The Line Pandora 104 is a paean to the merits of simplicity when it comes to making wide skis for women. An all-aspen core and fiberglass laminates reinforced with carbon stringers – with the memorable moniker Carbon Magic Fingers – in a cap construction with a dash of square sidewall underfoot is nearly all you need to know about its composition and construction. A striated topskin designed to shed snow is a nice touch that helps keep the Pandora 104 light by ditching any pow that tries to hitch a ride.
Becca Pierce from Bobo’s raved about the Pandora’s winning personality after sending it through piles of soupy spring snow. “Absolutely perfect for these slushy spring conditions!”
What distinguishes the Nordica Enforcer 100 from the other benchmark models in the All-Mountain West category isn’t its poplar/beech/balsa core nor its two sheets of .4mm Titanal; it’s the length and flex of its traditional camber line that instill it with power, precision and pop off the edge.
Most skis 100mm or more underfoot don’t have a lot of camber built into the baseline, so they’re easier to push around in soft snow. The Enforcer 100 isn’t drinking this Kool-Aid; it’s made for skiers who know how to stand on a ski and drive it. If you look at a pair base-to-base, you’ll notice that the while the tip and tail are amply rockered upward, they’re stubby in length, a shape Nordica aptly names Blunt Nose. The rest of the ski is arched considerably, assuring as long and secure an edge connection as you can find in a double-rockered baseline.
In its longer lengths, the Enforcer 100 is a strong skier’s salvation, able to respond forcefully to pressure. Jim Schaffner of Start Haus, a big man who skis with a racer’s innate aggression, hails the Enforcer 100 as “really, really fun and these conditions, which consist of 16 inches of slightly compact powder which is starting to get chopped up. Found this ski to be really versatile, moving smoothly from the chopped-up stuff into fresh pow. All in all, a very good ski for conditions today and I can see its versatility would extend to other conditions, as well.”
The Dynastar Menace Proto F-Team floats so high it doesn’t encounter much resistance no matter how you choose to turn it. The Menace Proto’s ability to levitate despite its heft – an inevitable consequence of so much width – makes it particularly easy to swivel around trees and old tracks. Because it’s so easy to rotate, you can charge the fall line, knowing you can toss them sideways in a heartbeat. Once all the powder has been plundered you can ride the edge almost as if it were a carving ski. It even has a lively kick off the bottom of its preferred long arc, which makes it feel lighter through the turn transition.
With a name like Menace, this Dynastar sounds like a handful, but it actually takes instruction well. (As long as we’re not talking about hard snow carving, which lies outside its definition of “fun.”) It’s simplicity itself to pivot, which is essential if you’re going to ride it like a beast with two heads. Even if your intent is to always face downhill, this putty-knife smear-ability comes in handy in lumpy off-trail conditions where a narrower twin-tip won’t move sideways with equal facility.
And when the snow is light and fluffy and you can set your own line, the Menace 98 bounces off the base of a bottomless turn and uses that energy to surface and slash to the other side of the fall line. Whether you prefer your powder turns to be forward, backward or sideways, the Menace 98 is ready to accommodate.
