The ARV/ARW 106 has been a staple of the Armada lineup for some years now. The all-new ski for Winter ‘24/25 is, by our reckoning, the fourth rebuild of the ski with the ARV 106 name. Over the years, Armada has been making the ski more burly, stiffer, and more suited to an aggressive style of skiing. The new ski bucks that trend, returning to a softer, more playful platform that will make much of the NS audience very happy. The ‘smear tech’ horizontal rocker is gone but the ski retains many of the basic shaping characteristics of its predecessors. So how does the new build translate to performance?
Groomers/Resort Skiing:
When you make a ski softer, it rarely improves the groomer performance. But while the new ARV/W 106 may not charge AS hard as the previous version of the ski, it is still a solid resort driver. Our testers found it very able all over the hill with particular praise for the ski’s ability to “carve wide turns and yet retain a playful feel”. The skis nail the spot between a park ski and an all-mountain ski right on the head, handling most resort conditions comfortably while remaining a freestyle first kind of feel.
Powder & Mixed Snow:
The ARV has always been a very competent powder ski for its size, and that remains true of the new version, which continues to outperform its waist width. The smear tech may be gone, but the rocker profile and medium taper on the ski give it plenty of soft snow chops. The new layup of the ski still has plenty of backbone for dealing with some choppier snow and while they aren’t in that ‘chargy’ bracket this is still a ski that can hold its own in most conditions.
Park & Jibbing:
Where the ARV and ARW 106 really came into their own was in the park. Our testers LOVED this ski as a wider park ski option. It doesn’t have the shortest turn radius, so it isn’t a ‘quick turns between features’ kind of ski, but it has a very natural feeling shape on both jumps and rails. Almost all of our testers gave this one perfect scores in the park and the praise was varied and unanimous.
"I think Armada ARW 106s were my absolute favorite in the park. They were playful and poppy, and I had so much fun skiing them both on features and between the parks.” - Alex Stange
“I enjoyed this ski in the park. I was surprised at how poppy and responsive they were. The low swing weight made a wide ski feel decently light and made for smooth swapping and spinning through the rails” - Asa France
“A perfect park/all mountain ripper. Easy to spin onto rails and surface swap, my ideal spring park ski. Soft in the tip with a bit of stiffer tail makes it playful but still reliable for landings.” - Bur
Who's it for?
The ARV 106/ARW 106 are definitely viable as either a wider park ski or a one-ski-quiver if you’re more of a freestyle-focused kind of skier. We gave these a ‘Best of Test’ award as a park ski because that’s where our testers loved them the most, but these are an all-mountain option too.
Check out our Best Of Test | Park video for more on the Armada ARV/ARW 106:
Groomers/Resort Skiing:
When you make a ski softer, it rarely improves the groomer performance. But while the new ARV/W 106 may not charge AS hard as the previous version of the ski, it is still a solid resort driver. Our testers found it very able all over the hill with particular praise for the ski’s ability to “carve wide turns and yet retain a playful feel”. The skis nail the spot between a park ski and an all-mountain ski right on the head, handling most resort conditions comfortably while remaining a freestyle first kind of feel.
Skier: Lisa Simpson. P: Carter Edwards
Powder & Mixed Snow:
The ARV has always been a very competent powder ski for its size, and that remains true of the new version, which continues to outperform its waist width. The smear tech may be gone, but the rocker profile and medium taper on the ski give it plenty of soft snow chops. The new layup of the ski still has plenty of backbone for dealing with some choppier snow and while they aren’t in that ‘chargy’ bracket this is still a ski that can hold its own in most conditions.
Skier: Lisa Simpson. P: Hanne Lundin Wallengren
Park & Jibbing:
Where the ARV and ARW 106 really came into their own was in the park. Our testers LOVED this ski as a wider park ski option. It doesn’t have the shortest turn radius, so it isn’t a ‘quick turns between features’ kind of ski, but it has a very natural feeling shape on both jumps and rails. Almost all of our testers gave this one perfect scores in the park and the praise was varied and unanimous.
Skier: Gabrielle Mondor. P: Hanne Lundin Wallengren
"I think Armada ARW 106s were my absolute favorite in the park. They were playful and poppy, and I had so much fun skiing them both on features and between the parks.” - Alex Stange
“I enjoyed this ski in the park. I was surprised at how poppy and responsive they were. The low swing weight made a wide ski feel decently light and made for smooth swapping and spinning through the rails” - Asa France
“A perfect park/all mountain ripper. Easy to spin onto rails and surface swap, my ideal spring park ski. Soft in the tip with a bit of stiffer tail makes it playful but still reliable for landings.” - Bur
Skier: Lucas Duckworth. P: Carter Edwards
Who's it for?
The ARV 106/ARW 106 are definitely viable as either a wider park ski or a one-ski-quiver if you’re more of a freestyle-focused kind of skier. We gave these a ‘Best of Test’ award as a park ski because that’s where our testers loved them the most, but these are an all-mountain option too.
Check out our Best Of Test | Park video for more on the Armada ARV/ARW 106:
