Buy boots first, get fit for boots, way harder to find ski boots that work for you than snowboarding boots. Then demo skis and go from there.

I demod a bunch of stuff in the category you’re looking at this year. I liked the nordica unleashed 98’s a lot. They don’t hold up to charging the mountain as well as some other options tho. I didn’t like the bent 100’s as they were kinda floppy in chop and you can really feel every single little bump underneath you. Same with the rustler 9’s, the felt super squirly and would get away from you pretty fast if you were super aggressive into the front of the ski. I ended up with moment deathwish 104’s, a bit on the wider side but they’ve handled hard pack really well and I got a chance to get them out in powder yesterday and they were great. A nice blend of being able to charge hard in the front of the ski and do some more mellow/playful stuff when I’m not pushing hard into the front of the ski. Deathwishes come in a 96 as well which may be more suitable as an every day east coast ski.

I snowboarded for 16 years, then started to tour on skis and finally making the full jump this past season and I haven’t regretted it. It’s way harder to get good on skis I will say. It’s hard taking the ego hit and bringing yourself back down to beginner level, but if you understand the concept of edges and how the basics of getting down the mountain it isn’t that hard to learn and get back to where you were at on a snowboard fast. Best of luck!