When Fischer made the decision to be gender neutral in its 2023 Ranger ski line – meaning men’s and women’s models would use the identical recipe and even the same names – it did so by blending the constructions (and consequent behaviors) of its existing Ti and FR designs.
The new Ranger 102 is a product of this design union, retaining the loose and smeary extremities of the old 102 FR, with a patch of .5mm Titanal in the binding zone that palpably augments its gripping power. Of its two parents, it takes after its maternal (non-metal) side, limiting its displays of muscular power to the critical area underfoot. If you loved the retired FR for its surfy attitude, you’ll be at least as enamored of the 2023 Ranger 102.
Whether the Ranger 102 is a woman’s cup of tea depends on style and weight more than ability, although the Ranger 102’s soft flex is especially well suited to those making their first forays into sidecountry. The Titanal plate in its midsection sits astride a substantial beech and poplar core, so security underfoot shouldn’t be an issue for female skiers.
The Mindbender 106C W ties together several strands of K2’s DNA. One strand is K2’s pioneering history of women’s models; since K2 introduced its first women’s ski, I dare say they’ve marketed more women’s models than any other brand. Another spiral of its genetic make-up is K2’s early adoption of rocker, giving it a wealth of experience in mastering flotation and ease of operation in deep snow. The baseline of the Mindbender 106C uses a low, gradual rocker on both ends, so all that surface area can take care of job one.
The third embedded gene is K2’s integration of its Women’s Alliance test team in its product development, a process that has been going on for over twenty years. Kim Reichhelm has been a leader of K2’s Alliance since its inception. Last year she filed a review of the Mindbender 106C W that provided peek behind the curtain at her role at K2:
“Testing powder skis is a real treat, but it’s also a real job. Our mission is to design skis that are high performance and complement our individual style, regardless of our stance and aggressiveness.”
The first edition of the Santa Ana 110 swapped the Enforcer 110’s poplar/beech core for balsa, but otherwise faithfully replicated its unisex structure, including two full sheets of .4mm Titanal. That’s a lot of ski, too much for most women hoping to make powder skiing easier, not more demanding. Last season, Nordica found the solution, Terrain Specific Metal: the wider the ski, the more metal is cut out of is mid-section. The widest models, the Santa Ana 110 Free and 104 Free, went from charging like barges to pivoting like catamarans.
Taking some of the Titanal out of the Santa Ana 110 Free certainly helped its maneuverability, but it’s still favors the expert who knows how to get after it. For a slightly less aggro personality who doesn’t want to run as hot through a crud field, the Santa Ana 104 Free may be a better choice.
With its slightly lower price and thinner waistline, the Santa Ana 104 Free may seem like a step down from its big sister, but if anything, she may be a better match for most women, a classic case of less-is-more.
It’s not entirely coincidental that the Santa Ana 98 debuted two years ago along with Terrain Specific Metal, Nordica’s way of doling out just the right amount of metal for each of its five Santa Ana models. The Santa Ana 98 was needed because its predecessor, the Santa Ana 100, used wall-to-wall, end-to-end sheets of Titanal, so they skied like supercharged rockets. Skiers who just wanted a ski to make powder easier were over-served.
But just because the Santa Ana 98 doesn’t ski like an Enforcer 100, don’t think for a second that it’s been gutted. Within the Santa Ana clan, the 98 falls on the side of the threesome that are intended to live at least part of their lives on hard snow. It wasn’t created to ski powder at the expense of competence when carving up groomers; it’s meant to live comfortably on the border of both worlds.
Every ski in this genre alleges that it’s like the mythical Super Mom who can manage the boardroom, the boudoir and the household books while learning Mandarin. But Women’s All-Mountain West skis almost never live right on the 50/50, hard snow/soft snow border.
Three years ago, I speculated that the freshly minted Deacon V.Werks wouldn’t have the same downstream impact as the Katana V.Werks, but I may have spoken too soon. One of the most esoteric features of the Deacon V.Werks was a lattice-work of carbon fibers crisscrossing the tip, which inspired the Tailored Carbon Tips of the M6 Mantra and new Kendo 88. Working in concert with Tailored Titanal Frame, Tailored Carbon Tips give the latest Mantra and Kendo the same clear connection to the front of the ski found in the Deacon V.Werks.
All carving skis are judged by how well they maintain edge connection throughout the turn on hard snow. Classically, the key to keeping a ski quiet all along its edge was to ladle on the Titanal, a proven method that achieves its damping objective in part by its mass. As an innovator in lightweight design, v.Werks instead turned to its wheelhouse material, carbon, to make a damp, non-metal ski that would be light and responsive.
Several factors work together to make the Deacon v.Werks easy to steer into a tight-radius turn without a lot of encouragement from the pilot. The cambered center section of its 3D Radius Sidecut is slalom-turn tight (14m@172cm); all the skier has to do to activate it is tilt the edge to a high angle, a normal move for anyone who knows how to carve. To make it easier to depress into a deep carve, the abbreviated camber line underfoot is fairly shallow and soft. The tip and tail rockers are long and gradual so the long-radius zones at front and rear don’t interfere with the ski’s quickness edge to edge.
The absence of metal and low elevation of the Marker system give the Deacon v.Werks a clarity of snow feel and lively energy that’s relatively rare among elite carvers. Most skis this damp and quiet on the edge are anything but nimble, but the Deacon v.Werks feels agile, quick to find the edge and lively coming off it. Jim Schaffner called it, “Idiot proof!!! This ski has great range. I found that the fore/aft balance was perfect, and the sweet spot as big as a locomotive. Like having an auto-correct feature that makes it easier to ski.”
