The Blizzard Black Pearl and Völkl Kenja have company at the top tier of women’s models, the new Santa Ana 93 from Nordica. The springboard that launched the Santa Ana 93 into this elite company is a new construction built around a poplar/beech/ balsa core with a center channel of foam. Sandwiching the new wood core are laminates of prepreg carbon, a significant weight savings over glass, and .4mm sheets of tip-to-tail Titanal, in essence re-investing the weight savings in a power account.
The simplicity of the Supernatural 100’s construction contributes to its playful attitude and easy-steering properties. As a cambered, all-glass ski, the Supernatural 100 pops out of the turn even in powder, giving it a lively but controlled rebound that carries the skier into the next turn. It seems like an odd adjective to apply to a ski, but the Supernatural 100 is more comfortable to ski than other skis of equal width. We attribute its ease of operation in part to its more torsionally soft lay-up, allowing a ski this wide to roll up on edge gradually and conform readily to irregular terrain.
The Navigator 90 borrows the Enforcer tip radius, but substantially shortens the distance from the widest point in the shovel to the forward contact point. In other words, the Navigator is designed to stay more connected to the snow, improving its Frontside performance. Both models are cambered underfoot, but the Navigator uses a square tail that’s turned up only at the very end. This creates a more solid and responsive platform along the full length of the ski.
The buzz at Nordica is all about the Enforcer series, off-trail wonders that are reviewed elsewhere in these pages. The clamor over the Enforcers has shifted attention away from what has been a Nordica wheelhouse, its Frontside carvers. That’s a pity, because Nordica continues to make some of the finest carving tools on the hill. The GT 84 Ti’s most lovable trait is how natural it feels, as though it was custom made for you. At a moderate edge angle it produces a moderate, medium-radius turn. The daily activity this rhythm most closely resembles is walking. Right. Left. Right. Left. You get the idea. It feels that simple.
It requires all of twenty feet of travel to realize the Enforcer Pro takes its name seriously. You may be out on the slopes for pleasure, but the Enforcer Pro is all business. It arrives ready to roll and attend to the first agenda item, getting up to speed. Once it hits about 30mph it spreads its wings and puts its momentum to work, leaning into medium to long arcs as if it owned them.
