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Narrow Smeary Ski with A Touch of Carving Ability?

TeleArrow

TeleVangelist
Skier
Joined
Jan 31, 2019
Posts
6
Matchmaking 7

1. I mainly ski Mad River and Burke.

2. I like steep trees and mogul runs most.

3. I prefer to ski off piste but conditions here in the east often have me on groomers.

4. I seek out moguls.

5. I am 5’10’ 155 lbs.

6. I am currently skiing the Armada Invictus 179 as a daily driver, Voile V8 186 for backcountry and powder days, Fischer World Cup GS 188 for beer league ski racing. I love my V8’s, they are big but somehow pretty nimble and still able to carve given their width. I purchased the Invictus for east coast resort days, it carves great on groomers, but groomers aren’t my favorite, I find the tails of these a little much in bumps and tight spaces. I feel that the GS skis and the Invictus overlap a bit. If I want to crush groomers I will keep my GS skis. I want my daily driver to be very quick, nimble and playful.

7. I am in Scarpa T-Races, all my skis are set up tele, this new pair would be as well.

As I hinted in my matchmaking 7. I bought the Invictus as my resort ski, I’m finding that it’s not a great match though. It is great for carving up groomers, but I when I try to ski bumps and tight trees I find the tails a bit grabby and hooky. I am telemark skiing and I find the tail of my lead ski occasionally grabbing in bumps and trees when I really want to smear. Basically, I would like something that skis like the V8 but much narrower (<90 underfoot) so I can make super quick turns, but also do some carving on the groomers. Right not the Armada ARV 86 sounds like it might work well, it has a similar turn radius and rocker profile as the V8. I do like to jump, but mostly only straight airs. I realize that I will be giving up carving performance by going to something like the ARV but I’m fine with that for smearability in trees and bumps. Other skis that I am considering are the Nordica Soul Rider 87 and the Bilzzard Bushwacker. I would describe myself as an advanced/expert tele skier.

I’d appreciate any suggestions! Thanks!
 

Josh Matta

Skiing the powder
Pass Pulled
Joined
Dec 21, 2015
Posts
4,123
even have the Armada checked with a true bar?
 
Thread Starter
TS
TeleArrow

TeleArrow

TeleVangelist
Skier
Joined
Jan 31, 2019
Posts
6
I still think I want to try something else. I’ve narrowed it down to either the Black Crows Captis, Faction Dictator 1.0, or the Armada ARV 86. Any thoughts on these?
 

Analisa

Making fresh tracks
Skier
Joined
Dec 29, 2017
Posts
982
Captis & ARV are pretty similar (soft, good for splitting time between the park & all mountain). Within Faction, I'd probably look at the Prodigy over the Dictator as an "equal" to the other two.
 

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