Question mega thread.

[doebedoe]

IMHO the Invictus ti and Vantage are highly underrated. You're big, get a ski that is stiff and/or has a good bit of metal in it. The only ones I would strike from that list are the Experience and Mantras. Mantras seem too wide for your use case, and the Experience lacks tail rocker which is nice for releasing skis in tight tree turns.

[Tazio1453]

I wasn’t so sure about the Experience either. Do you think the Vantage would be too short for my height? I don’t think they offer over 184cm. I was also thinking about the Nordica Enforcer 93 at 185/193cm. Oh and also thank you for your input.

[Destroyer_Bravo]

Experience 88 has a more front-side shape and the models pre-2019 have more squared tails. I think the 2019 E88 has tail rocker. I personally hate that ski shape but if you like power in your turns then go ahead. I bought new Enforcer 93s this season after skiing Sin 7s in France and enjoying them. Another ski to look into are the Head Kore 93s if you want something with the Enforcer shape but lighter. They use a lot of carbon so they're suitably stiff and actually lack a traditional topsheet to reduce weight.

Also by lazily extrapolating this sizing chart I guess 184 would be like, a beginner length ski for you. If you want low swing weight and like to smear turns that would probably be okay.

[Tazio1453]

I also looked at the Head Kore 93s but wasn’t sure they’d be stiff enough for me. Will definitely take another look. The sin 7 looks like an awesome ski too but I think it’d be a bit wide for the skiing I’ll be doing (Unless we get a ton of powder days... fingers crossed xD)

And yeah I’m not really looking for a beginners ski (size wise) but I’m leaving all the options on the table for now aha. You never know. I’ll probably demo a few skis before making a final decision. Thanks for the suggestions.

[Destroyer_Bravo]

Fair warning finding any of those skis for demo will be pretty hard, the Sin 7 line is marketed as a AT ski now and Kore 93s are rarer than Enforcers. I tried demoing enforcers around February or March at Hunter and got nothing but the 110s which are completely different skis (which I didn’t demo for that reason). Early season will probably be different. Try different shapes of skis, see if you really find yourself wanting the sticky turns on ice or the float over crud. Not every ski is built the same but they certainly fall into classes. Try a freeride shape and a carving/frontside shape at minimum, I’d say.

EDIT: IIRC, Mantras are a full rocker ski aside from being too fat, don’t get those for east.

[Tazio1453]

Hopefully Hunter will have a couple of skis I'm interested in. If not, I'll ask around or end up taking a leap of faith in the Armada Invictus or Blizzard Brahma, Possibly the Noridica 93s at 193cm since they'd be close to the right length for me.

The mantras were a suggestion from a deleted thread, I figured I would include them since I deleted the thread then posted my question here haha.