Been out of the game awhile and need a little insight.

You can have a ski that is very close to symmetrical that still has a super low swing weight. You also don't actually need a super fat tail because when you ski switch you aren't leaning downhill like you are when you ski forward. If anything, you use your tips even more when you're skiing switch if you think about it. There are still companies that make symmetrical skis like Vishnu.

The main answer is most people don't own a quiver. If you can afford one pair of skis and aren't a 100% park rat, you want something which does well in all mountain and isn't a pure park ski. Compared to 8 years ago, the ski world is becoming more freeride and less park oriented. There are park skis which are either completely symmetrical or very close: Revolt 87, Magnus 90, and Nightsticks. On some of the skis which aren't symmetrical like the Edollos, Harlaut and the pros continue to mount dead center.

**This post was edited on Oct 18th 2020 at 10:54:53pm

**This post was edited on Oct 18th 2020 at 11:25:56pm

another thing I thought of - landing switch in pow isn't nearly as popular as it was in the mid 2000s and early 2010s. Like that was really all the rage during the era of charlie ager, andy mahre etc. I think pow skiing has changed to be a lot more about skiing with a surfy style with lots of butters and slashes, theres a lot of focus on fluidity

Congratulations on leaving Florida.

Two great answers here already. Narrow park skis (the ones that used to be symmetrical) are by and large dying out at the moment. Most regular park skiers (out west and in Europe at least) are riding skis 95-105mm and then center mounting them (or very close) for better balance. Exceptions that prove the rule are the Vishnu Wet and Magnus 90 (though I would hazard a guess that the Magnus 102 is an as good, if not a better seller for ON3P (Scott may make me look very stupid here)) but as a trend, it's hard to argue against. For example, J-Skis (which is where Jason Levinthal went after leaving Line in case you missed that) discontinued their 90mm park ski and now market their 98mm ski as their park ski.

There are many reasons, some of which are already mentioned above (move towards freeride, symmetrical turned out to be kinda pointless). But another is that for both soft skis and heavily rockered skis, adding width adds to stability, so you get a slightly more stable ski that is still buttery and playful (Line already knew this with the Line Elizabeth way back, but still). I do think this trend will reverse somewhat, because skinny skis put a lot less stress on the ol' knees but that's tbd.

In the case of the skis you are looking at, people still usually mount them at true center for park skiing and by and large people have stopped arguing that has a catastrophic effect on performance. I rode all three at true center and they all ski switch far better than the Step Up or Anthem ever did. Personally, in your case, I would at least go for the Chronic or for an even wider ski for daily use out west, but that does depend on if you also want to ski any pow. If not, 90ish will be fine.

symmetrical and dead center mount skis just really aren't advantageous unless you ski 100% park and are switch like 50% of the time. a progressive but not dead center mount is the ticket if you do a lot of park but still want your skis to do well around the mountain and while carving

if you're concerned about it, just stick with really park-oriented companies like armada and line. that way you will land on a pair of skis that is mounted PLENTY forward, but still has some carving and soft snow capabilities

i think this is a situation where you should trust the experience of the companies producing a certain product. they've seen that extremes like symmetrical park skis and ultra-wide floppy pow skis really aren't that useful for most people and a more refined middle-of-the-road ski is going to serve you much better

just my 2 cents. you can still find a few symmetrical models around!

To answer your question about why the recommended center is back further from dead center, because skis are mostly not symmetrical anymore it stands to reason that the turning radius is pushed back in the ski. So that also means that the optimal point for mounting if you were looking to carve the ski would be not dead center. This has had no effect on park skiers though because we still say fuck that and mount center or 1-2cm back.

At the competition level in park, you continue to see most skiers on something in the 84-98mm range, which is what passes for a "narrow" ski these days. Volkl Revolt 87, Head Caddy, K2 Poachers, Faction Candide 1.0s, and Armada Edollos are some of the skis you'll see on the podium.

**This post was edited on Oct 19th 2020 at 2:12:19pm