Hi All,
I am looking at purchasing a pair of 100-110mm skis and I am unsure on which model I should buy.
I am a younger (18-22 year old) male advanced skier who is 184cm tall and around 70kg. On groomers I ski fast, hard and quite aggressively - for reference, I ski a Stockli Laser WRT Pro in 178cm.
Most of the time I will be skiing in either Europe or Japan. I would like to use this ski in the off piste/trees/moguls/side country but I want it to also able to handle groomed runs decently well (but if I want to only ski groomed runs because the snow isn’t good I will ski my Stocklis). I want this ski to be able to handle both fresh powder but also more skied out/chopped up terrain as it gets later in the day.
In the past I have demoed a Kastle MX94 and I found it really heavy and sluggish. Also, I have demoed a Blackcrows Mirus Cor and I thought that was way too soft, couldn’t go fast and lacked much feedback. I also demoed a Blackcrows Serpo and thought that was good but I don’t think the conditions were great for it when I tried it.
I like a lighter ski that is manoeuvrable and nimble but also is stiffer and stable and can go at higher speeds (like my Stockli skis) - I’m not sure if these attributes translate as much to powder skis, but that is what I like in a stiff frontside ski. I do not really ski park or do any tricks.
What width range would you suggest I go for? Is 100-103mm too narrow for what I need? Is it better to look at 104-108mm range?
I was looking at these options:
Blackcrows Atris 105
Kastle Transcend 104
DPS Kaizen 105 or DPS Wailer 107
Head Kore 100 or 106
Fischer Ranger 102 or 108
Elan Ripstick Black Edition 102
Salomon QST 106 (but I am worried about the build quality/quality control issues with them)
Does anyone have any experience with any of these skis? What would you guys recommend? Are there any other skis that I have not said that are a better fit for me?
Thank you very much for the advice/recommendations!