Depends on the driver and how deep/what's underneath. Speaking only for myself, I can make it work for pretty much everything, though there are certainly better 'quiver' skis that might excel in narrower performance bandwidth. No, it's not as good in powder as an Enforcer 104 FR, and no, it's not as good as a FIS SL ski for precise, high performance turns, but if you don't have the budget or access to a closet full of skis, the Monster 88 is a great 'get it done well' 80% of time ski. At the Whistler gathering a couple years back, sure, It'd have been nice to have something a bit wider for the general conditions, but I just didn't want to lug a bunch of skis to the hill. They worked fine. A different ski might have lead to different tactical choices, but whatever. It's a ski that just isn't full of surprizes (and that's a very good thing in MHO) even if the day is.
^^^This is well stated and exactly my experience. I find the 16-17 Monster 88 pretty good in nearly all conditions. It wouldn't be my first choice on a big powder day, but if I lucked into an untracked, unexpected stash, I would not cry about it if I were riding the Monster 88s. Plus untracked powder is pretty easy to ski on anything. If you like the feel of the Monsters, they ski pretty well across the board - but like
@markojp said, in deeper snow, I might apply different tactics, take a different line, than I would on a wider ski.
For days where there is less than 6 inches and it is getting tracked out anyway, I think the Monster 88s are all aces. In the PNW, I tend to choose between the Monsters and a 105ish ski (for me that is either the Solly QLabs or the BMX 105HP), more on the basis of what's under the new snow than the amount of new snow alone. So if there is a few inches and it is likely firm, frozen, variable underneath, the Monsters are perfect and I value the precision you can extract from them. If it is more like last Sunday at Crystal and it is soft everywhere, all aspects, pockets of deeper snow, I like the benefits of a wider platform in our venue. If there is a ton of snow, a true powder ski is great.
If I could only own 1 ski in the west, the Monster 88 would be a contender (it would depend a bit on the region of the west whether I'd go with the Monsters or something in the 105 zone). If you demo'd it and liked it, buy with confidence. But get the right length. You don't need to over do it on this ski. I am 5'11", 185# and the 177 length is just perfect for me.
@markojp skis the 184 in the same venue, but he is a bit bigger than I am and a LIII. So you can do the math on that and sort out where you fall on that size/skill continuum.
