4FRNT Vandal

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Hey NS's

Looking to a new pair of skis as my current sticks are delaming with torn out edges and core shots. I'm only pretty new to park skiing. Looking to keep progressing this year. I will also need to be teaching skiing around 3 times a week. Would the 4frnt Vandal fit this demand? Also how are wider skis for learning park, harder or just different (if so how is this different?) Anyways, either looking at these or the Armada Arv 86's. Skiing in North West.

 

[Obie.]

I was also looking into the Vandal for my next pair of sticks, they look super fun. If you're a strong skier I wouldn't let the size of the ski deter you, ecspecially if you live in the NW. The wider ski will be more versatile for everything you put in front of it, and will ultimately "ski smaller" with the rocker profile along with improving it's soft snow performance. I've skied park on anything between 80 underfoot to 122 underfoot, and the median (around 100) like the Vandal is perfect imo. I'm a bigger guy, at 6 ft 180 pounds so I feel it offers more stability.

Pros to the armada arv 86 would be the fact they would probably ski more traditionally having more camber & they'd be more nimble on rails & in the air I presume.

It really comes down to personal preference

 

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Thanks for the reply. I'm just hoping they're not too noodley. I'll still need to be able to teach kids to ski and therefor they'll need to carve in some way or another. Anyways as far as bindings go, Evo has a cheap pair of marker griffons. I'm a big dude (6'4", 200lbs) so they should be alright for me. Any other suggestions would be noted.

 

[Obie.]

Thanks for the reply. I'm just hoping they're not too noodley. I'll still need to be able to teach kids to ski and therefor they'll need to carve in some way or another. Anyways as far as bindings go, Evo has a cheap pair of marker griffons. I'm a big dude (6'4", 200lbs) so they should be alright for me. Any other suggestions would be noted.

There's no way they'd be too noodlely for what little, if any aggressive skiing you'll be doing teaching kids how to ski. That would only depend on ability as skier quite honestly. I'd definitely go with the bigger size if you do happen to choose the Vandals (186 cm) at your build.

Just mount them in a progressive mount (center mount, or near it) and it'll ski well both outside the park & for progressing in the park. It will also ski shorter this way, making it easier to throw around. I'd apply this to either ski you end up choosing.

As for the Griffons, they were my first park binding back in like 09'. I liked them a lot, they were light & fairly durable for plastic. Idk how much they've changed then but I believe they have a max DIN setting of 13, if you don't think you'll be sending huge disasters onto rails, hitting cliffs or hitting large jumps I'd say you'll probably be fine. If I were you though, I'd look for something more like 16-18 DIN setting as you're a pretty sizable dude. The worst thing ever is having your bindings eject when you don't feel like they should've.

For reference I set my DINs to 13, with 16 DIN bindings. Someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but it's not ecspecially good for your bindings to max them out to their highest setting.

Hope this information helps & happy shredding

 

[rojo.grande]

There's no way they'd be too noodlely for what little, if any aggressive skiing you'll be doing teaching kids how to ski. That would only depend on ability as skier quite honestly. I'd definitely go with the bigger size if you do happen to choose the Vandals (186 cm) at your build.

Just mount them in a progressive mount (center mount, or near it) and it'll ski well both outside the park & for progressing in the park. It will also ski shorter this way, making it easier to throw around. I'd apply this to either ski you end up choosing.

As for the Griffons, they were my first park binding back in like 09'. I liked them a lot, they were light & fairly durable for plastic. Idk how much they've changed then but I believe they have a max DIN setting of 13, if you don't think you'll be sending huge disasters onto rails, hitting cliffs or hitting large jumps I'd say you'll probably be fine. If I were you though, I'd look for something more like 16-18 DIN setting as you're a pretty sizable dude. The worst thing ever is having your bindings eject when you don't feel like they should've.

For reference I set my DINs to 13, with 16 DIN bindings. Someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but it's not ecspecially good for your bindings to max them out to their highest setting.

Hope this information helps & happy shredding

Ight guys Im a little late to the party here... but Im also looking into the vandals. I am 6'1 210 lbs, so Im a pretty big guy. What size would you think would be best? I dip into the park quite a bit and currently Im riding 178's, so I was thinking about the vandals in 179. But ive never had a rockered park ski before... so i guess what Im asking is what size would either of you recommend?

 

[Kretzschmar]

Ight guys Im a little late to the party here... but Im also looking into the vandals. I am 6'1 210 lbs, so Im a pretty big guy. What size would you think would be best? I dip into the park quite a bit and currently Im riding 178's, so I was thinking about the vandals in 179. But ive never had a rockered park ski before... so i guess what Im asking is what size would either of you recommend?

Hey man, just seeing this as I'm doing my review of the Vandals but I'm 6'2 200lbs and had the 179. For my taste, they were a bit short for me. I did enjoy that they were so damn nimble in the park but outside of it, I felt the 179 was somewhat unstable at high speeds (T2Bs at Mammoth ect) but would be better at 186 for someone my size. The rocker definitely shortens the ski's effective edge as well adding to the sketchiness outside of the park. Let me know if you have other questions

 

[-arc-]

Hey man, just seeing this as I'm doing my review of the Vandals but I'm 6'2 200lbs and had the 179. For my taste, they were a bit short for me. I did enjoy that they were so damn nimble in the park but outside of it, I felt the 179 was somewhat unstable at high speeds (T2Bs at Mammoth ect) but would be better at 186 for someone my size. The rocker definitely shortens the ski's effective edge as well adding to the sketchiness outside of the park. Let me know if you have other questions

Yo I ended pulling the trigger on these. Haven't skied em yet but I'm similair dimensions as you Kretz. I went for 186, felt a bit nervous as these are the longest skis I've ever owned, coming from some 169 k2 press's. I'm going to be teaching skiing on these to advanced school groups this winter, you think they'll be alright?

 

[BeNB]

Yo I ended pulling the trigger on these. Haven't skied em yet but I'm similair dimensions as you Kretz. I went for 186, felt a bit nervous as these are the longest skis I've ever owned, coming from some 169 k2 press's. I'm going to be teaching skiing on these to advanced school groups this winter, you think they'll be alright?

Good call on 186, those will work the best for your build. They should preform well for your teaching needs.

 

[Ciskoski]

Have similar question --> trying to decide between 4FRNT Vandals and Armada ARV 96s. Similar profiles. Any thoughts experience or comments?

 

[Swandog7]

Just picked up the 179s in last years model. So far they are pretty sick, only ridden them on pic so far but they feel solid and have treated me well. Hopefully can get them on the hill in some more variable conditions and real rails

 

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Just picked up the 179s in last years model. So far they are pretty sick, only ridden them on pic so far but they feel solid and have treated me well. Hopefully can get them on the hill in some more variable conditions and real rails

Yo once you give em a ride, lemme know how they feel! Wondering how much chatter you'd get when bombing shit at mach 69. HMU my duderino. I might actually try to post a review on these at the end of the season depending on how the season goes.