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.
Powerdrive is Dynastar’s name for a 3-piece sidewall which functions as a unique damping system. Stacked on edge alongside the core, it consists of a soft inner layer, a hard center section and a dynamic outer wall. Any time a viscoelastic material, like that used in the inner piece of Powerdrive, is bonded to Titanal (center part), the resulting element will act as a natural shock absorber, so the forebody of the Intense 12, where the Powerdrive feature resides, should stay nice and quiet on hard snow.
Skiers looking for more of a more fall-line-oriented Powder ski that’s suited for backcountry touring as well as resort skiing should consider the powerful CT 3.0. The CT 2.0 skier is more likely to be found in bounds, hunting for lines that incorporate as much air time as possible. Those who wish to add the extra thrill of taking off and landing switch should center mount their bindings to take full advantage of the CT 2.0’s symmetrical shape.