The Nordica Santa Ana 104 Free are amazing skis for advanced and expert lady skiers who seek and search the deepest and most challenging parts of the mountain, leaving clean and round turns in their wake. With the Enforcer and Santa Ana pedigree to lean on, the 104 Free has that ideal blend of power, poise, and precision that just works really well in a wider all-mountain ski or narrower freeride ski format. Built with Nordica's denser wood core, the skis get one sheet of terrain-specific metal. In these wider skis, the metal laminate leaves more of the wood core exposed, allowing for a more playful feel while keeping the stability and dampness to appropriately high levels. Additionally, the skis have a fair amount of rocker to go along with a moderately tapered shape for prime flotation and amazing surfiness. Skiers looking to carve turn on firmer snow will also really enjoy that metal laminate, and when combined with the 16-meter turn radius in the 165 cm length, these skis really come alive in a surprising and energetic manner.
ROCKER PROFILE
Rocker / Camber / Rocker
CORE MATERIALS
Carbon Chassis, True Tip
PREFERRED TERRAIN
All Mountain, Powder, Big Mountain
On the 172, Alix Klein noted that it was a great length for her. She gave a lot of high scores for the Santa Ana 104, including 5's for flotation and stability. 4's dot the rest of the card, leading to a nice and high average score for these great freeride skis. Alix notes that "This ski does it all. If you need to make fast, tight turns, it's there. Wanna go straight and stand up? Also there. Need to release your turn with a slarve? No problem. This is truly a great all-mountain ski." It's nice to have the notion that these skis can do a lot of different things from one moment to the next, allowing skiers to dictate the shape, duration, and type of turn no matter the conditions or terrain. It does take a skilled skier to do so, but when you have that balance and timing, it really makes these skis come alive.
Ann MacDonald was also on the 172, and she thought that it looked short, with a longer tail than normal, but still skied true to size. With these more freeride-like skis, we do see a bit of a forward mount point, and Ann's likely a bit more used to a directional ski. Either how, the size felt fine for her. She gave a top score of 5 out of 5 for flotation, with 4's the rest of the card. Like Alix, Ann was all in the 4 and 5 range, showing the well-rounded and high-performance nature of the 104. "First of all the graphics are on point! Love them❤️ Great conditions to test this ski because it was a crud buster so imagine it would be fun in powder too! Loved the dampness so hitting chop felt smooth! Ended up on a full on big bump run and it was surprisingly playful for its width. Great to smear! Stable and playful... just what a girl wants!" It's nice to hear again that these skis can switch up the performance module with the snap of your fingers. Kristi Brown skied the 172 and noted it's trueness to size. Again, all 4's and 5's, but Kristi had more 5's, including those for overall impression, torsional stiffness, and edge hold to go along with flotation and stability. Kristi's got some introspective questions regarding the 104: "Big Girl Quiver Question - 93 vs 104..... east coast west coast or just skier personality driving this decision. I love both and the 104 is super spunky and forever stable with benefit of more power with the size and floatability. You cannot go wrong with either...Bigger quiver question-what do you have already? These days with the amazing skis out there skiing east coast mainly. I would go with a 102 / 104 and an 88 ski width if I could have two skis or adding to quiver. Out west would be longer and wider definitely."
Quick for a 104, floaty and smeary all at the same time, these Santa Ana's check a lot of boxes for advanced and expert ladies who love to shred the whole mountain. For a skier in a lower-snow area, these would serve well as a powder-day ski, but if you live in a snowier zone, the Santa Ana 104 Free would make an excellent daily driver. Kristi alludes to this multi-use potential in her comments, and it's certainly a worthy discussion for these skis, as they do blur the line between a wider all-mountain and a narrower freeride ski for sure.
