Tag: Nordica

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Sunapee With Nordica

Matt Knittle, the Avie’s Ski / Sports representative for Nordica skis and boots, sent an invite to join him at Mount Sunapee in New Hampshire. The invitation included a day on the slopes trying Nordica gear. It was a great invitation, so I accepted.

The last time I had been to Mount Sunapee was on an Avie’s trip. I went with my new-to-snowboarding daughter who was at that time 13 years old. She just turned 27 this past November.

So it had been a while. With no particular reason other than Vermont destinations felt closer. They aren’t, as I discovered when I pulled into the parking area at 8:30 AM yesterday morning. It took about as long to get to Mount Sunapee as it does to get to Mount Snow or Stratton or Okemo. Maybe even a couple minutes less than Stratton or Okemo. But not enough to be significant in any meaningful way.

I met up with Matt, and jumped onto a pair of Navigator skis to start my day. I wanted something light in weight and fun in soft snow. Mountain ops had groomed, but then it snowed a couple inches post-grooming. That left a nice layer of fluff on top. Not enough to float a ski, but enough to make the first few runs softer and slower.

I had forgotten what a nice ski mountain Mount Sunapee is. The trails are not what you could label adventurous or really challenging. They do however, offer a wonderful opportunity to relax and enjoy well manicured, moderate grade trails winding through the New Hampshire woods.

From The Man Cave

After a few warm up runs on the Navigator 85s, I clicked boots into a pair of Enforcer 88 followed by Enforcer 93 a few runs later. Any Enforcer ski by Nordica is pretty amazing. Just looking at them you can see them oozing strength and power. Tip and turn, slash and skid. They do it all and do it well. Enforcer is a great all mountain ski that has the backbone to give high performance top to bottom regardless the conditions. Nordica hit a Grand Slam with Enforcer. It is the #1 selling men’s ski in the U.S., so I guess they know that already.

I had to jump into a pair of Spitfire 76 RS skis for a couple laps on the beautiful groomers that make up Mount Sunapee. The Spitfire skis are simply put, fun. Full camber makes them very, very lively. Dobermann race ski heritage makes them quick in and out of turns, and very, very “grippy” in those turns. Spitfire 76 RS is one of the more fun front-side skis I have had the pleasure of clicking my boots into this season and last.

Time With The Ladies

Every year I say I am going to ski women’s skis so that I have a better idea on how they relate to their equivalent men’s ski. I then would have better knowledge to pass along to women looking to pick up a new set of sticks. This year I mean it.

I clicked boots into a pair of Nordica Santa Ana 88 women’s skis. I wanted to try out a pair of the 93 mm width skis, but they were never available when I was swapping out one pair for another.

Given that Santa Ana skis are the women’s version of the venerable Enforcer men’s ski, I assumed similarities would be apparent. And they were.

First off, Santa Ana handle incredibly well. While lighter in weight than an equivalent length men’s Enforcer ski, the Santa Ana ski did not wimp out in performance and control. They tipped into turns as nicely, and held the turns without slipping or chattering or misbehaving at all. Because they are lighter, they were much more nimble than the men’s Enforcer counterpart. Which is not really surprising.

On the drive back from the Nordica sponsored event, I had a chance to reminisce on a few things. I was very glad that Matt invited Avie’s to join Nordica on the slopes at Mount Sunapee. I found that I really liked the slopes there, and figure I might try to spend more time at Sunapee in the future. It wasn’t very busy, even by weekday standards, and the slopes are very, very well maintained.

Favorite of the Day

I also realized that my favorite ski for the day was the women’s Santa Ana 88 ski. Because they maintained all the high-performing characteristics that the venerable men’s Enforcer ski is so well noted for, there was no way you could not like them. But when you toss in the extra lightness inherent in the women’s Santa Ana, I found them to be so much more fun because they were so much more nimble.

As a final disclaimer, let it be said that the Enforcer skis I tried out are slightly different than those on the market this season. The Enforcer sticks I got to ski on are the ones that you will see on the market next season. There isn’t a huge difference, but there is some and those nuances in technological changes do make the skis a bit different. But more on that next season.

And the Santa Ana skis are a totally new redesign, technologically, from those on the market this season. Since I did not try out past versions, I can’t point to differences. I can say, if you are in the market for a new pair of women’s skis next season, don’t overlook the Nordica Santa Ana series. They are amazing.

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First Laps

There was great snow on the ground up north in early December, and I readied my gear to head up there. Then work got in the way. Life got in the way next. A four letter word (rain) befell the north country. The holidays were on the doorstep. So despite great early season conditions—and intentions—I never made it to the slopes prior to the New Year ringing in.

Yesterday I went north to Stratton. It was a beautiful sunny day with temps to start in the low twenties. The wind was a bit stiff at the summit, but not so strong as to affect lift operations. Crowds were light, at least until late morning when things got a bit busy.

It was only busy because the entire mountain was not accessible. Skiers and riders congregated on open trails, making it seem busier than if 100% of terrain were available.

The snow was quite good on open trails. Sure, there was a patch of glacier ice here and there, and an occasional sparsely covered piece of ground. But overall conditions made for good skiing and riding.

New Boots

I started this ski season with two new gear items. The foremost was a new pair of Dalbello DS 110 boots. I have been in Dalbello boots at a 130 stiffness for quite a while. And while I love the control they provide, they tire me out too quickly as the years click over into the future, making age numbers higher and higher.

The DS 110 boot is a traditional 4-buckle overlap boot. Dalbello reengineered the liner to make entry easier. And it is. Once my foot was slipped into the boot, I can say they were (and are) extremely comfortable. They are also quite warm. But yesterday was not a great test for warmth since it was not really very cold.

This less stiff boot let me still have great control over the skis, but did allow me to relax—be a bit sloppy that is—without actually getting sloppy controlling the skis. I can now ski longer into the day than when my feet were tucked into the 130 stiffness boots. All this was exactly what I hoped to see happen.

New Skis

The second new item was a pair of Nordica Dobermann Spitfire 76 RB skis. This ski is brand new this season, and I can tell you they are a lot of fun to click boots into.

Modeled after the Nordica Dobermann line of race skis, Spitfire 76 RB inherits the basic traits of a race ski. Titanal inserts for stiffness with light weight. Full camber underneath makes the ski very lively in and out of turns. High quality metal in the edges that keep sharpness longer. Narrow waist and 16 meter turn radius make Spitfire 76 RB a great ski for those narrow, windy trails typical of New England ski resorts.

Needless to say, I had a blast on the Nordica Spitfire skis. If you are intrigued by these skis—and you should be—they are available as a demo ski at Avie’s Ski / Sports. I took them out for an extended spin yesterday to see how they performed. Last year I tried them out during an “on-slope” retailers demo show, but only took a few laps on them. I remembered liking them, but needed an update to my memory chip.

If like me you best enjoy carving up the groomers, give the Nordica Spitfire 76 RB a trial run over the snow. They are fantastic on the big, wide groomers for setting out big, wide carves. And they are lively and fun on those narrow trails twisting and winding their way through the woods.

I am looking to down-size from the Volkl RTM 84 skis I have been on for the past 5 or so years. I am looking for a ski a bit narrower and easier (less exhausting over a day of skiing) to tip into and out of turns. Something with more camber so that they are a bit more lively underfoot. Nordica Spitfire 76 RB just might be the ski I am looking for.

Conditions to the north are not phenomenal, but not bad at all. The bad part is that the resorts are not 100% open. The trails that are open however, are all in good shape.

It looks like incoming weather may start up as a bit of a mixed bag up north, then changing over to snow. Depending on where, it sounds like 6 to 8 inches, and maybe more, could get dropped upon New England ski resorts up north.

Let’s keep our fingers crossed for lots and lots of snow, and the dropping of many, many ropes that yesterday were keeping trails off limits to skiers and riders hungry for more terrain.

When the opportunity comes, get out there and hit the slopes. If you are a skier, stop by Avie’s Ski / Sports and take the Nordica Dobermann Spitfire 76 RB skis out for a day on the slopes.

Unless of course I have my ski boots clicked into their bindings…

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Lovin’ Loon

Went to bed Tuesday night and it was snowing hard. Woke up Wednesday morning to 5 or 6-inches of fresh white stuff on the ground. Fortunately, the bed was in Lincoln, NH. About 2 miles away from the lifts at Loon Mountain. I had the feeling it was going to be a pretty good day.

Temperature in the morning was about 30 degrees. By the end of the first two runs I had every zipper unzipped that could be unzipped. Well, almost every. We didn’t want to get too risqué on the slopes.

The conditions the day before were great, and the addition of fresh snow made things just perfect. The mountain ops team left a few trails ungroomed. Most trails however, had a nice mix of options. Groomed corduroy was striped down one-half to two-thirds the width of the trail, the remainder was ungroomed. So you could play on either surface. Or both if you wanted to dash in and out along their intersection. I thought that was a really nice touch.

A group of “ski testers” from Avie’s were at Loon, testing skis. And then of course there was Matt, the lone “snowboard tester.” But he wasn’t complaining. In fact, he had a huge grin on his face every single time we crossed paths on the slopes.

On Tuesday, later in the afternoon, I clicked my boots into a pair of new for next year Nordica Soul Rider 87 twin tips. I stayed on those skis for the rest of the day. They were amazing skis. Light, fun, turny, lots of “pop.” Just plain old big time fun.

The Soul Rider 87s took me down the edges of the trails. As it often does late in the day, the edges of the trails are where the snow has piled up. The Soul Rider 87s had me doing super twisty-turny-tight cuts and carves. It was a blast. I couldn’t believe how playful the Soul Rider twins were.

At the same time though, they were serious skis. When we went out to the center part of the trail, onto the ice and crust that was scraped clean of snow, I expected them to slide and chatter their way across. But they didn’t. The edges bit in and held in carves across the ice. Wow!

The down side of all those tight, twisty-turny carves was a black toenail at days end. It was painful to get my foot into my ski boots the next morning. Very painful. But, we were at “Demo Days” where all the manufacturers are there with gear to try. So I left my boots in the car and went to Dalbello to try out the newly redesigned Panterra ski boots. They had the Panterra 120 in my size, so I slipped into a pair.

Demo Days dealer tents at Loon Mountain.

The first thing I noticed was that the boots were significantly lighter than previous models. And I do mean significantly lighter. Like maybe a third lighter. Another unique feature of the redesign is that the new Panterra has an adjustable last from 100 to 102 mm. Last is the width of the boot, if you forgot. I liked that adjustable width feature a lot.

My Dalbello Krypton 130s are a 98 mm last, so the Panterra boots gave my hurting left toe a bit more room. And because they are adjustable width, I let that toe box be a bit wider than the right foot, which I snugged up more tightly. The result were boots that I could ski in without being tormented by the injured toe.

And the Panterra 120 boots were very nice to ski. They sport a 4-buckle cabrio design, so there is a nice progressive range of flex and response to the skis. That was particularly nice when jumping back and forth between the groomed and ungroomed parts of the ski runs. Back off a bit in the powder, and drive into the boots harder on the groomers. They worked really well and I give them a big “thumbs up.”

Panterra 120 also comes with the new GripWalk system. This was my first experience with GripWalk on the slopes. Yes, they do make walking in ski boots more natural, and the grippy soles were actually quite nice outside on the snow covered walkways. In fact, they were nice inside as well. The grippy soles never once felt slippery on wet concrete or tiles. They were a bit harder to clip into the ski bindings. But the ski tech at Nordica (yes, I clicked into Soul Rider 87 again—I couldn’t resist, they were too much fun) said that would vary with the fit of boot to binding, and that once the GripWalk pads broke in a bit more, they would slide in more easily. So I would give GripWalk a “thumbs up” as well.

The really big news, for right now however, is not about gear for next season.

The BIG NEWS is that with the new snowfall up north conditions are really, really good. Bordering on great.

Temps look to stay on the cold side up north, which will hold the snow. And it looks like they may get a few small-scale snow events. Just enough to keep things topped off. Just enough to keep the groomers consisting of beautiful packed-powder corduroy stripes.

So get out and ski. Get out and ride. Go this weekend. There is still some room on the Avie’s Ski & Ride trip headed to Okemo in Vermont this Sunday, February 17th.

If you can—and I highly endorse this—break away on a weekday. Avie’s has a trip to Loon Mountain slated for Wednesday February 20th. I can tell you, first hand, conditions are pretty sweet up there in Lincoln, NH right now.

Don’t think about going on one of the Avie’s Ski & Ride trips. Just go.

AlanD
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Ski Boots—Year of the Boot

Ski boots are critical gear. And this ski season should be known as the Year of the Boot. Why? Because this year marks a watershed of change in ski boot design.  

This season, when you walk into Avie’s Ski / Sports to check out new ski boots, you will find several pleasant changes. The first is that most boot manufacturers have pulled together their boots into a single “family.” For instance, Nordica now has three variations of boots under the “machine” family name. Previously they had 3 or 4 different boot models with different names and differing attributes.

Using Nordica again as an example, they have Pro Machine, Speed Machine, and Sport Machine. Each boot style is modeled after their Dobermann race boot. Each boot style differs in boot last, or width in common terms.

Pro Machine is the narrowest boot, and comes in a variety of flex options. Pro Machine is also “tricked out” with the most bells and whistles focused on high performance for transferring power from skier leg to the ski through the boot. 

Speed Machine is a medium width boot, also coming in a variety of flex options. This boot is slightly more comfort-oriented, but in the stiffer flex models, still a highly performance-oriented ski boot. 

Sport Machine is a wide boot, with a variety of flex options, but oriented very much towards comfort. But again, in higher flex value models, the boots offer plenty of performance for those with wider feet. 

The other brand boots you will find at Avie’s Ski / Sports, Dalbello and Tecnica for instance, have followed the same basic pattern for their ski boot lines. A single family of boots, modeled after their brand race boot, with various styles reflecting boot width. Each boot-width series has a variety of flex values offering a range of performance and comfort options to skiers.

So what’s the big deal about this?

The “Big Deal” is that it makes much more sense from both consumer and boot-fitter perspectives:

  • Boots are grouped under a family heading, in consideration of fit and performance options, is both more logical, and easier. 
  • Boot-brand “families” have been designed based on race boots, so all are highly performance-oriented. More so than ever before.
  • Each brand-family is lighter in weight, making them much less clunky when clomping around.
  • Skiers with wider feet have real options for performance-oriented boots, and at lighter weight than ever before.
  • Prices have remained relatively stable, despite significant upgrades in performance, design, and reduced weight.

A Good Year To Boot Shop

The bottom line is that it is a great year to shop for ski boots. Never before in my experience has there been such a significant change in ski boot availability and performance at an industry-wide scale. 

This Avie’s Ski Tester could only say “Wow,” “Incredible,” and “Amazing,” as I  stepped into and tried out several boot brand families. I liked the the level of comfort found in the Dalbello DS ski boots so much, I bought a pair. In the ultra-high performance DS 130, the toe box offers just enough room to be comfortable, but at no loss in performance characteristics. The boot feels molded to my foot, but with just a bit of wriggle room for the toes.

I had the opportunity to ski in a pair of Dalbello DS 130, Nordica Pro Machine 130, and Tecnica Mach 120 LV ski boots. While each had their nuances, I can definitely say each was amazing. So much lighter in weight than in previous boot models, and so very performance oriented. I ended up in a pair of Dalbello DS 130 boots because that particular brand and model provided a best fit for my feet. Performance was outstanding in all three brands tested. So was overall comfort.

I have skied in a pair of Dalbello Krypton 130 3-buckle cabrio-design boots for years. So I am interested to see how the Dalbello DS 130 4-buckle overlap design boots perform relative to the Kryton boots. Once I get on the slopes a few times and have a chance to compare them, I’ll get back to you with my thoughts. Keep an eye on the Avie’s Ski / Sports BLOG. Sometime in late January most likely. That should give me a bit of time to do a fair comparison.

All the boots have liners that are heat-moldable. Some—and I think this will soon be an industry-wide standard—have heat-moldable shells to facilitate boot-fitting for those with more “difficult” feet.

If you have been considering new ski boots, 2019 is a great year to take action. The options are just amazing. Of all the new gear and changes in the industry this year, ski boots are at the top of the heap. At least in my opinion.

Boots are the heart and soul of your ski gear outfit. They are the “transformers” that move energy from your legs to the skis. If you want to improve your skiing, new boots are the first upgrade to consider. Not skis. Ski boots do the steering. Skis simply respond accordingly. Think of boots as the rack-and-pinion gearing. Skis as the tires.

I suggest you take a look at the Avie’s Ski / Sports web page titled “Skier Need To Know—Boots.”

Just click the link. You will find some good information about ski boots, and how to think through what will be a best option for you for new boots. There is a lot to consider, but it’s not confusing when broken down into logical blocks. We help you find that logic on the “Need To Know” pages of the Avie’s Ski / Sports website.

There is a “Skier Need To Know—Skis” page to help you think through new skis. Check that out as well if you are thinking of buying a whole package of ski boots and skis. 

Take a look at the “Need To Know” pages. Stop into Avie’s Ski / Sports and check out the ski boots. And maybe some skis. Talk to Avie’s staff. Let us help you find that perfect pair of boots, and skis.

Hope to see you soon.

AlanD
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What’s the right ski for me?

Snow is falling, sno-cats are crawling, the slopes are calling. The slow leak of adrenaline into your veins is speeding up now that the leaves and temperatures have dropped. If you are thinking about new skis for the 2017 season, then this post, and a few more coming after this, just might help you think through the question “What’s the right ski for me?” …more