes introduced just two years ago: each size of the current Enforcer 100 has a unique baseline, sidecut and core profile. This modification is significant as each size will ski a little differently, so think twice before sizing up.
Because the Enforcer 100 was the first member of the now extensive Enforcer family, until two years ago it was passed over for product improvements that in the meantime became staples for the rest of the series. The two most significant of these both aimed at weight reduction. True Tip extends the wood core deep into the shovel, reducing the amount of heavy ABS needed to stabilize this area. Adding carbon stringers to its top glass laminate reduced the amount of (heavy) fiberglass required by 35%.
Bear in mind, the Energy 2 Titanium Construction continues to use two end-to-end, wall-to-wall sheets of .4mm Titanal around an all-wood core, along with the glass and carbon, so it’s not like its lost any of its athleticism. This is still a very powerful, very live ski.
The biggest change in on-snow comportment between the ancestral Enforcer and the current copy is in the forgiveness and ease of use departments. Not that the old boy has been gutted – far from it. But the new kid seems to transition to its camber zone more smoothly and while it’s still lively off the edge, it’s easier to decamber in its longer lengths. It’s unusually easy to feather the edge or switch from carving to drifting to match the terrain.
by Jackson Hogen | Sep 1, 2023
by Jackson Hogen | Sep 1, 2023
The MX98 is an outlier in the All-Mountain West genre, the only ski in the category that headlines a family of fully cambered carving skis. Its only concession to the requirements of off-trail travel is a long (270mm) front rocker that’s so gradual it’s imperceptible. Given that its classic core of wood (silver fir and poplar), fiberglass and Titanal (.5mm sheets) isn’t particularly lightweight, how can it ski comparably to an armada of competitors with double-rockered baselines and lighter weight constructions?
Well, it doesn’t. It behaves differently from most (not all) of its competition in how well it maintains snow contact. What’s remarkable is how well this translates to the irregularity of off-trail skiing. While the MX98 can float in fresh snow, it’s not bobbing on the top as much as it is trenching through whatever lies ahead, regardless of depth or consistency. Its chassis may be built for carving, but its 98mm girth at the waist allows it to plane sideways – in test-card parlance, to drift – over the most manky crud with a calm that would make the Buddha proud.
When pointed downhill, the MX98 gets the message to giddy-up, hewing close to the fall line. Finishing a short-radius turn on edge isn’t going to happen, but the MX98 can switch from a carve to a drift, and visa versa, in the blink of an eye, so it can always swivel across the hill to brake or change route.
Few conditions are as intimidating as bone-flat light, where all terrain features disappear in a miasma of misty grey. Not that this is anyone’s idea of Nirvana, but it happens, and when it does it would be good to be on the MX98. It exudes confidence, a blessing when the pilot has little of his own. Like the Bonafide 97 and the Mantra M6, the MX98 doesn’t care where you aim it. Its tendency is to stay pinned to the planet, rolling over whatever is presented in its path. While one wouldn’t call it agile, neither is it nervous or indecisive. Whether flat or on edge, it’s a ski you can trust, which is of paramount importance when you can’t see squat.
by Jackson Hogen | Sep 1, 2023
Just two years ago, Dynastar radically altered its all-mountain offering, replacing the long-in-the-tooth Cham/Legend design with the M-Pro series. The M-Pro collection consists of four models, that roughly parallel the ability hierarchy of novice (M-Pro 84), intermediate (M-Pro 90), advanced (M-Pro 99) and pro athlete (M-Pro Rider).
The M-Pro 99 is clearly the sweetspot in the series, with more Titanal in its guts and a more connected-to-the-snow baseline. While there’s metal in its make-up, it’s a relatively mild dose, so the M-Pro 99 Ti doesn’t behave like a typical Austrian wood-and-metal sandwich. It’s lighter and looser, with a baseline and build that are biased to off-trail conditions. It performs best when the surface isn’t too slick, so it has something to push against and improve contact along the length of the ski.
Many, if not all, models in the All-Mountain West genre bill themselves as “50/50” skis, meaning they are equally adept on hard, groomed snow and soft, irregular crud. But Dynastar knows that skiers don’t buy a 99mm-waisted ski to cruise groomers; they get one in hopes of never seeing a groomer again.
So, the M-Pro 99 is clearly more of a 70/30 stick, with the 70% falling on the off-trail side of the ledger. The shallow sidecut and square tail design signal a directional ski that will plane evenly through tracked-up pow. Note the mere 10mm difference between tip width and tail, and less than 30mm delta from tip to waist. The only other place you’ll find sidecuts as straight as this is among the behemoths in the Powder platoon. One way to think of the M-Pro 99 is as Powder ski shrunk to everyday dimensions, with a more supportive tail that will make a crisper arc on hardpack.
Theron Lee is a precise technical skier with a penchant for short-radius arcing. His take on the M-Pro 99 in a 179cm: “Great all-around ski able to ski a multitude of radii. Early rise in the tip allowed it to go over variable snow, the new core made with polyurethane delivered a smooth ride and kept it quiet and stable at speed.”
