Armada AK JJ Ski - 2011 BCS

Finally, a JJ for the larger humans and those who want to charge harder and faster! These skis are just bad ass mountain machines and not to mention LIGHT.

Powder skis that hold up on the piste, for 120mm under foot they sure as hell don't feel it and as for a 19m turn radius I didn't believe it until i got on some fresh groomers and they ripped.

I stepped up from armada arv's to these and I am using them for touring and in bounds (matched with baron bindings).6ft 8 225lb and they give loads of float in the powder, the tips never want to dive and in tight trees they do well.

For quick turns it takes a little bit more effort to make quick turns than my last arv skis but for the size increase its amazing that they are almost as good.

On hard pack and ice no ski does well and its the same for the ak jj here, both ends being rockered doesn't help. But for everything else these RULE!!!

I just bought a pair of AK's and had the chance to ski them in about a foot of fresh snow in the north bowl at Revelstoke. I'm an aggressive skier, at 6'3 245lbs and these babies kept me afloat like no other ski I've ever been on. Really allowed me to get my weight forward and charge. While they require a bit of effort, they're great in the trees. When ripping bigger lines through chewed up variable snow the AK's were rock solid.....they wanted to go faster than my legs were able to safely accommodate on many occasions. DO NOT worry about these things getting flappy at high speed like some reviewers have mentioned about the smaller JJ's.

I was particularly surprised about the JJ's ability to butter out of sketchy situations for such a big ski....like when you hit a blind lip over a cat track and land in a bunch of moguls under the chair lol. As others have said this ski handles groomers no problemo. I was blasting ahead of my buddies while they complained about all the crud that these skies fired up into their faces. Excellent.

If you're a bigger aggressive west coast skier you should grow a pair and buy these sticks now. That is all.

Finally got to ski them today after our big storm in the Wasatch. My brother was on his 188cm S7s. First thing I noticed is that with both of us mounted at the recommended location (-5 on the JJ), we had the same amount of ski in front of the boot. I had almost 10 cm more tail than him. Compared to my 190cm Katanas, there is a lot less ski in front of the boot, and I was worried I would have to ski with my weight back in order to not feel like I was going over the front. Turns out it was a non-issue. The float was good, and I was blown away by how quick I can turn them even in wind-packed powder. Much easier to tree ski than with my previous Katanas (pre-rocker design). On the groomers they carved well, and on the moguled up crud, they were surprisingly nimble. They never felt long. At 6ft, 185lbs, these skis feel short (in a good way). Any advanced/expert skier close to my size should definitely get the 195cm model, and mount them at -5 if they are going to be used for powder skiing. The only time I did not like the very long tails, was when I was trying to "skate" up a shallow slope, because it is difficult to keep the tails off each other. I can't wait until the Avalanch risk around here mellows out, and I can take them into the backcountry (with traditional camber under foot, they should skin pretty well)! I did not like my brothers S7 when I tried them in the past, and I was worried about buying a ski with a similar design, but I feel like these ski much better. I'm very glad I bought them! Can't wait for the next storm....

I've had a couple of days now on the AK JJ and am totally digging this ski. They're surprisingly very maneuverable for their length as we enjoyed the 12+ inches of fresh powder (43 inches already at the top) at Lookout Pass on opening weekend (2011-2012). The 18m turn radius translates into almost effortless turn initiation which means they are a tree skiing dream. They're much better on the groomers than anticipated (even mank and crud) and are definitely my new all-round tool for North Idaho in-bounds and side-country skiing. I've heard comments of a flappy tip and fielded questions by my friends about it, however, I didn't notice this at speed on the groomers with the AK JJ. They definitely attracted questions at the lifts. If you want a charging version of last year's JJ then you will be very happy AK JJ. So looking forward to La Nina bringing another epic ski season to the NW!

Me: 5'11", 210lbs, intermediate skier