2025 Nordica Santa Ana 92

Nordica’s Santa Ana 92 has a baked-in bias for off-trail skiing, but it can spend all day on groomers and never skip a beat. That’s because its Titanal topsheet scallops only enough metal from its forebody to shed a little weight and soften torsional rigidity, so the ski will conform to irregular terrain instead of trying to crush it. The sculpted top metal laminate uses different dimensions according to the presumed snow condition a given Santa Ana is likely to encounter. Since the Santa Ana 92 is certain to include a large portion of groomers in its daily diet, its TSM topsheet runs nearly to the edge in the binding area. The sharply rockered shovel plays no role in edge engagement, but once the edge finds the snow, it locks on like a terrier with a tennis ball. When the snow is soft, the double-rockered baseline makes it uber easy to slip and slide to the submerged edge, cornering like a roadster through the rubble. While Terrain Specific Metal plays a leading part in the Santa Ana 92’s proficiency in a broad range of slope conditions, it’s not the only technology in play. New to the Santa Ana collection this year is a multi-laminate Pulse core, which adds wood and a rubbery elastomer to the TSM sandwich, so it’s easier for a lighter skier to decamber the ski and generate power out of the turn.