Howdy everyone,
I made a Newschoolers account just for this. I'm 6'1" 190 lbs and I ski in the midwest, almost 100% manmade snow, always groomed, often icy or slushy, hardly in between. I've been skiing for 7 (I think) seasons. The past 4 seasons I've spent getting more and more obsessed with the park. I've gotten rails down for the past 2 years and sometimes do some medium jumps, no big air tricks yet. I also still take trips out of the park to bomb our baby midwest black diamonds at full speed. I've been on the discontinued 2013 Line Stepups with attack 13s for the past 4 seasons, its practically all I've known. They've held up well but the top sheet is dissolving around the entire perimeter of each ski, the edges are cracked under the arches of my feet and the sidewalls are being crushed and pushed out, and they've got their share of core shots. I am in the market for some new skis, I'll be keeping the same bindings. I have been getting more and more into the jibby side of things and have began to experiment with butters and all that fun stuff. Skis I've considered are the Line chronic, TW pro, and honey badger, as well as some of the J skis models. Willing to spend up to 700, but keeping the price on the lower end is definitely a plus. I was close to going in for the honey badgers, but then I saw some threads on here where people say they are more for beginners, cheaply made, and don't hold up well outside of park. I'm wondering if these are valid notions if I only ever ski a relatively tame midwest resort.
Any and all thoughts welcome, sorry to write a book. Thanks.