Time for newer, fatter boards, any suggestions?

S

strode

Active member
so after nearly three seasons on my MSP's, i've decided it's time to lighten up the wallet and get a new pair of skis. i'm gonna keep the MSP's for rails and early season (and possible more), but i'm kinda stumped on what direction to go from there.

my main criteria is i want a 100+ waist (or close), and i'd like them on the softer side . the skis will probably never see a rail. i'd say they should be good for 40% pow/40% trees/20% kickers. not really too worried about edge hold on hardpack. i ski pretty hard but i'm no seth morrison by any means. and i'm 6'1" 180 lbs.

i've narrowed it down to a few pairs, but other suggestions are welcome. and i haven't had a chance to ski any of these just so you know:

-04/05 JP/Juliens - can get them for $450 right now, sick for pow/booters but probably a shitty tree ski.

-05/06 ARV 185's - can also get for $450 right now, less than 100 waist but very versatile

-9thward 187's - beefy dimensions, don't know about how they flex though, plus they seem to be impossible to find at the moment.

-elizabeth's - sick in the trees, but possibly too short/forward mounted/turny for bombing steep pow runs.

-vicious 189 - sick for bombing, maybe too long for trees

-made'n' 189 - all the guides at silverton rock them, but i'm afraid if i lay down the cash, the sky will dry up, not too friendly in trees either.

-VCT 182 - dimensions/flex seem nice, but they're a tad pricey.

i'm sure there are plenty of other options, but these are all the one's i've considered so far. i've got a silverton trip february 12th or 13th, so i gots to have me some new skis by then. any help would be nice, or you can just flame me for making another "what ski should i get" thread.
 
basically i love my MSP's, i just want something with more floatiness/less tip dive in the deepness, but with close to the same freestyle ability.

ok i'll shut up now.
 
Try and get your hands on 04/05 Pollards, only an 86 waist but very versatile ski, Soft and nimble enough for the bumps and the trees but they rip in the powder.
 
id try to get the gunlab...but there like 700 $ and impossible to find. sooo out of those i would probly get the seth vicsios
 
I've been on my ARV's (185cm) for 12 days this year. All I can say is that they rule. I've ridden them in verying conditions; fresh pow, chopped up pow, groomers, ice, trees, park etc. They are very very good at everything i've thrown at them. I went +3 in the mounting and after a little getting used to i'm glad I went that far forward.

The ONLY thing they don't really perform on is charging super hard or icy conditions. They do handle great charging groomers or pow just not the ice. They're soft but not too soft. If you go with the 185 you will not regret it.

Hope that helped.
 
I havent ridden the other skis, but i will say my bit about the elizabeths.

they sound perfect for what you want in a ski. they are fat, soft, and kill it in trees, pow, and on kickers. When i was looking for skis this year i wanted the same thing as you and these are perfect. they dont dive in pow, they turn super quickly in the trees and i htink they are better off jumps they my ar5s (super swing weight, really light ski, near symetric flex and sidecut, and the snowboard style sidecut which is awesome for carving off jumps)

its hard to say if you are to big for them, i cant answer that. but you have to remeber that pollard is not a small guy and he obviously rides hard so if he built them this size its for a reason.

and one final reason to buy them, they look SICK
 
The only thing about the maidens I don't really like is how straight they are. The turn radius is something like 26 or 28 meters, which would be sort of grueling in the trees.
 
^my skis right now have about a 26m radius, and i love them. i grew up skiing long ass straight skis anyway so a big turn radius isn't really an issue. a small turn radius would actually be a lot harder for me to get used to i think.

i really wish i could just get two pairs of skis, because then it would be a lot easier decision. i'd just get elizabeths and Jp/Juliens.

thanks for the suggestions though kiddies.
 
I can't speak for anything you listed, but I have older motherships (grey w/ the train graphic). They work for what I do and I'm about your size/weight and ski close to the same as what you're asking for.

My favorite thing about the ski is how the tips/tails are poppy enough for screwing around, but stiff enough underfoot to handle some random charging.

I'm pulling this out of my ass, but I seem to recall the prophet 100 is the new mothership. Can anyone confirm/deny?
 
^i think prophet 100 is the new moship titanium, and the moship now is the flite from last year. prophet 100 is a little stiff for what i'm looking for, but the flite's were definitely a ski i was lookin at. almost too similar to my MSP's though
 
i have the mothership titanium...best ski i've ridden hands down (i've ridden a lot of skis). Soooo versitile. Yesterday i was riddin pow and hitting cliffs, today i rode crud and small hits all morning and a kicker with a 2m of pow on the landing all afternoon. They've done everything except rails.

You can't go wrong...prophet 100 i guess is the closest now.
 
The thing is, whatever you want to say about how amazing they are in soft snow, JPs are not a ski for groomed or anything even remotely hard in my estimation... they just feel out of place. I love mine, but I really do think they're a quiver ski more than anything else. ARV or Vicious from your list... but allow me to repeat: mega turny EC tree/glade pow ski? Phantom Crystal Ships.

www.skiphantom.com
 
Read my friggin' post! JPs are not a one ski quiver. I've been on them enough times to be absolutely sure of that. On pow days there's nothing I'd rather be skiing, but on groomed, even soft groomed, they feel noticeably out of their element. Seths are better at doing it all in my opinion. The JP is pretty much a no compromise pow specific switch landing in a foot of fresh snow quiver ski.
 
those crystal ships are crazy. thing is, i don't think i want something with THAT small of a turn radius. i've never rode anything with a radius under 25m, and the small radius on the elizabeths is the only thing deterring me (i just want to turn on the jets with them for one run to make sure they are stable enough). plus i've recently decided that a small to moderate amount of jibbing will be done with my new skis in addition to what i already mentioned (the condition of my 4frnts is worsening).

and if my tax return is big enough i might just be a TOTAL equipment whore and get a pair of karhu PFD's instead of the elizabeths.
 
see i've kind of ruled them out because i decided i don't really want any more length than i already have (180), and the skis do need to perform at least a little bit in non-fresh conditions. basically the only time i won't be using my new skis will be full-on park days when it hasn't snowed in a week.

it sucks though because i can get a decent deal on last years JP's, and if i could afford them they'd definitely go in my quiver.
 
Well, I would advise against getting anything TOO fat... some of the fatter skis out there just totally throw you with their turn radius, you expect to go somewhere and you end up somewhere else. The smaller turn radius probably has the same learning curve, but you can usually compensate as a result of something like that being more responsive. I seriousy reccommend, all things having been said, you check out a pair of Vicious. Hell, there are a pair for sale in a thread on here right now. They aren't really the kind of thing that turns on a dime, but they're nimble enough if you've got the legs, and fairly versatile for a ski that'd hold its own on an alaskan face. If you're worried about them skiing you, shortening up and going with made'ns might work... but I'd demo before buying. A 108 waist is probably significantly different than anything you've skiied before.
 
I'd recommend the vicious as an all around ski too.

if your 6'1", too, the length wont be a problem.

and i'm selling mine, too...

seriously, though.

as a ski for everything, IMO, they are one of the best. stable enough, sidecut so they are actually fun on groomers, durable, not a problem in trees when you mounted them forward.

i know people who use the made'n all the time, or gotamas.

Remember, though, your in CO. how often do you ski really heavy, deep pow?

98 in the waist float very sufficently there
 
The 179 Vicious is my only pair of skis. I use them for park, groomers, trees, everything. And I love them. If you want a very versatile ski, seriously consider the Vicious.

Also if you're over 6' I would suggest the 189 and mount them forward (+5 or so) and they should be fine in trees.
 
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