Nordica has been gradually whittling away at wood components in its women’s ski cores, first replacing one wood stringer with foam, then another.  This year they’ve dispensed with the wood/foam pastiche and gone all balsa, the superlight hardwood with a honeycomb cellular structure.

The result is a ski that’s a dash lighter, stronger and more versatile than the Wild Belles of yore.  By inclination a carving device, the Wild Belle’s girth gives it the gumption to head off trail.  “They handled everything well,” asserted Kayla from Aspen Ski and Board, “from trees to bumps to steeps, fast, slow or sweeping turns.”   That pretty much covers all the bases but bottomless.

Over the past five years Nordica has cemented their reputation among elite skiers for making first-rate carving machines (America’s best technical skier, Mike Rogan, has been a loyal Nordica-sponsored athlete forever) and established their bona fides among close followers of the ski craft for making superior skis without tossing metal laminates into the mix.  The Wild Belle brings both these strengths into play, an all-terrain playmate that never forgets that a ski’s first duty is to hold an edge as instructed.