After skiing them for Pugski testing last week, I can concur. They are FANTASTIC. I personally found them to be VERY playful, but when I was able to open them up, yowza! Fun without the serious side of say, my Volkls.Word's in. They're very good.
After skiing them for Pugski testing last week, I can concur. They are FANTASTIC. I personally found them to be VERY playful, but when I was able to open them up, yowza! Fun without the serious side of say, my Volkls.Word's in. They're very good.
Was that at Alpine Meadows? A friend of mine sent me a photo of a pair of the protos at the base of Alpine a few weeks back. I thought it must have been Tricia but then realised she was at the gathering that week,After skiing them for Pugski testing last week, I can concur. They are FANTASTIC. I personally found them to be VERY playful, but when I was able to open them up, yowza! Fun without the serious side of say, my Volkls.
The Nordica Rep had a few Protos to distribute in the region for influential women in the area.Was that at Alpine Meadows? A friend of mine sent me a photo of a pair of the protos at the base of Alpine a few weeks back. I thought it must have been Tricia but then realised she was at the gathering that week,
Just starting to wax skis and get ready down here.
I own both, so I'll try to answer. The Secret is quite a bit less forgiving. Both are really fun in soft snow and powder. The SA88 has fantastic grip on hard snow that rivals the Secret, but it has a more playful feel to it. I can relax on the SA, I cannot relax on the Secret. If you are a Volkl lover, then you'll probably love the Secret. But, you'll probably also love the SA88 because it has the stability of the Volkl, with added ease and playfulness that the Volkl lacks.How would you compare these to the Secret? I ski mainly East Coast and was considering the Secret until I read about the SA88s.
I was able to get on these during the May gathering in Colorado. What a great ski! Did anything I wanted: steep, groomed, bumps, trees and several inches of fresh.
I tried these out at mammoth end of May/beginning of June. They were great in spring conditions. And I took them all over the mountain for multiple days. They were my go to ski that weekend with the choice of liberty vmt82(second choice), dps 79 trainer and head wild joy ( way too light for me)
Santa Ana 88. 165
5’2” 125lbs
I'm assuming that's the Mindbender 88?Its been a while since I bumped this thread, while there is some discussion going on over in the @SkiEssentials review of the Santa Ana 88.
Since March, I have gotten a bunch of days on this as well as a few other 88's and would put this one in the top two of my favorite 88 waisted skis, each for slightly different reasons. The Santa Ana 88 just loves moguls, carves nice on groomers, charges steeps and floats darn well when there's a little spring crud or powder. Look for a cage match soon.![]()
I've talked to the reps about the men's & women's differences for the existing widths (93, 100, 110) during a demo day (to determine if I needed to demo both) - they said I probably wouldn't notice a difference between the two. I ski the 110 in a 169, and it's pretty great to be able to pick whichever's cheapest or have options for topsheets.Another data point: my wife (5'11) demoed the Enforcer 88 (172s) recently and liked them, quite a lot in fact. Unfortunately they didn't have the Santa Ana in her length. I'd be curious to hear from anyone who has skied both the Santa Ana 88 and Enforcer 88.