Judging by the scores below, the Santa Ana is more playful than a gaggle of puppies. Nordica’s CamRock profile pulls the traditional contact points back—25 percent in the tip and 5 percent in the tail—for a killer combination of float and maneuverability. Swivel, whirl and twirl without worry. A tremendously high strength-to-weight ratio balsa wood core is sandwiched between two sheets of prepreg carbon to ensure these babies rip with the best of ’em without dragging you down. Our testers recognized its featherweight construction, writing, “a fun, maneuverable shape with a [crazy] lightweight core,” and “sturdy yet light, playful and poppy. They whip through the moguls, too.”

*Ski dimensions are for the 169.