Ski: 2022-2023 Nordica Santa Ana Unlimited 93, 172 cm
Test Location: Crested Butte, Colorado; Ushuaia, Argentina; Mainland Antarctica & South Shetland Islands
Days Skied: 14
Available Lengths: 151, 158, 165, 172 cm
Blister’s Measured Tip-to-Tail Length (straight-tape pull): 172 cm
Stated Weight per Ski: 1460 grams
Blister’s Measured Weight per Ski: 1450 & 1440 grams
Stated Dimensions: 126.5-93-114.5 mm
Blister’s Measured Dimensions: 126.8-92.5-113.3 mm
Stated Sidecut Radius (172 cm): 16.1 meters
Measured Tip & Tail Splay (ski decambered): 57 mm / 15 mm
Measured Traditional Camber Underfoot: 4.5 mm
Core Materials: balsa/beech + titanal binding reinforcement + carbon & fiberglass laminate
Base: sintered
Factory Recommended Mount Point: -7.9 cm from center; 77.5 cm from tail
Boots / Bindings: Tecnica Zero G Tour Scout W; Marker Kingpin M-Werks
Intro
When Nordica introduced their Santa Ana Unlimited and Enforcer Unlimited series in November of 2021, there was much to be intrigued about. In short, the Unlimited skis are lighter, more touring-oriented takes on Nordica’s venerable Enforcer (men’s) and Santa Ana (women’s) all-mountain skis.
I have personally enjoyed the Santa Ana series in the past, from the Santa Ana 93 all the way up to the Santa Ana 110. Most notably, I have always appreciated how damp and smooth those skis felt, always providing a lot of confidence and ample suspension even in the roughest of snow conditions.
However, the standard Santa Ana skis haven’t been all that forgiving or lightweight. So I was really curious to see how this new lightweight build would compare to the much heavier versions, especially in firm snow and variable backcountry conditions.
I have now spent a lot of days on the Santa Ana Unlimited 93 in a huge range of conditions, from skinning up groomers at Mt. Crested Butte to mid-winter tree lines in the Crested Butte backcountry, and even used it as my single ski for a mission down to Argentina and Antarctica this November. As it turns out, Antarctica made for some good testing grounds, since I could ski pretty much every type of condition there, sometimes even on the same day.
So, with all that in mind, let’s get into how this lightweight ski has performed.
Women-Specific Aspects of the Santa Ana Unlimited 93
The Unlimited Series is comprised of two women-specific skis, the Santa Ana Unlimited 88 and 93, and three men’s or ‘unisex’ skis: the Enforcer Unlimited 88, 94, and 104. Across the lineup, the construction of all these skis is the exact same, using a balsa / beech core and lightweight carbon / fiberglass laminate (they ditched the larger layers used in the Enforcer and Santa Ana series, aside from a small plate for binding reinforcement). Because there are no notable construction differences between the Santa Ana Unlimited and Enforcer Unlimited skis, it makes sense to look at both, depending on what length you need. It’s worth noting that the Enforcer Unlimited 104 is offered in sizes starting at 165 cm.
Shape / Rocker Profile
Not much to report here, since the Santa Ana Unlimited 93 features the same shape and rocker profile as the Santa Ana 93. Both skis feature a bit of early taper at the tip and tail, a fairly deep tip rocker line with lots of tip splay, and a much less rockered and less splayed tail.
Flex Pattern
Here’s how we’d characterize the flex pattern of the Santa Ana Unlimited 93:
Tips: 6
Shovels: 6.5-7.5
In Front of Toe Piece: 8-9.5
Underfoot: 9.5
Behind the Heel Piece: 9.5-8.5
Tails: 8-7
Compared to the Santa Ana 93, the Santa Ana Unlimited 93 shares a pretty similar flex pattern, but is a touch softer throughout. It’s still quite strong around the middle and behind the bindings, with a tail that’s a bit stiffer than the tip.
Mount Point
Our Santa Ana Unlimited 93 was mounted with a non-demo Marker M-Werks Kingpin mounted at the recommended line, which is -7.9 cm from true center. While we often like to experiment with different mount points, I felt no desire to on this ski — it felt intuitive from the start and should work well for most directional skiers.
Dimensions & Sidecut Radius
The Santa Ana Unlimited 93 is dimensionally identical to the Santa Ana 93, and as a result, it also shares the same stated sidecut radius (16.1 meters for the 172 cm length).
Weight
At less than 1500 g per ski for the 172 cm length, the Santa Ana Unlimited 93 is quite a bit lighter than its all-mountain counterpart, the Santa Ana 93. Compared to dedicated touring skis, the Santa Ana Unlimited 93 is about average, if not slightly heavier, relative to its size. However, by not going super light, Nordica managed to make the Santa Ana Unlimited 93 surprisingly capable on firmer snow — more on that below.
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 to keep things apples-to-apples.
1414 & 1408 Moment Sierra Tour, 172 cm (21/22–22/23)
1433 & 1457 DPS Pagoda Tour 106 C2, 171 cm (21/22–22/23)
1450 & 1440 Nordica Santa Ana Unlimited 93, 172 cm (21/22–22/23)
1525 & 1555 K2 Dispatch 101, 175 cm (22/23)
1556 & 1575 Liberty Genesis 96, 165 cm (19/20–20/21)
1592 & 1637 Head Kore 97 W, 170 cm (21/22)
1622 & 1638 Blizzard Black Pearl 88, 165 cm (20/21–22/23)
1638 & 1639 Atomic Maven 93 C, 172 cm (21/22–22/23)
1685 & 1731 Black Crows Camox Birdie, 168 cm (19/20–22/23)
1687 & 1695 Elan Ripstick 102 W, 170 cm (20/21–22/23)
1693 & 1710 Moment Sierra, 172 cm (21/22)
1703 & 1714 Nordica Santa Ana 88, 172 cm (21/22–22/23)
1709 & 1710 Blizzard Sheeva 10, 172 cm (17/18–22/23)
1742 & 1697 Salomon Stance 88 W, 174 cm (20/21–22/23)
1741 & 1747 Nordica Unleashed 98 W, 174 cm (22/23)
1762 & 1801 K2 Mindbender 98Ti Alliance, 168 cm (19/20–21/22)
1792 & 1792 Nordica Santa Ana 104 Free, 172 cm (20/21–22/23)
1797 & 1839 Rossignol Rallybird 102, 170 cm (20/21–22/23)
1812 & 1817 Salomon Stance 94 W, 174 cm (20/21–22/23)
1831 & 1852 Rossignol Rallybird 104 Ti, 171 cm (20/21–22/23)
1833 & 1842 Volkl Secret 96, 163 cm (21/22–22/23)
1881 & 1895 Salomon QST Lumen 99, 174 cm (19/20–21/22)
1903 & 1917 Nordica Santa Ana 93, 172 cm (20/21–22/23)
1917 & 1935 Nordica Santa Ana 98, 172 cm (20/21–22/23)
1928 & 1945 K2 Mindbender 99Ti W, 172 cm (22/23)
1933 & 1975 Volkl Secret 96, 170 cm (21/22–22/23)
1955 & 1990 Coalition Snow SOS, 173 cm (19/20–20/21)
1969 & 1988 4FRNT MSP CC, 171 cm (20/21–22/23)
1983 & 1999 Nordica Santa Ana 100, 177 cm (18/19 – 19/20)
Now onto how the Nordica Santa Ana Unlimited 93 performs on snow:
FULL REVIEW
Uphill Performance & Skins
Kara Williard (5’9”, 167 lbs / 175 cm, 75.7 g): At this point, I have skinned up several mountains with a lot of varied conditions on the Santa Ana Unlimited 93, and it has proven to be a lightweight and reliable choice. The overall weight (and particularly the swing weight) of the Santa Ana Unlimited 93 makes kick turns and uphill travel easy, and has gripped well on a variety of skin tracks.
We tested this ski with Nordica’s skins for the Unlimited skis, which are a nylon / mohair mix from Kohla. I found them to work quite well, providing pretty good traction while also being pretty packable and light. There are a couple of skins I’ve used that grip slightly better on icy slopes (e.g., Pomoca Climb 2.0) and others that glide better (Pomoca Free Pro 2.0), but the Santa Ana Unlimited skins strike a nice middle ground. They are also very easy to rip, but I haven’t had issues with them coming unstuck when I don’t want them to. They’ve also held up well so far to lots of skinning on rough ground with branches, snags, rocks, etc.
Spring Corn
The Santa Ana Unlimited 93 has felt like an optimal choice for spring skiing and, when the timing works out, nice spring corn. When driving the shovels of the ski, it feels quite precise but is also still lively and maneuverable. Its precision allows for reliable edge hold and fairly powerful turns, but it still feels pretty maneuverable and forgiving for its width, especially in soft but supportive conditions like spring corn.
The quick nature of the Santa Ana Unlimited 93, combined with its stability (for its weight), makes for a really fun combo in spring snow. Skis like the Moment Sierra Tour, Line Pandora 84, and Blizzard Sheeva 9 offer a looser, surfier ride, but the Santa Ana Unlimited 93 bests them when it comes to edge hold when conditions are firmer.
Overall, the Santa Ana Unlimited 93 makes a lot of sense for spring skiing — it feels maneuverable for its width if you hit some deeper, slushier snow, while still being reliable on edge if you get to the top a bit early and the snow hasn’t yet softened up a whole lot.
Firm, Smooth Snow
The Santa Ana Unlimited 93 excels on firm, smooth snow. I first discovered this during many early morning laps at the resort when I was descending down groomed snow, but in the backcountry, the Santa Ana Unlimited 93 also offers a smooth, predictable flex pattern and plenty of edge hold. I think its composure at speed is very respectable, given how light it is; while the Santa Ana Unlimited 93 definitely doesn’t feel as damp or stable on firm snow as heavier resort-oriented alternatives, I think Nordica has done a good job of optimizing that while minimizing weight on the uphill.
Aside from their disparate weights, the Santa Ana Unlimited 93 very much resembles its heavier, resort-oriented counterpart, the Santa Ana 93. If you’ve used the standard Santa Ana 88, 93, or 98, you’ll likely find the Santa Ana Unlimited 93 to feel familiar. All these skis feel most intuitive when skied with a fairly forward stance, which results in predictable carving performance, versatility in terms of turn shapes, and a bit of energy coming out of a hard carve. The Santa Ana Unlimited 93 does feel a little softer and more playful, and obviously easier to maneuver at slower speeds due to its much lower weight.
More than once, I found myself on this ski in some pretty tight or committing terrain that was covered with firm snow. Its strong edge hold was comforting in these scenarios, and it also didn’t feel overly demanding in terms of requiring perfect technique, which is a plus when making quick, hop-style turns in consequential zones.
Rough & Variable Conditions
Overall, I was pleased that some semblance of the suspension offered in the Santa Ana series was maintained in the Unlimited version, but there’s definitely a clear drop-off in terms of how well it mutes out and absorbs the vibrations from firm, rough snow. However, the Santa Ana Unlimited 93 is quite a bit less demanding than its heavier counterpart, the Santa Ana 93, which helped make up slightly for its less damp, planted ride in challenging conditions. I skied the Santa Ana Unlimited 93 in quite a bit of breakable crust, heavy chop, wind-scoured snow, and almost every condition in between. Its tail is pretty easy to disengage as long as you stay over the shovels, which is optimal in heinous conditions where I find myself adopting more of a pivoting / skidding style than true carving.
However, in heavier variable snow, I did wish I had a bit more surface area. This continuously left me thinking about the Nordica Enforcer Unlimited 104, which isn’t quite as prone to getting hung up in things like wet or cruddy snow. I have yet to ski the Enforcer Unlimited 104 in a size that makes sense for me (172 or 179 cm), but based on what our other reviewers have said about the 186 cm length, it’s a bit more predictable when conditions are particularly grabby, heavy, or deep. Still, for a lightweight 93mm-wide directional ski, I think the Santa Ana Unlimited 93 handles these scenarios pretty well.
Powder
The Santa Ana Unlimited 93 is not designed to excel in deep snow, but I still had quite a few fun pow turns on it. For the most part, I have skied the Santa Ana Unlimited 93 on >8” (<20 cm) powder days, where I could feel a supportive base underneath. I have yet to use it on a really deep day, and realistically, I would probably avoid doing this if possible and opt for a wider ski.
While the Santa Ana 93 Unlimited doesn’t offer all that much flotation (which is expected, given its width), it’s a fairly easy ski to maneuver in powder. Its shovel does a good job of planing up in fresh snow and it feels lively enough to make quick, poppy turns in powder without getting too bogged down. Though, like most skis around this width, the Santa Ana Unlimited 93 encourages this more dynamic style in deeper snow, rather than being super easy to pivot, slide, and slash with the bases flat.
The Santa Ana Unlimited 93 wouldn’t be my first choice on the days where I was guaranteed deep snow in the backcountry, but it handles the occasional pow day well for its width.
Length
I initially hinted in my Flash Review of the Santa Ana Unlimited 93 that I was slightly concerned that the 172 cm length would feel a bit short. (Depending on the particular model, I’ve gotten along well with skis ranging from about 170 cm to 180 cm.) However, after testing the 172 cm Santa Ana Unlimited 93 in some of the tightest trees and terrain I have ever skied, I became pretty comfortable on this length, and several times, I was grateful that I was on a shorter ski than I might otherwise choose. In difficult-to-navigate, overgrown forests, I found the 172 cm Santa Ana Unlimited to be really easy to turn, allowing for quick, hoppy maneuvers. It was a similar story in tighter couloirs or other narrow, steep terrain, where the 172 cm Santa Ana Unlimited 93 didn’t feel over-committing, being easy to initiate and slarve / skid in and out of turns.
A longer length would be an improvement in terms of stability at high speeds and in wide-open terrain, and it would offer slightly better flotation in soft snow or chop, but I think what I needed most from this ski was offered in the 172 cm length: respectable suspension for its weight, without feeling overly demanding in tight terrain and challenging conditions. The 172 cm length is the longest one offered in the women’s Santa Ana Unlimited 93, so for someone who wants all the characteristics described here but in a longer length, they should check out the Enforcer Unlimited 94 in a 179 cm (or one of the longer options).
If you’re looking at a wider, more rockered backcountry powder ski, I can understand the desire to go longer. But given that I mostly use this sort of ski on firmer snow, tighter terrain, and the slower speeds necessitated by those things, the 172 cm Santa Ana Unlimited 93 made a lot of sense for me, personally.
Who’s It For?
The Santa Ana Unlimited 93 can make sense for a lot of people, and I wouldn’t necessarily limit it only to people looking for a backcountry ski. The Santa Ana Unlimited 93 could potentially work as a very lightweight resort ski, especially if you don’t tend to ski fast in rough, firm conditions. That said, if you do plan on riding lifts with it, I think it makes more sense as a 50/50 ski for a mix of resort and backcountry skiing, especially if you want a lightweight ski that can handle on-piste terrain and a variety of backcountry conditions. And of course, it’s a very worthwhile option for those who will only be using it for human-powered skiing, thanks to its low weight and respectable stability.
For my preferences and likely many others’, the Santa Ana Unlimited 93 is a top contender for someone who needs a narrower but highly versatile backcountry ski to optimize performance on firmer and/or shallower conditions. With its strong edge hold, good maneuverability, and decent suspension for its weight, it can offer a lot of assurance when snow in the backcountry isn’t super soft and forgiving. There are options such as the Moment Sierra Tour and Line Pandora 84 that are a bit more maneuverable and less demanding of a forward stance, but the Santa Ana Unlimited 93 is more stable, damp, and precise when conditions are firm.
Bottom Line
Nordica’s Santa Ana series has gained a lot of fans over the years, and with the Santa Ana Unlimited 93, Nordica has done a good job maintaining some of the most notable qualities of the Santa Ana series while cutting out a whole lot of weight for a more uphill-friendly ski.
The Unlimited version obviously isn’t nearly as damp or stable, but the upside is that it’s a bit more forgiving and easier to ski than the Santa Ana 93, which can be a plus in the backcountry, where many of us aren’t skiing as fast in as challenging of conditions as we might in the resort.
Most importantly, the Santa Ana Unlimited 93 maintains the intuitive and predictable ride of its heavier siblings, which is my favorite trait of the standard series. The Santa Ana Unlimited 93 does an impressive job of balancing maneuverability with edge hold and forgiveness with stability, making it a well-rounded and confidence-inspiring option within the narrower end of touring skis.
Thanks for the review Kara and the great pics, sounds like an amazing trip – trip report in the works?
How did you find the Kingpins?
Hi Kara,
Have you skied the Atomic Backland 98W? How does this Unlimited 93 compare to it? How would you compare it to the Atomic Maven 93C?
Some background info for what type of ski I’m looking for my wife …
I’m looking for your opinion on the Atomic Backland 98W vs Atomic Maven 93C vs. Nordica Santa Ana 93 Unlimted. I will be mounting them with Atomic Shift bindings. Specifically, I’m interested in the stiffness of each ski and how well it does as an “everyday driver”. Intended use is primarily resort but with sidecountry and some spring full day backcountry skiing.
Primary ski location is Northern CA | Lake Tahoe | Palisades & Alpine Meadows. Also do an annual UT trip to Snowbird | Alta | Brighton | Solitude (IKON resorts) for 2 weeks a year. Female 55 years old | 5’7” | 130lbs. Good technical skier but always in control, so not pushing the speed limit of any ski. Favorite terrain is “condition dependent” If snow is not hardpack and janky, skis off piste trees and bowls. When it’s hardpack and crusty, ski resort groomers with some trail-side out of the groomed to see if conditions get better during the day with sun on it. Don’t love bumps, but ski them as many trails don’t get groomed so have bumps on them. I have a dedicated soft snow | powder ski (109 underfoot) so not looking for 1 ski to do it all. Interested in the approximately 88 to 98 waist width underfoot category. Current ski is Line Soulmate 98 (women’s version of the Prophet. Like that ski a lot. It has a metal in it so it’s kind of stiff, but it is heavy). The Backland 98W is light and going towards “lighter is better” but interested in your opinion if it’s too light for when groomed runs get the chopped up snow or piles of snow from a day being skied? Does the Maven or Nordica do better to push through those conditions? How is the Maven vs. Backland vs Nordica to flex / bend for bumps?
Are there any other skis you would recommend?
Hopefully that gives you enough info for some guidance.