Armada

ARVti Ski

Wood is nice—who doesn't dig floors, furniture, and baseball bats?—but sometimes needs a little help to reach its potential. Case in point: Armada started the ARVti Ski off with a Hybrid Double Zone wood core, but to push this speed-demon to the limit, it added a fiberglass matrix laminate. And then a sheet of Titanal. And then a carbon-fiber layup. And then another sheet of Titanal. And then a carbon and Kevlar tail stringer; your legs probably getting antsy just thinking about it. The end product is a stiff, mid-fat all-mountain ski that loves to charge through crud, mank, and chop as well as down perfect corduroy and through medium-sized pow shots. It's not quite as stiff as Armada's burliest all-mountain charger, the Invictus, but you still be hard-pressed to overpower it, given the impressive number of hard-charging metal and carbon components.

While the ARVti likes to go fast, it's not a one-dimensional 2x4 of a ski. The carbon and wood core help keep it fun and lively, while the AR nose rocker accents the grip-it-and-rip-it construction with some versatility and soft-snow performance. It also features Armada's AR50 half-cap construction, which uses powerful sidewalls underfoot for edge grip and a cap construction in the tip and tail to reduce weight and make the ski easier to manage. The Comp Series base is the speediest offering Armada has, and the 2.2mm Impact edges strike a balance between power, durability, and weight, so you can focus on maching without being scared of a blowout.