Powder Review: WNDR Nocturne 88
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In a Nutshell
“Skimo is neither” according to Howie Schwartz, but the new WNDR Nocturne 88 manages to put a new twist on the genre by being an excellent tool for both actual skiing and actual mountaineering. That helps it stand out amongst lighter skis.
Length Skied: 178 cm
Weight: 1539 g
Stated Dimensions: 117-88-108 mm
Stated Sidecut: 19 m
Recommended Mount Point: -8 cm
Intro
In the old days, sometimes the stars aligned. Nowadays, the emails sometimes align. In the case of the Nocturne 88, the first email was the confirmation that I needed to go find some skiing in late July for a work project. The second email, just above it in my inbox, was from WNDR Alpine, announcing their new Nocturne 88, which is one of a very few new skis that I’d actually want to walk deep into the hills with in the heat of summer to scratch out turns on whatever snow patches endure.
The Nocturne is WNDR’s narrowest and lightest ski. In their words it’s designed for “breathing life and joy into the alpine sufferfest.” I think “suffering” is a construct that we affluent skier types have created to justify our dalliances with the mountains, but the fact remains that this is a ski for ski mountaineering, that eschews the super low weights, directional shapes, and rearward mount points of most skis in its class.
From their algae-based, recyclable construction to their minimalist graphics, WNDR has a tendency to do things their own way, so I was excited to see how the Nocturne 88 stacked up.
Length and Mount Point
The Nocturne 88 is available in four lengths, from 166 to 184 cm. While I’d usually ski a 184 or longer ski from WNDR at my size (6’1”, 200 lbs) for a spring mountaineering ski, the 178 cm version made a bunch of sense, and that’s what I settled on. Skis like the Nocturne are designed for days where you spend just as much time walking with them on your back as you do actually traveling on snow. If I’m looking to ski fast and aggressively, I’d size up to something like a 184 cm WNDR Vital 98, or 184 cm Deathwish Tour 104. I personally don’t see a ton of value in running long but narrow skis in the backcountry. Go short enough that they’re easier enough to bushwhack and hop turn with, or go wide and long enough to actually ski hard.
The Nocturne’s -8 cm mount point is a little further forward than some other skis in this class, where a -11 or -12 mount point wouldn’t be surprising. That mount point made for an easy transition from the more center mounted skis I spend most of my time on, and I see no reason to deviate from it. It also makes the ski feel a little easier to swing around and stay centered on while performing hop turns, and while making kick turns. I’m a big fan of this mount point.
Weight and Rocker Profile
Skis in this lightweight, 85-90 mm underfoot class are pretty homogenous. And the Nocturne 88 isn’t unusual in terms of shape and dimensions. Compared to skis like the Movement Alp Tracks 90, or Blizzard Zero G 85, it’s pretty similar. But, where it really differs is its weight and rocker profile.
Even though this is WNDR’s lightest ski, it’s not “light” in comparison to other skis in this class. Those other skis are around 400 grams (nearly a pound) lighter per ski. That’s a LOT of weight. The difference between a 1500ish gram ski and a 1000ish gram one is noticeable on the up and the down.
Ski mountaineering skis typically have pretty flat tails. Flat tails are hypothetically easier to jam into the snow; that can aid in kick turns (although in my experience, good technique and balance trumps any weird style that involves jamming your tails into the snow on kick turns) and in building anchors using your ski. Additionally, some ski mountaineering folks get obsessed with effective edge, trying to get the longest edge out of the shortest skis for their firm snow endeavors. Flat tails make for longer effective edges.
The Nocturne 88 has a subtle but noticeable amount of tip and tail rise or rocker. That’s my favorite part about this ski. Tail rocker is great. It isn’t just for folks who ski backwards, it changes how the ski feels in every turn, in a positive way. The Nocturne doesn’t have that much tail rise, and the metal tail blocks make it easy to jam into the snow and build an anchor, but that little bit of rise really helps when you’re side slipping, or working your way through a tight choke. And it makes the Nocturne feel more predictable and maneuverable even when things aren’t puckery. I’m a big fan of skis in this genre getting a little bit of tail rise.
I’m fully sold on the Nocturne’s rocker profile. And I get where they’re coming from on the weight point. I don’t think it would do anyone any good for WNDR to make a Nocturne 88 that weighs 1100ish grams. There are plenty of similar-enough skis in that class. WNDR’s Xan Marshland put it this way: “There are plenty of folks that put weight as the end-all-be-all determiner of ski performance, but our mission was a little different. We sought to create the freerider's mountaineering ski - one that was equipped to move fast in the alpine and be genuinely fun to ski hard.”
That’s an awesome goal, and as we’ll get to, I think WNDR did a good job of reaching it. Did I wish the Nocturne was closer to a kilogram per ski as we walked past tourists on the dry summer trail? Yes, absolutely. Was I stoked that it felt as stable and put together as it did when we realized the choke in our ski line was narrower and more messy than we expected? Definitely!
Where does the Nocturne 88 shine?
For a lot of people, the Nocturne 88 will be a perfect quiver addition for days when they know they probably shouldn’t go skiing, and none of their current skis are appropriate, but they want to go on a long walk to find snow anyway. It would make an absolutely killer spring volcano ski in the PNW, or a Logan Pass ski in Montana.
And similarly, for skiers who are turned off by super light, old fashioned feeling mountaineering skis, the Nocturne 88 is a nice antidote. It delivers a much more composed, powerful, predictable ride for folks who are used to driving bigger skis with bigger boots.
In the summer snow where I skied the Nocturne 88, what really stood out was how well it responded to my hamfisted, poorly balanced style. By July, I just don’t have the level of finesse it takes to work super light skis down challenging lines. The Nocturne wasn’t phased by that though. It didn’t wash out when I got a little too far forward, and it was easy to lay an edge and carve turns through sun cups that would buck lighter skis.
That ride quality, combined with a rocker profile that made feathering and skidding turns easier, was really refreshing. So often skis in this class make for “survival skiing” where you’re just focused on getting down in one piece. The Nocturne 88 feels much more like a “real” ski, that you can ski normally. It puts the skiing back in ski mountaineering.
Where does the Nocturne 88 make some compromises?
I guess, since this is one of the first reviews to publish of the Nocturne 88, I get to be the first one to beat a nearly-deceased horse. The things that make the Nocturne 88 stand out from its competition are really going to annoy a small but vocal segment of the market. There will be folks out there that won’t buy the Nocturne because they don’t like or trust tail rocker.
There will be more folks out there, myself included, who are hesitant to commit to the Nocturne 88 thanks to its higher weight. It’s a lot heavier than the alternatives in this class, and for me at least, the equation that determines if the Nocturne 88 beats out something like the Zero G 85 or Alp Tracks 90 is the ratio of skiing to walking with skis on my back on any given day.
If I’m looking at truly heinous objectives—Mount Olympus in Washington comes to mind—I want to be on something that weighs much closer to a kilogram than the Nocturne 88 does. Those extra few hundred grams matter to me on trips like that where I’m walking a really long way to ski a very small amount of pretty chill terrain. But, on the flip side, say I’m doing a short dry walk, or skinning from the parking lot on Mt St Helens, Mt Adams, Mt Hood, or Mt Baker? The Nocturne 88 is very high on my list. And honestly, for most of us, the majority of our spring and summer skiing looks more like the latter option than the former.
What would a perfect day on the Nocturne 88 look like?
The Nocturne is for those days that you plan for weeks, those weather windows that you hyperfocus on, those objectives that keep you up at night. So any day that involves a lot of miles and a lot of vert, but a descent that you actually want to ski fast, in reasonably good style, is a great fit for the Nocturne.
