I'll add a data point.
I'm 5'10" at 165lbs. I enjoy steep terrain at moderate speeds. Not a charger, not a pro or an expert, but confident in almost all terrain.
My daily driver is a 180 Bonafide. I tour on G3 Findr 102s at 179.
I'm a weekend skier with a Pass to the snow-challenged Lake Louise ski resort. I will follow good snow into BC, but I get more "soft days" than true powder days.
I demo'd the Rustler 11's in 188 and 180 on back to back weekends at Kicking Horse.
I skied the 188s on the first day. I found these to be a blast in open terrain and Alpine Chutes. They were more playful than the bones, and very fast in comparison. Stability wasn't an issue at speeds I am comfortable skiing. Float was great and they performed really well in nicely spaced glades.
I found the skis to be a bit of work in tight trees and moguls though,.
With over 4000 vertical feet, the conditions between Kicking Horse's lower mountain and the alpine are often quite different. You have the option of groomers, bumps or some interesting trees to finish the laps. The 188s were quite happy on the groomers, but a lot of work elsewhere. It took a couple of laps to figure them out in the bumps, and although I could ski them alright, I was never able to do it efficiently. After nearly burning my legs out in the morning, I settled into zooming down groomers after exiting the upper mountain bowls and chutes.
I concluded that this would make a good pow ski for me, but might have limited use on more variable days. I wasn't too interested in buying. I sort of gave up on buying dedicated Powder skis, after my very specialized Praxis PowderBoards started gathering dust. I also own DPS Wailer 112s (hybrid) which theoretically is more versatile, but I never really loved that ski and I haven't taken it out at all this year.
So the 188s seemed like a good ski to rent if the snow was deep enough, but perhaps too much work for typical soft but not deep "good" days.
My girlfriend Liz (5'8", 135 lbs) more conservative skier than me demoed the Sheeva 11s at 172 and loved them as an all mountain -soft snow ski. She was pretty convinced that I would like the 180 in more variable conditions.
I took her recommendation and demo'd the 180. Kicking Horse had 1.5 inches overnight, and a couple of inches the day before. They had a good dump earlier in the week, Conditions were very good, but variable with some dust on crust in high traffic areas, deep pow in areas that were harder to access, and soft bumps or groomers on the lower mountain.
The 180s were more compliant in tight spaces and bumps. i didn't feel like I gave up up much float in the deep stuff, but a bit was noticeable. They were less stable when opening things up in the fans of chutes than the longer length, but not so much that I felt the need to slow down...just a rougher ride.
It also takes a bit of a longer straightline to get these up to cruising speed in powder on gentle terrain. The 188s were also more fun on the groomers.
With the 180s I sacrificed a bit of stability, float, and speed, but gained a lot of versatility. I skied creek-bed at mid mountain on both of the skis, and it was FUN on the 180s, but work on the 188s. I had a really fun day on the shorter skis and I think I could use them quite often at my home resort, Lake Louise.
I was given an opportunity to buy the demo w/bindings for 600 CAD + taxes. The ski retails for 800 (flat), but stock is low and I would be surprised to see much of a discount at local shops in the late season. I went for it and I am looking forward to skiing this again over the weekend.
Liz bought her demos too...
So just some personal thoughts on sizing.
