Nordica

Fire Arrow 84 EDT EVO Ski

If you favor frontside fireworks with a light sprinkle of off-trail travel, step into the Nordica Fire Arrow 84 EDT EVO Ski and hold on tight. The Fire Arrow's a reasonably direct descendent of Nordica's face-melting race skis, with a whole load of traditional camber underfoot and just a smidgen of rocker in the tip, which means you can carve up the groomers like a Thanksgiving turkey without going head over heels if you have to power through some soft piles or manky side-of-the-trail chunder. Nordica's Rapid Race profile gives the tip a straighter shape with less sidecut than the rest of the ski, which gives you clean edging and consistent release at the bottom of the turn, without having to worry about the "over-steering" problem that other aggressive frontside skis have.

An 84mm waist and raised tip give the Fire Arrow the ability to tear through boot-deep powder and chop, but it's really a G-force-loving carving ski at heart. It's energetic wood core is sandwiched between two Titanal laminates to serve up plenty of power, and the ABS sidewalls direct energy down into the edges so you can make like a World Cupper and lay down high-angle turns you didn't know were possible. Even better, Nordica's integrated its EVO XL CT EDT system, which uses two top-mounted carbon plates to provide a seriously powerful side-to-side flex pattern while keeping the fore-aft flex of the ski nice and supple, so you can dive into turns like you're on the pro circuit without feeling like you're riding a mean-spirited bull that's just been poked with a stick. The Fire Arrow also comes with a 4-12 DIN TCX binding already mounted up, so you can step in and rip as soon as enough snow's on the ground.