Ski recommendation for aging ex-park rat

A

awesam

New member
Getting older (35) and will spend half my time crusing/teaching my kids (5, 7) to ski these days. Still do the odd park lap, but need something moderately stiff for on-piste/hardpack/side trail jibbing around with the kids.

Replacing Volkl Walls (that will stick around as rock/beater skis but have 10+ edge cracks).

Still got K2 Shreditor 184 for my all mountain/softer snow jib skis, which are more "fun" most of the time compared to the Walls, but are heavier, more effort to spin, and a bit too soft at times.

Basically, I (6ft/170lb) want something with light swingweight, relatively stiff, jibbing on on-piste/hardpack or side trails and... still some mild park laps when I'm not with the kids.

Short-list so far:

- Volkl Revolt 90

- Head Oblivion 94

- Armada ARV 94 (if I can find stock)

- anything else I'm missing?

ARV96, Revolt95/96, Poachers sound a bit heavier and too similar to the Shreditor in use case.

Note: a lot of smaller ski brands are more difficult/expensive to get into Australia.
 
Poachers are a bit heavier but pretty balanced swing weight and significantly stiffer and pretty damp for a park ski with no metal, I have - pair in a shorter length that I use for teaching.
 
These are awesome!https://1000skis.com/all-mountain/

topic:awesam said:
Getting older (35) and will spend half my time crusing/teaching my kids (5, 7) to ski these days. Still do the odd park lap, but need something moderately stiff for on-piste/hardpack/side trail jibbing around with the kids.

Replacing Volkl Walls (that will stick around as rock/beater skis but have 10+ edge cracks).

Still got K2 Shreditor 184 for my all mountain/softer snow jib skis, which are more "fun" most of the time compared to the Walls, but are heavier, more effort to spin, and a bit too soft at times.

Basically, I (6ft/170lb) want something with light swingweight, relatively stiff, jibbing on on-piste/hardpack or side trails and... still some mild park laps when I'm not with the kids.

Short-list so far:

- Volkl Revolt 90

- Head Oblivion 94

- Armada ARV 94 (if I can find stock)

- anything else I'm missing?

ARV96, Revolt95/96, Poachers sound a bit heavier and too similar to the Shreditor in use case.

Note: a lot of smaller ski brands are more difficult/expensive to get into Australia.
Click to expand...
 
Check out the jskis joyride! It is super similar to how the poacher skis just a bit narrower, slightly softer in the beginning, and lighter! If you wanna know more let me know and i'll give you a novel! They are such a great ski.
 
Thanks for the suggestions so far.

Jskis - can't get them shipped to Australia.

1000s - the park ones look good, but shipped to Aus they're 2x the price of the skis I had short-listed.

I'll look more into the Poachers though.

And anyone got experience on the shortlisted skis and if one would actually work out best for my situation?
 
14542350:awesam said:
Thanks for the suggestions so far.

Jskis - can't get them shipped to Australia.

1000s - the park ones look good, but shipped to Aus they're 2x the price of the skis I had short-listed.

I'll look more into the Poachers though.

And anyone got experience on the shortlisted skis and if one would actually work out best for my situation?
Click to expand...

I'd go with the poachers. even though they are quite heavy, the extra weight adds quite a lot of stability when charging through hardpack or so and have a lot of stability for carving (however, short turns are a bit more difficult, from my experience)... I had mine for 6 seasons until they started to delam, so I'd say, they are pretty sturdy (idk if something changed in the production)
 
I say this as an aging park rat myself, Line Blade. I now ride them probably 85% of the time that I ski for myself. The Mirus Cor is good too but the Blade is probably cheaper/easier to come by in Aus... and I think I marginally prefer it anyway. I mount ~3cm back from true and I ride them in the park quite a lot.
 
topic:awesam said:
Getting older (35) and will spend half my time crusing/teaching my kids (5, 7) to ski these days. Still do the odd park lap, but need something moderately stiff for on-piste/hardpack/side trail jibbing around with the kids.

Replacing Volkl Walls (that will stick around as rock/beater skis but have 10+ edge cracks).

Still got K2 Shreditor 184 for my all mountain/softer snow jib skis, which are more "fun" most of the time compared to the Walls, but are heavier, more effort to spin, and a bit too soft at times.

Basically, I (6ft/170lb) want something with light swingweight, relatively stiff, jibbing on on-piste/hardpack or side trails and... still some mild park laps when I'm not with the kids.

Short-list so far:

- Volkl Revolt 90

- Head Oblivion 94

- Armada ARV 94 (if I can find stock)

- anything else I'm missing?

ARV96, Revolt95/96, Poachers sound a bit heavier and too similar to the Shreditor in use case.

Note: a lot of smaller ski brands are more difficult/expensive to get into Australia.
Click to expand...

RMU rippahs are sick and seem to right up ur alley
 
14542362:kobajaki.mazu said:
I'd go with the poachers. even though they are quite heavy, the extra weight adds quite a lot of stability when charging through hardpack or so and have a lot of stability for carving (however, short turns are a bit more difficult, from my experience)... I had mine for 6 seasons until they started to delam, so I'd say, they are pretty sturdy (idk if something changed in the production)
Click to expand...

Dang that is a major bummer about the shipping. In that case I also say go with poachers. When I got my pair, I was super worried about the weight that people always mention. You might notice it for the first few days. After that, you forget about it (unless you hop on a friends pair of skis that are much lighter). My poachers lasted me for a solid season 40-50 heavy park days and only had 2 edge cracks. I still use them on the backyard setup and in the preseason with no issues. They do well blasting through crud with the rocker in the tips, and with how stiff they are. Once they are broken in 10-15 days they become a riot.
 
Poachers are going to work great for you and likely the cheapest option. If you can get them in Aus, Liberty Helix 98 or Origin 96 would be great too. I also like Twig's idea of the Blades or Mirus!

I've been skiing the ARV 96 a bunch and I like how they carve outside the park. They're great on jumps too but I've found the Libertys are a bit more lively and versatile all around!
 
ON3P Jeffries will be more durable - and stable - than your body at 35.

(I can say that because I’m 35 too)
 
Thanks for all the recommendation again!

And sounds like there's more of us aging park skiers out there than I'd thought.

While they're more similar to the Shreditor 102s than what I was thinking of, I'm gonna follow up on the K2 Poachers - it does sound like they'd work for 90% of what I want to do, even if they're a bit heavier than ideal but from what you've said actual swingweight isn't too bad.

Line Blades - (assume you don't mean Blade Optics) sound cool, but I'm still skiing switch a lot and feel better/safer with a full twin tip.

Mirus Cor - also sounds good, but as mentioned more expensive. Will check for deals.

Liberty - brings back memories when I really wanted a pair of helixes back in the day, but also difficult to get here. They'd definitely fit the use case and are lighter weight, again will check out availability.

ON3P Jeffery - they'd be on the shortlist for sure but similar to the 1000s they're about 2x as expensive to get to Aus than the other skis. Plus a bit too close in size/use case to the Shreditor 102s I'm still using.
 
It’s a bit skinnier than your other options but our Alparka might suit. Kinda similar to your walls, just a bunch less stiff. You can check out the NS review and buy them in Australia here, no extra customs etc.
 
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