Nordica Santa Ana 100 Review

The women’s version of Nordica’s Enforcer ski, the Santa Ana 100's are a force to be reckoned with. They’re fun and peppy skis with enough float to bounce your way through powder and weave through trees, and heavy enough to crush groomers and slice through crud. I’ve been looking for one ski that can handle it all, and the Santa Ana’s are easily living up to my expectations.

Let's set the stage. I normally ski men's skis for the stiffness. Having heard such great reviews of the Enforcers and how much the Santa Ana's could keep up with them, I jumped at the opportunity to test out the Santa Ana 100's. I’ve spent about 12 days on the mountains with them in a variety of conditions. From icy groomers to pow, these skis want to be skied, and they can handle what you give them. 

Groomers

In fluffy and even the recent spring skiing groomers we had last week, the Santa Ana 100’s were fun, stable and quick to react to whatever pressure I gave them. I felt a fair amount of chatter on the icy groomers, but I think that was the skis asking to be skied harder. Even with the chatter, I never lost an edge and sliced through crud easily and confidently. The skis are relatively heavy and they can handle more than you’d expect considering their width.

Ice

We never love hitting ice sheets, but they’re a realistic part of skiing. As with most wide skis, ice sheets are not super comfortable on the Santa Ana 100’s. I’m 5’10” and chose to go with a slightly shorter ski (169) to play in the trees more, but I’m sure a longer ski would feel slightly more stable. I also have no doubt the 93s would hold their own against the ice due to the ski's stiffness and how well it handles itself in crud.

Moguls

Moguls are a blast in the Santa Ana 100's! In both fluffy and hard moguls, the skis are quick to respond and can jump in and out of turns easily. I’ve been trying to work on skiing moguls more efficiently, and I have felt confident, secure, and powerful testing my limits on moguls.

Powder

Oh, mighty powder. This is where I felt the Santa Ana 100’s really shine. A couple days ago I had some of the best laps I’ve had inbounds in a couple years, with a 10" of new snow and a deserted mountain. These skis float like a dream in fresh pow and happily hop in and out of snowboard ruts when the pow fields start to get tracked out.

If you're looking for one ski to do it all, give the Santa Ana 100's a try. My season started out with too much ice for me to have a love-at-first-try experience with them, but once the snow started falling and I began to push them a bit more, they showed up the way I needed them to, and then some.

Photos courtesy of Mitch Pittman and Nordica.