2019-2020 Icelantic Maiden 101

Intro

The Maiden series is Icelantic’s women’s Freeride line, and for 19/20, the long-standing series is getting updated.

We had spent time on the old Maiden 111 and found it to be a lot of fun in powder, but its soft flex meant that it struggled when conditions weren’t super soft and forgiving. For 19/20, Icelantic is ditching the old Maidens’ Pacific Albus core in exchange for the same poplar / paulownia core in the updated men’s Nomad series.

We’ll soon be spending time on the new Maiden 101, but in the meantime, here’s how its updated design compares to the rest of the market.

What Icelantic says about the 19/20 Maiden Collection

“Combining design elements from Icelantic’s top-selling Nomad, the Maiden Freeride Collection offers the ultimate freeride skis for women looking to excel when playing in POW, blasting through crud and just having FUN all over the mountain! Featuring the NEW Hybrid Flight Core, the Maiden Freeride Collection is lighter and more poppy than ever, turning every mountain into your personal playground.”

This is pretty standard copy for a collection of “freeride” skis, though it’s important to quickly touch on the last note about the skis’ new cores. When talking with Icelantic at Outdoor Retailer this year, they mentioned that, while the new poplar / paulownia “Hybrid Flight Core” does make the skis slightly lighter, it’s not a huge difference, and the main goal with the new core was to make the skis snappier and more responsive.

In the case of the 169 cm Maiden 101, Icelantic’s stated weight only dropped by around 40 grams per ski. Given that these skis are designed primarily for use inside the resort (and not the backcountry), we’re happy Icelantic didn’t go way lighter with the new skis.

Shape / Rocker Profile

Like the men’s Nomad 105, the Maiden 101 has a pretty traditional shape for a ski this wide. It has very minimal taper and the tips and tails, which should equate to lots of effective edge once you tip the ski over during a carved turn.

The Maiden 101’s rocker profile is less traditional, with deep tip and tail rocker lines and lots of tip and tail splay. Compared to the Nordica Santa Ana 100, Armada Victa 97 Ti, Blizzard Black Pearl 98, and Head Great Joy, the Maiden 101 has deeper tip and tail rocker lines, and much higher tail splay.

Overall, the Maiden 101’s rocker profile looks pretty similar to the rocker profiles of the Blizzard Sheeva 10 and Moment Sierra — two skis we really like. The Maiden 101’s rocker profile definitely makes it fall more in line with more playful skis, rather than more traditional skis with flatter tails.

Flex Pattern

Here’s how we’d characterize the flex pattern of the Maiden 101:

Tips: 5.5
Shovels: 6-6.5
In Front of Toe Piece: 7-9
Underfoot: 9.5
Behind the Heel Piece: 9-8.5
Tails: 6.5-5.5

Overall, the Maiden 101’s flex pattern feels quite similar to the men’s 191 cm Nomad 105. The Maiden 101 starts soft in the tips, then slowly ramps up in stiffness as you move to the middle of the ski. The back half of the Maiden 101 is a bit stiffer than the front half, which matches up with its fairly rearward mount point of around -7.85 cm from center.

Compared to the Santa Ana 100, Sheeva 10, Mindbender 98Ti Alliance, and Pandora 104, the Maiden 101 is a bit softer in the tails, but the flex patterns of all five skis aren’t drastically different. In short, the Maiden 101’s flex pattern feels accessible at the ends of the ski, but it’s definitely not noodly / super soft around the middle.

Weight

The Maiden 101 is a light ski at around 1555 grams per ski for the 169 cm length. That weight puts it in line with several skis that we like for 50/50 backcountry / resort use like the Armada Trace 98, Liberty Genesis 96, and Line Pandora 104. As with all skis that fall on the lighter end of the spectrum, we’re curious to see how the Maiden 101 handles rougher snow that you often encounter in the resort.

For reference, here are a number of our measured weights (per ski in grams) for some notable skis. Keep in mind the length differences to try and keep things apples-to-apples.

1533 & 1537 Armada Trace 98, 172 cm (17/18–19/20)
1543 & 1567 Icelantic Maiden 101, 169 cm (19/20)
1556 & 1575 Liberty Genesis 96, 165 cm (18/19–19/20)
1557 & 1607 Fischer My Ranger 98, 172 cm (16/17–18/19)
1626 & 1631 K2 Fulluvit 95Ti, 170 cm (18/19)
1626 & 1645 Line Pandora 104, 165 cm (18/19–19/20)
1635 & 1646 Blizzard Black Pearl 98, 166 cm (17/18–19/20)
1651 & 1669 Moment Sierra, 172 cm (17/18–19/20)
1702 & 1721 K2 Gottaluvit 105Ti, 170 cm (18/19)
1709 & 1710 Blizzard Sheeva 10, 172 cm (17/18–19/20)
1711 & 1772 DPS Zelda A106 C2, 171 cm (19/20)
1735 & 1740 K2 Mindbender 106C Alliance, 175 cm (19/20)
1750 & 1769 Armada Victa 97 Ti, 171 cm (17/18–19/20)
1762 & 1801 K2 Mindbender 98Ti Alliance, 168 cm (19/20)
1764 & 1778 Rossignol Soul 7 HD W, 172 cm (17/18–19/20)
1806 & 1821 Blizzard Sheeva 11, 172 cm (17/18–19/20)
1812 & 1813 Head Great Joy, 168 cm (17/18–18/19)
1821 & 1824 Liberty Genesis 106, 171 cm (16/17–18/19)
1882 & 1901 Icelantic Maiden 111, 177 cm (17/18–18/19)
1983 & 1999 Nordica Santa Ana 100, 177 cm (17/18–19/20)
2076 & 2078 Nordica Santa Ana 110, 177 cm (17/18–19/20)

Some Questions / Things We’re Curious About

(1) With its traditional shape and less traditional rocker profile, we’re curious to see how the Maiden 101 will balance playfulness and the ability to ski hard in difficult snow.

(2) The Maiden 101 is quite light, so should it be thought of as a pure inbounds ski, a 50/50 ski you can use inside and outside of the resort, or could it even work as a dedicated touring ski?

(3) We think the main limiting factor for the old Maiden 111 was its soft flex. The new Maiden 101 isn’t some super noodly ski, so will that help when it comes to versatility in variable conditions and terrain?