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Please take the time to read all of this, I'd be very grateful!
Ok people, I've tried to be as thorough as possible in giving information in order to get the most accurate reccomendations from you lot!
So here it is: my brother is looking to buy a new ski for this coming season. He rides 179 Fujatives for the park, but ONLY on pure park days because he doesn't enjoy their performance outside the park... The ski he's looking for is the ski to do everything on non pure-park days.
He's about 6'1" and weighs 170lbs. He had 179 Seths last season which he found ideal for this task but broke them near the end of the season but feels he had outgrown them in any case.
He doesn't want to go to 189 because he feels they would be too big for park and we think the 08's mini rocker will hinder its performance on groomed. Therefore, the question is: "what is the ski that fits in between 179 and 189 Seths?"
Here's a breakdown of what kind of skiing he will be doing on "Ski X"...
35% Freeride/Big Mountain.
This is the Alps, so big means big. Everything from Super-G turns on huge faces, tight couloirs, mini-golf style zones, mellow trees, medium sized (<40 ft) cliffs etc. etc. He must have confidence in the ski's ability to straightline out of an emergengy and deal with unexpected changes in snow condition at speed. Generally though, He only rides big mountain when the conditions are good/fresh.
20% BC Kickers.
He likes to build and hit fairly big kickers as well as natural hit, but isn't too hot at switch landings in pow, so this isn't too essential an attribute for the ski. His style is slow, corked stuff like 3's and sw 5s as opposed to big tech spins.
25% Groomers.
Whether it's big arced turns on corduroy, quick turns on chopped up-end-of-day slush, ice or just cruising, he likes all forms of skiing on groomers. Like I said, he enjoyed Seths performance on groomers and likes to play around with little jibs and hits on the way down.
20% Park.
As I say, he'll ski Fujatives on pure park days, but this ski will be taken for laps in the park quite frequently. No rails or pipe on these skis, just big kickers. Again, more emphasis on slow/corked spins rather than fast spinning tech stuff.
After much discussion, we found there to be many many options and a wide spectrum of skis in this category. Here are the skis he would consider (feel free to add any you think would be worthy). I have included reservations we might have about certain skis where relevant.
Please note, all will be 08 models.
182 4FRNT VCT- is it too soft for big mtn charging? would it be fun on piste? 4frnt durability?
183 Atomic Pimp- too large a turn radius for carving on piste? how stiff? hardly any reviews -> unpopular?
183 Volkl Gotama- too wide/heavy for park? piste performance?
183 Faction 3.Zero- 112mm waist too much for all-mtn? park? carving? weight?
185 Armada ARV- have they made it stiff enough this year to charge big mtn? chatter at speed on piste?
185 Rossignol Brigade- can't really think of any reservations... boring graphics...??!
186 Line Prophet 100- park performance? switch? far back mounting point?
186 Dynastar Big Trouble- too narrow to float in pow?
186 Fischer Misfit- lack of popularity/reviews?
187 4FRNT MSP- enough float in pow? too long for park?
So there it is people, thank you for taking the time to read all this. Me and my brother have spent a lot of time thinking about this and composing the thread. He would be very grateful if you would be thoughtful in your reccomendations.
Therefore, only views from people who have actually ridden the skis, and please don't just say "Ski X" or "not ski Y". Rather "Ski X, BECAUSE..."
Also, when recommending, please try to address the points I have raised about the ski in question.
THANK YOU!