4FRNT Madonna Review

Hands-On Review

Stability at Speed

Our testers found this ski more stable than the Armada ARVW in most conditions. The Madonna has some flop in the tips at speed on groomers, but is decently damp on choppy chalk. Our testers were terrified speeding down hard, icy terrain as we watched its tips flop around and were hesitant to gain speed on hard pack and icy terrain with this ski because it feels like it could slide out from under you.

This is 4FRNT's version of an on-piste ski, but it is better suited for powder and park skiing than carving turns.

Carving Performance

For a ski that has a medium turn radius of 17M and the least sidecut in this whole review, it is surprisingly able to turn well on soft groomed runs. The Madonna is not particularly turny, but you can engage the edges and carve a large radius turn with minimal effort, although it prefers to smear rather than carve. The Armada ARVW takes more effort to turn and get on edge than the Madonna. The Head Great Joy has the most sidecut and shortest turn radius in our test, and is the most carvy ski we used this winter. The Madonna's 98mm waist and lack of sidecut make it sluggish from edge-to-edge, favoring slow, long turns.

This ski prefers to butter and smear turns. But when you really rail into them, it holds an edge surprisingly well for what looks like a park ski. The Volkl Aura has excellent edge hold and stability on-piste, and we generally prefer it as a more versatile model.

Powder Performance

The Madonna floats above untracked powder effortlessly, and is a joy to ski in these conditions. It's mid-fat, 98mm waist and soft rockered tips and tails help keep it above the deep.

Crud Performance

This ski handles the crud relatively well. In fact, our testers would seek out the crud and bumps on the sides of firm groomed runs because that terrain felt easier to ski with this model than icy steeps. 4FRNT has moved the weight of the Madonna's core rearwards (5 cm) to accommodate for women's more centered skiing style. This allows ladies to stay on top of the ski in more variable conditions. The only conditions where we found ourselves nervous in were very hard, icy ones. We would rather have the Rossignol Temptation 88's great edge hold in firm, icy conditions.

Playfulness

We have fun pretending we are park rats on this ski, and making the most of the twin tips practicing riding switch. It's more forward mounting point makes the ski feel easier to turn, similar to the Fischer Ranger 98 Women's. The Madonna is also extremely fun in powder. However, we can't give it full marks for playfulness because of its lack of sidecut and edge-to-edge quickness.

Bumps Skiing Performance

As with most of the skis in this all-mountain category, the Madonna's bucked and tossed us around in the bumps. Because they are not super quick to turn and are soft and floppy we flopped our way through any mogul field we encountered - that being said we did enjoy ourselves in soft and chalky forming bumps way more than skiing anything groomed on these skis.

Best Application

This ski could be a good choice for a skier who is interested in getting into the park, but still wants something that they can ski on the whole mountain. It is good for about 40% on-piste and 60% off-piste.

Value

The Madonna is one of the least expensive skis in our review, as well as on 4FRNT's website at $510. This ski is decent value, but we think our Best Buy Award winner the Atomic Vantage 95 C is a better value for a much more versatile and fun ski.

Conclusion

Like the Nordica Wild Belle the Madonna is a jack-of-all-trades, master of none. It is a relatively versatile ski but we found it unremarkable in most conditions. The 4FRNT Madonna likes to butter and smear its way down the mountain. It can handle most conditions that are thrown at it, but prefers to be in the bumps and crud over the groomers and hard pack. This could be a fun ski for someone who wants to spend time both in the park and skiing the whole mountain.

This ski has a lot of rocker in its tip and tail, and so we sized up in anticipation of this fact. We would recommend you do the same, it skis a little short for its length.

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