What Norse says about the Enduro
“The Enduro is with its 100 mm waist our most versatile ski.
If we were to pick one ski to use for the rest of our lives, this would be the one. The sturdy yet lightweight construction allows you to take this ski everywhere, making The Enduro a true do-it-all mountain ski. It floats through powder and pivots immediately. It grips on ice, is stable through challenging conditions, and absolutely rails carving on piste.”
Construction
Here’s how Norse sums up the construction for the Enduro:
“The mixture of perfect pop and lightness in our skis is found in our own ash, poplar, and balsa wood core. Torsional stiffness with traditional feel is delivered by double layers of aluminium sheets and triaxial glass fibres combined with the right amount of rubber vibration dampening.
We also use a high quality sintered base that is permanently impregnated with the original Nanowaxxx treatment. It provides a waxless base that never needs waxing throughout the skis’ entire lifespan. It also hardens the base to increase the protection against rock impacts.
Talking about rocks. We also use a wider 2.0 x 1.8 mm steel edge to endure more sharpening and increase the lifespan of your next dearest friends.”
Apart from the Nanowaxxx treatment, this is a fairly “normal” construction, but what’s arguably less normal is how light the Enduro is for its size, given that it features two layers of metal and at least some fairly heavy ash wood. As for the Nanowaxxx treatment, I frankly didn’t notice any difference between the Enduro and other skis during my time on it, but Paul Forward says more about his longer-term experience with it in his review of the Norse Freeride. As for those “wider” 2.0 x 1.8 mm edges, they are wider than some touring skis’ edges, but not the widest (some brands use 2.5 x 2 mm edges, often on freestyle-oriented models that get bashed into metal rails).
Shape / Rocker Profile
I think a lot of the Enduro’s unique ride that we’re about to discuss comes down to its shape and rocker profile, which aren’t super typical for a ~100mm-wide all-mountain ski. In particular, this ski features a substantial amount of early taper and the tips and tails, and combined with its sidecut radius, it appears pretty straight when looking down while riding a lift or on the skin track. Combined with its pretty deep, straight rocker lines (especially through the tail), it’s a design that looks more reminiscent of many wider skis than other ~100mm-wide all-mountain skis.
Flex Pattern
Here’s how we’d characterize the flex pattern of the Enduro:
Tips: 6.5-7
Shovels: 7.5-8
In Front of Toe Piece: 8.5-10
Underfoot: 10
Behind the Heel Piece: 10-9
Tails: 8.5-6.5
The Enduro is fairly soft through the rockered portions of its tips and tails but it’s quite strong everywhere else. On snow, I’d say it feels a bit stiffer than these numbers might suggest.