The traits that are anathema on hard snow are rejuvenating elixir in the off-trail habitat. The Anima’s soft extremities and limited camber zone create a compliant ski that would rather follow terrain than fight it. Its mutable tip may be mobile, but the Anima imparts a sense of secure edge grip underfoot that endures exposure to ratty terrain. The Anima doesn’t require much impetus to bow into a trustworthy arc that holds its trajectory in rough-and-tumble conditions.
The Dynastar Speed Zone 12 Ti is the current incarnation of what was once a popular genre, the cruiser. Not as brutish as a race-ready GS ski, the cruiser nonetheless shares the same interests and terrain preferences. It isn’t ashamed to admit that it hates moguls and anything that looks like them, not so much because it couldn’t find its way around the cursed obstacles if so required, but because anything that slows it down is an unwelcome interruption in its course.
Black Crows has fat figured out. Despite being 122mm across at its narrowest point, the Nocta feels light enough to toss around all day. It’s torsionally fairly soft, which helps a ski this wide be more manageable. If you want to do a short turn, you’ll have to swivel the Nocta rather than carve it, as it’s gradual, long-radius sidecut isn’t cut out for short-turn duty. To compensate, the Nocta responds with a little pop off the edge when its glass laminates are compressed.
The key to the Legend X106’s unique snow feel is a feature Dynastar has dubbed Powerdrive. It consists of a 3-piece sidewall, which in the case of the Legend X series is made from vertical layers of TPU, Paulownia and ABS on the outside. Its principal purposes are to provide a dampening element and to liberate the laminates in the core from their bond with the outer sidewall. Free to shear in response to shocks delivered to the forebody, the ski is better able to stay on the snow. And the Legend X106 does it without using a drop of Titanal.
What Fischer retains from its racing heritage is how to optimize the union of wood, Titanal and fiberglass. This combo provides the power to keep the skis tracking cleanly in broken snow or etching grooves into hardpack. The influence of the Lighter is Better movement is apparent in the Air Tec Ti core, an intricate whittling-away of much of the ski’s center material, and the selective use of Titanal to deliver the optimal vibration dampening that is metal’s métier.