The Soul Rider 97 is the widest ski in Nordica’s collection of All Mountain Twin Tips. While it’s easy to segment twin tip skis as freestyle-specific or terrain park skis, the Soul Rider 97 is designed to be much more than that. It uses Nordica’s Energy 2 Carbon construction: two sheets of carbon sandwiched around a wood core. Camber underfoot is combined with slight tip and tail rocker, and the Soul Rider 97 doesn’t use any early taper, so when you tip it on edge you get long, consistent edge contact. With a lighter feel and a softer overall flex than their Enforcer skis, the Soul Rider 97 is a little easier to manipulate and play around on, while still feeling very energetic with an overall high performance feel.
Michael Carroll-Sherwin was psyched with the Soul Rider 97 after testing the 185 cm length, so much that he called it “one of my favorite skis!” Considering Michael was on a whole bunch of different skis during our test, that’s a big compliment. “The Soul Rider 97 feels comfortable with fast corduroy rip runs, while also handling crud and death cookies with style and poise.” The 97 mm waist width and the shape of the Soul Rider definitely gives it a versatile feel for different types of terrain and snow conditions. The vertical sidewall and sandwich construction provides good torsional stiffness for holding an edge at speed, a performance characteristic that all mountain twin tips sometimes lack. Michael scored the Soul Rider 97 5 out of 5 for every category, except for flotation. We’re okay with that; there are definitely wider skis out there that float better. He ended his feedback by saying, “The Soul Rider 97 should be on everyone’s radar, regardless of whether you are looking for a twin or not. This is ‘the people’s’ twin.”
Jamie Bisbee focused his response mostly on the Soul Rider’s performance in soft snow. He too was testing the 185 cm length and commented that “this ski performs flawlessly in soft snow.” Jamie did find that it got “a little jittery going fast through firm snow,” which isn’t outrageously surprising even though Michael felt differently. Everyone’s different, remember. Jamie thought it was “quite fun slashing and smearing wherever,” which is, without a doubt, one of the highlights of the Soul Rider 97.
James Stewart was another tester who thoroughly enjoyed the Soul Rider 97. “I love this ski,” was his initial reaction. James was also on the 185 cm length and his feedback was quite thorough. “Great for blasting through the woods or bumps and plays nice on groomers. You can load this thing up and it bounces right back into the next turn. Mostly camber, so not quite as much float as there could be, but all that camber gives the ski a ton of pop.” It’s true, the rocker can be described as subtle, low-rise rocker, so it doesn’t drastically increase float. More rocker, however, would take away from the ski’s stability, so we’re really happy with the design Nordica went with on this ski.
Bob St.Pierre was another tester to give the Soul Rider 97 really high scores. He tested the 185 cm length and didn’t go under 4 for any of his scores, with playfulness and forgiveness both earning 5 out of 5. Bob thought it has a “great feel.” He referred to it as a “true ski – no frills and lots of fun. Snappy, poppy, and light. A true pleasure to ride.” That’s very true, there’s nothing gimmicky about the Soul Rider 97. It’s a good shape, great construction, and it’s a pleasure to ski. Bob’s last comment was that it’s a “great all mountain ski, not just a park ski.”
We think there are a lot of skiers out there who would enjoy the Soul Rider 97. It offers a nice alternative to the Enforcer 100; lighter, softer, more playful, but still a high performance all mountain ski. Those with a freestyle background will love its ability to perform in the terrain park in addition to its all mountain performance. Skiers who have never stepped foot (skied boot?) into a terrain park can still benefit from its fun, playful performance. In an industry full of metal and crazy designs, the Soul Rider 97 is a refreshing take on the modern all mountain ski.
