DPS Nina 99 Foundation Review

Ultimately, this ski is unremarkable in every way. DPS's attempt at a lower price resort ski misses the mark and was our testers' least favorite ski of the bunch. A jack of all trades, master of none ski makes the Nina 99 Foundation disappointing and lifeless. Contrary to popular belief, DPS stands for DrakePowderworkS, not Deep Powder Snow — so at least this isn't false advertising.

Performance Comparison

Stability at Speed

The Ninas are relatively stable, and like many other skis we tested like the K2 FulLuvit and the Armada Victa, the tips start flopping once you get up to speeds and try to rail them on edge. They are in the middle of the group for this metric. Not particularly stable at speed, but not the floppiest of the bunch either. Just boring boards that we didn't really feel the desire to go very fast on. We love going fast on the Volkl Aura, the most stable of the bunch.

Carving Performance

With a middle of the pack turn radius of 18m, the Ninas were not particularly carvy and don't particularly like holding an edge. We were unnerved by the sensation of these skis on hard pack while trying to hold an edge. They feel almost as if they are edge-high (an experience that only generally happens on a very well-worn pair of skis, where the edges are higher — closer to the snow — than the bases).

When you were on one set of edges, they felt like they constantly wanted to pull you towards the opposing set, making it difficult to complete a full turn. "Sliding out" doesn't really describe the action; they wanted to grab and pull you towards another set of edges constantly. A bizarre and freaky sensation on piste. Our favorite carving skis are the Head Great Joy.

Powder Performance

We are super disappointed with the Nina's in the deep powder. They don't have the traditional DPS skis' tip shape with exaggerated rocker and the fat point of the tip moved back. Instead, they have very little rocker and the tips wanted to dive below the powder. We have to get in the back seat to keep the tips up in the deep. Granted that was after getting two feet of fresh light fluffy stuff, but not what we would have expected from DPS.

The Rossignol Soul 7 HD W have a unique tapered tip and tail shape and are fat in all the right places, making them ideal to float through the powder. The Ninas perform pretty well in soft snow that isn't deep and can butter turns relatively well. We prefer to butter turns on the Nordica Santa Ana or the Blizzard Samba.

Crud Performance

Again, the Ninas did not inspire confidence in this category. In the chop, we felt a similar sensation to that on the hard pack — the ski seemed to want to squirrel around in different directions. It doesn't want to plow through crud; it keeps trying to escape! For a contender that truly excelled in this category, we would recommend the Volkl Aura and Rossignol Soul 7 HD W.

Playfulness

The Nina is the lowest ski on the list for this metric. Boring boards. Grabby on hard snow, in a bad way, and not particularly pivoty in soft snow. Too dull to be enjoyed in the bumps either. The best thing about this ski is the topsheet — so pretty!

Bumps Skiing Performance

You probably get the theme at this point but we'll say it again. We are not impressed with how the Nina performed in the bumps either. They are catchy and hard to bring around in tight spaces. We prefer the Armada Victa and the Nordica Santa Ana in the bumps.

Best Application

Skiing blue runs on soft snow. These skis don't really excel in any area and we'd suggest looking at any other ski in the review over the Nina 99 Foundation.

Value

Retailing for $800, the Nina is the second most expensive ski in this review after the Rossignol Soul 7 HD W at $850. We would definitely drop the extra $50 for the Rossis or spend $50 less and get the all-around favorite the Volkl Aura.

Conclusion

The words lifeless, boring, unnerving, and disappointing came up in discussion when our testers were talking about this ski. We appreciate that DPS is trying to come in at a more attainable price and create a ski for the masses, but this is not it. If they had a bit more rocker, traditional DPS-style tip shape and a bit more spring in their step we would be more interested in skiing them.

Other Versions