What they did with the ARV is moved the hardwoods from being the outside portion of the ski into the middle of the ski and then moved the soft woods next to the edge on the outside. Add carbon fiber from the middle of the ski back and you still have a relatively soft nose with some pop out of the tail. Ski'd the 08 ARV's at demo last spring and they blew me away! Never skied a F4rnt but the ARV's rock...