Review: 2011/2012 Nordica Girish, 185cm

[JFE24]

For some reason, I never got into Nordica skis - till this season. The Girish kind of blew me away a couple weeks ago, and I also think a lot of people around here would really dig the Patron, too.

Found some people asking about the Girish here on the board, but these skis still seem to be flying under the radar.

Check it out:

http://blistergearreview.com/blister/?p=393

[neufox47]

Love your reviews. You guys are quickly becoming my go to for ski reviews.

Sounds like a sweet ski. Almost exactly what I am looking for as a daily driver here out east, except 1-1.5cm too fat. Was the RP112 included in the "Fun shape" skis that didn't deliver on the technical terrain?

One other nitpicky question, is it actually Titanium per the review or Titanal?

[stuckathuntermtn]

^^^Companies always lie. It's like the tiniest drop of titanium so they can legaly say it's there.

[JFE24]

Thanks, neufox47, glad the reviews have been useful.

Re: the "Titanium" question, Nordica describes the construction of the Girish exactly this way: "Energy Double Titanium Early Rise - Profile."

This certainly appears to be some weird string of words randomly thrown together by Nordica (seriously, WTF???), but they very much claim "Titanium," not merely "Titanal."

Stuckathuntermtn may be right. I don't know.

Re: the Wailer 190cm 112RP, what I would say is that, of every "fun shape" ski I've ridden, it handles technical terrain better than them all. Of course, if switch / flippy / spinny is your thing - and not technical terrain - then other fun shapes make more sense than the 112RPs.

And, just to be clear, I'm not sure that I was really talking about is best described as "technical terrain."

I'm talking about (1) maching through powder (the 112RP instead surfs powder, and does it well); (2) busting through chop and crud (in chop and crud, I can ski the 112RPs on edge, but at really high speeds, will usually stay fairly base flat and let the tips cruise over the chop / crud. For these two applications, the Girish is certainly better than the Wailer 112RP - the 112s are simply designed to do other stuff.

Of course, if by "technical terrain" we mean big, icy bumps, billy goat lines or super tight trees, the 112RPs will likely outperform the Girish (we'll let you know when we know for sure.)

In short, the Girish and the Wailer 112RP are very much apple and orange type skis. You don't pivot the Girish, you carve and charge on it. If you want a ridiculously versatile ski that is super easy to slarve and pivot, and performs well or really well in most conditions, you want the 112RP.

Finally, if you think that the Girish is too fat (by 1-1.5cms) to be a daily driver, Nordica makes the Enforcer, which comes in at 135-98-125. (One extra mm of camber, and same construction as the Girish, in the same pseudo-English description.) If it rides like a smaller Girish, this might be of interest to you - and us. We're hoping to get on that ski in the next week or two, and we'll certainly let you know.

[stuckathuntermtn]

No, I'm right.

[Bandit Man]

So, how does the Girish differ from the Blower from a few years ago?

Had the first Gen Blower in the 185 for a daily driver and thought it was very versatile, but completely fell apart at speed in variable snow, which we get a lot of here in the PNW.

Curious if they changed anything or if this is essentially the Blower with a new name.

[givethepigeye]

So, how does the Girish differ from the Blower from a few years ago?

Had the first Gen Blower in the 185 for a daily driver and thought it was very versatile, but completely fell apart at speed in variable snow, which we get a lot of here in the PNW.

Curious if they changed anything or if this is essentially the Blower with a new name.

I think the first ones were twin-tips? The newer Girish is not. Also, the flex is a little different i think w/ some tip rocker. I like them and they seem to do fine in chopped up snow as long as you keep up some speed and put them on edge a bit. They do like to go faster rather than slower. YMMV, as I suck at skiing.

[Bandit Man]

I think the first ones were twin-tips? The newer Girish is not. Also, the flex is a little different i think w/ some tip rocker. I like them and they seem to do fine in chopped up snow as long as you keep up some speed and put them on edge a bit. They do like to go faster rather than slower. YMMV, as I suck at skiing.

Has anyone out there skied both the Blower and the Girish and can comment?

[skezen]

I'd like to hear about a Girish v. EHP 193.