Nordica Vagabond Review - (Video) Now $299!

The Nordica Vagabond is a new ski for the 2013-14 season and is one of many new skis from several makers in the 105-108mm width range.

The Vagabond shares the construction that has become the standard classic from Nordica on such highly successful skis as the Steadfast and Hell and Back. This is a wood/glass/carbon layup ski with a lightweight composite stringer down the center of the core to reduce weight.

The Vagabond has a low tip rise with a modest taper in front, a substantial cambered section and then a very low rise in the tail but with a little more taper. The Vagabond has a very even, medium flex and is on the lighter side of this category. Naturally, a ski of this width is expected to have a bias toward softer and deeper snow conditions.

I was able to ski the Vagabond over much of the late season of 2013 and also had one around for quite a bit of the 2014 season.  Neither season provided much opportunity for deep snow but I did get one day in ’13 and another in ’14 where I had a foot one time and somewhat more the other.

While some folks (myself included) might be tempted to take out a true powder ski on those occasions, I resisted and took out the Vagabond instead. Those two occasions really reminded me that the 106-108mm category is plenty of “powder ski” for most situations.

The real tip off came in the bone dry season of 2014 when during a week-long period we had many days of rain and snow interspersed. There was not a huge net gain in snow over the long haul but we did have periods where we had quite a bit of buildup before the rain compacted it.

During one of those periods, I got the Vagabond out at Northstar, and was able to stay in the trees most of a long damp morning.

Immediately, the Vagabond showed that this width was not only adequate for the snow depth at hand, but it also performed exceptionally well when skiing back on the firmer snow.

I think the biggest point in favor of the Vagabond over some other skis is the wide range of conditions that it can handle. The flex and camber profile allowed it to feel more like a big all mountain ski than a powder specialist.

For this width category, the Vagabond is very good on firm snow and at higher edge angles, it is very easy to get full engagement and to feel the full length of the ski.

Another little subtle thing is that the tapered tail with the very low tail rise allows the ski to sort of “flow” through bumps and other mixed conditions while still feeling more connected than a more heavily rockered design.

Personally, I find this type of feel preferable to the more specialized and more heavily rockered designs that favor soft snow so highly. Those skis can sometimes feel a little disconnected or “confused” in mixed and variable conditions.

One of our other employees bought a Vagabond in 193 and set them up with Dynafits. He just got back from a long climb/ski day on Mt.Tallac and was raving about not only the light weight and how the profile enabled easy skinning, but also about how well the ski handled the descents as well.

Charlie is a big guy (6-4 and 230lbs) and the 193 was perfect for him. One thing we’ve discovered about the Vagabond is they run fairly long for the stated length and the 193 that Charlie was on is actually about as long as some 195-196’s from other brands.

The 177 Vagabond is almost identical to a 180 from another brand. The more exposure we’ve had to the Vagabond, the more impressed we’ve become. All of our employees feel this is one of the better choices for a wider all mountain ski or for a powder ski with 2-3 days after the storm capability.

The Vagabond Blem is now only $299 here.