ARV 96 or ARV 106? The dilemma...

Hey NS,

Here I am, making the tough choice that will affect my entire 2019-2020 season. Please help me decide how fat my waist should be...

About me:

- 5'9" tall

- 165 lbs (skinny fat)

- Older than shit

- Still trying to bust shit even tho my knee hurts

- Skiing in Tahoe exclusively

What I want out of my ARVs in general:

- The best 1 ski quiver I can muster

- Enjoyment in the backcountry on powder days

- Enjoyment in the parks on days with shitty conditions

- Enjoyment charging the groomers with my lame, no-steeze friends when they tag along

- I'll be buying the 2018-2019 model when it goes on sale next month

My park ambitions:

- Medium size airs are my favorite (cuz I'm too old to go big)

- I'm only recently getting into buttery & swervy tricks, but I'm definitely trying to get better, and I'm having hella fun with 'em

- I'm not a big rails guy, but I'm *kinda* trying to get better - let's say I average about 10-15 rail trick attempts per day of riding

My fears:

- I'll cop the ARV 106 and next season's snow will suck, and I'll end up wishing I had lighter, slimmer, funner skis

- I'll cop the ARV 96 and next season will be another powderfest, and I'll have to rent fat bois all the time, and I'll wonder why the FUCK I spent money buying skis

Any feedback would be appreciated.

**This thread was edited on Feb 28th 2019 at 5:44:59pm
 
It really depends on if you will spend more time enjoying the park or backcountry. Park(96) Backcountry(106). Its that simple
 
106. I got this years and love them coming from the dollo. Had 4 feet of pow in Austria and they killed it for the whole week as it got tracked out and choppy. Just fine on east coast boiler plate. A little more work to ski than the dollo which is 98mm underfoot, so not a terrible comparison to what I imagine the 96 is like. It is definitely stiffer than the dollo and can charge harder than it and still be playfully enough to be surfy and fun in the park. I’m more of a rails guy so mounted them at center and don’t have a problem doing my bag of tricks I had before on them. Felt the extra bit of ski at first but got comfortable quick. Tahoe? Backcountry or pow or even slush go for the 106. I am 5’9 and 190 and I am very happy with them. I ski east coast all season other than my one yearly trip to the alps. Mainly park, trees, bumps, and hopefully pow though I haven’t had much the days I managed to get out last few years. I don’t think you’d dislike either, but I wanted specifically to try a slightly fatter ski coming from the dollo. No regrets. Also I’d think of them as a fatter all mountain/park ski, I don’t think you can call them a pow ski though they handle it better than most other all mountain/park skis I’ve had (dollo, chronic, domain, Tj Schiller coreupt).

**This post was edited on Feb 28th 2019 at 11:04:50pm
 
14005720:SoAnG said:
106 only is worthless on them super hard packed east coast ice days. So go with the 106 for sure.

And even then it's not impossible to handle. Op def go 106
 
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