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July, 2025

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Will new skis make me a better skier

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HitTheJim
Posts: 787 - Karma: 399
Currently I am skiing an old set of 171 line anthems (the ones with the snowboarder graphic, i believe it's the 2010 model). I've owned these for a few years now, but only last year did I start to spend the majority of my time in the park. I'm a strong all mountain skier who is comfortable at speed, and I'm currently hitting medium sized rails and jumps. Generally I'm working on hitting things comfortably with either foot forward, switch ups, and 270s out. I haven't started spinning off anything other than small jumps. With all this being said, do you guys believe I would be able to progress faster if I were to transition from this 7 year old ski to something newer?

I'm familiar with the kinds of improvements that can be seen when switching to a better all mountain ski, but I don't understand how these things would translate with a park ski. As far as I can tell, a change in skis won't help me balance better on a rail or spin any faster. The only significant changes I can imagine are that the ski may have more responsive flex and better pop underfoot. Now, this is not to say that I don't believe a newer, more expensive park ski truly is better. The question is, HOW are they better, and will someone at my ability level be able to benefit from those improvements.

In the event that the answer is yes and this turns into a recommendation thread, let me provide a little more information. I would be using this ski exclusively for park, I'm more interested in jibbing than hitting jumps, I like to butter, I'm 6' 165lbs, I ski at Mt. Snow in VT, and I'd like to spend under 500 (without bindings) unless you have a damn good reason to convince me otherwise (I'm open to used options).

Thanks for any help yall can offer. Cheers!
9 years ago
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dbchili
Posts: 2555 - Karma: 1,658
The only noticable benefits you might see from new skis would be:
- stability - anthems are notoriously soft. If you're washing out a lot on landings or the skis are unstable at speed this could be improved
- bindings - if your skis are 5 years old and you didn't consider riding much park when you bought them I'm not sure if you have bindings which actually consistently keep your feet in your skis when they should

Other than that there's unlikely to be enough tangible benefit to getting new skis to make it worth it. Better off spending your money on actually getting out on the hill as often as you can. If you really wann be sure demo some skis or borrow your friends and see if you think the upgrade is worth 500 bucks.
9 years ago
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The.Fish
Posts: 2269 - Karma: 4,999
I went from a 149 all mountain ski to a 171 park ski and didn't feel a difference really. It was just a little easier to carve with the older ones but that was their design.
9 years ago
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SofaKingSick
Posts: 9844 - Karma: 66,622
dbchiliBetter off spending your money on actually getting out on the hill as often as you can. If you really wann be sure demo some skis or borrow your friends and see if you think the upgrade is worth 500 bucks.


i think this is your answer. borrow, rent, or demo some new-ish park skis and see the difference

yes theyre going to perform better, esp since anthems are such noodles, but youre right in recognizing that theyre probably not going to blow your mind and change everything

that said, people do prefer different types of skis and you may respond super well to something that has more personality and life to it. it's only happened once or twice but ive tried skis for a day that made my skiing terrible-- the other 95% of skis ive used or tried have acted very similar
9 years ago
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