2015 Nordica Nemesis Review (Video)

The Nordica Nemesis, a long-time Start Haus favorite for hard-charging women who like to get off-piste, has been updated for 2015, and from our testing, it's for the better.

Taking lessons learned from the shape of the wider Nordica Wildfire, the Nemesis gets a new rocker profile that's gradual and subtle, blending perfectly with the camber of the ski, along with tip and tail tapper, perfectly executed to reduce hooking in crud and variable snow without significantly diminishing edge contact on groomers.

Maintaining its lightweight wood and Wi-Core stringer construction, it's still a light, energetic and poppy ski like previous versions.

At a wet, heavy day at Sugar Bowl testing, we immediately headed for chopped up crud with this ski, and the new shape really cut through the cement-like snow with ease, while the extra width (98 mm underfoot) kept the ski from getting bogged down.

We appreciated the energetic pop here too - making it easy to get out of the crud to change directions, and despite the lightweight construction, the ski didn't get too chattery when we threw them sideways to reduce speed in the chop.

Back out on the groomer, the shape and construction made the Nemesis feel quicker edge-to-edge than the width would suggest, and the ski carved well on the soft groomers.

This is a confidence-inspiring ski, as long as you're not intimidated by the width, and a great quiver-of-one for an aggressive woman, or as a off-piste, soft-snow biased ski in a quiver for other skiers.