On paper the Nordica Navigator 90 sounds like another in the recent set of genuinely well-thought out all mountain skis. The Nordica rep described it to us as being essentially an Enforcer (the brand's flagship freerider) in the front half, and a Spitfire (a Nordica piste ski) at the back.
We loved it immediately. It skis way shorter than the 186cm version we tried, and this half and half construction seems to genuinely work, with a lively and poppy tip offering float and easy turn initiation and a solid rear end to help power through carved turns on the hardpack.
The construction contains one sheet of titanal with hexes cut out to retain torsional stiffness but allow flex. The result seems to be a great balance of lightness and power.
Edge hold and piste performance in general is superb, but the tail is not so stiff as to be catchy in softer snow. The nose is a little flappy, but it is literally just the nose - you can clearly see the point at which the softness stops, and underfoot it's solid.
The Navigator 90 is one of the most focussed and effective all mountain skis of the year with ideal dimensions for most all mountain users; like a couple of other brands Nordica are offering a big step forward in a sometimes wishy-washy category.
