2010/2011 Armada ARG - 185
Bottom Line: This is truly a powder specific ski. Forget about all of your 120, 130, or even 140mm underfoot traditional powder skis. Traditional sidecut in powder does not make sense. This is a fully reverse sidecut ski. What does that mean? If you look at the dimensions to this ski, its skinniest point is actually in the tip and tail, while the ski is fattest directly under the skier. The ski is also fully rockered (see article in tech talk). Enough with the ski jargon...what does this all mean? It means that this is hands down one of the best powder specific skis on the market!
Pros: This is a fairly stiff ski, but its rocker makes it very playful, allowing the ski to do everything from straightlining a couloir to nose-buttering a 540 off of a pillow. As long as there is some sort of fresh snow, this ski will absolutely destroy it. This ski makes powder skiing effortless. This makes crud skiing more fun. This makes groomer skiing...horrible.
Having the sidecut of the ski reverse gives the ski a far lesser swing-weight. This makes the ski really fun to spin and flip with. This really is a great backcountry jib ski. The reverse sidecut with rocker also gives the ski very little tip to be deflected by wind buff and crud, allowing you to charge crud very easily.
Cons: As I said, this truly is one of the best powder skis ever made, which has made its ability to ski groomers horrible. This isn't like a traditional powder ski, where the only thing that makes it imprudent for use on groomers is the width of the ski. Atleast on a regular powder ski you are able to power through a turn. On these skis you cannot engage the sidecut on a groomed run, instead you have to make "windshield wiper turns", pushing out the tail of your ski to slide a turn around. Its not a big deal, just don't bring these skis when there isn't fresh snow.
For all of you neigh-sayers that have not tried fully reverse sidecut skis yet, it is time for you to give these things a shot! They seriously charge hard. And if you are too afraid to try something new, I put my dad on a pair of these at Powder Mountain this year, and he could not believe how awesome they were in fresh snow!
Pros: This is a fairly stiff ski, but its rocker makes it very playful, allowing the ski to do everything from straightlining a couloir to nose-buttering a 540 off of a pillow. As long as there is some sort of fresh snow, this ski will absolutely destroy it. This ski makes powder skiing effortless. This makes crud skiing more fun. This makes groomer skiing...horrible.
Having the sidecut of the ski reverse gives the ski a far lesser swing-weight. This makes the ski really fun to spin and flip with. This really is a great backcountry jib ski. The reverse sidecut with rocker also gives the ski very little tip to be deflected by wind buff and crud, allowing you to charge crud very easily.
Cons: As I said, this truly is one of the best powder skis ever made, which has made its ability to ski groomers horrible. This isn't like a traditional powder ski, where the only thing that makes it imprudent for use on groomers is the width of the ski. Atleast on a regular powder ski you are able to power through a turn. On these skis you cannot engage the sidecut on a groomed run, instead you have to make "windshield wiper turns", pushing out the tail of your ski to slide a turn around. Its not a big deal, just don't bring these skis when there isn't fresh snow.
For all of you neigh-sayers that have not tried fully reverse sidecut skis yet, it is time for you to give these things a shot! They seriously charge hard. And if you are too afraid to try something new, I put my dad on a pair of these at Powder Mountain this year, and he could not believe how awesome they were in fresh snow!
Tech Specs:
Lengths Available: 185cm
Dimensions: 125 / 135 / 133 / 134 / 120mm
Recommended Use: Powder, Crud, Freeride
Lengths Available: 185cm
Dimensions: 125 / 135 / 133 / 134 / 120mm
Recommended Use: Powder, Crud, Freeride
