I just demoed these today in the 163cm length at Windham Mountain (catskills, NY).
I am a female, 20 years old, 5'5", 147 lbs and I loved these. I wouldn't want to go any shorter, and they carved very nicely. I skied better on them than on my own skis that I have been skiing on for 3 years. The conditions were probably the best they have been all year with lots of powder (it snowed a foot last week and 8 inches yesterday and lightly snowed all day today and is still snowing now). They plowed right over the powder, and carved amazingly on the groomed part. I was only there for a half day because I had class earlier (college student), so could only ski from noon to close at 4. These were the second skis i demoed and I skied on them for an hour and a half. If I were there a full day and had more time to demo more skis, I would have used these longer. I skied on them longer than any other ski i demoed today. If I could afford it, I might buy them, but I can't. I plan to demo them on another day when it is groomed.

170 lb type II skier. Did a demo of these at Whistler and ended up buying them. Best edge grip for icy conditions I've tried. Confidence-inspiring in groomers, ice, crud, powder, etc. I flew down icy runs on edge and felt like I was on rails. This is, however, a stiff ski and it did feel like a 2x4 was strapped to my boot at times. Not a lazy day cruiser ski in my opinion, but great all mountain/all conditions "performance" ski. I tried both the 163 and the 156 and felt better on the smaller 156 cm.

As you by now know, this ski is fantastic. I want to contradict other reviewers who seem to be reiterating what ski shop sales people force us to accept - that you need a shorter ski than you think. Nonsense. I am 5 ft 9 and weigh 160 with my clothes and I ski AC30s in the 163 length. No problem and if I had listened and went shorter I would not be happy. Best ski I have owned and I used to swear by Atomic. Great in east coast icy crud.

I recently had the pleasure of demoing these skis and they are fantastic! They are very fast and responsive. The edge grip is really amazing. I am so fond of these skis that they are going into my shopping cart right now!!

I bought a pair of VOLKL AC30 without demoing it. I am 5.7and 140 lbs. I got a shorter skis hoping to be able to control it in moguls. I finally tried them last weekend at Tahoe and I loved them. It is a true all mountain skis and very versatile and fast. I totally recommend this ski for advance-expert skier but in shorter lengths (mine is 156cm). It is very stiff but gives a great pleasure controlling them specially in powder terrains. It feels like taming in wild tiger and ride it through the jungle. Definitely a winner.

Used these skis (demos) in Whistler last week and I loved them. Fast, held all the edges on hard snow/ice, did well in the moguls and also used them with great success on a pow day (7 in.). Great versatility. I'm 160 lbs and on day one i used 170cm which was too much. Last two days I went all the way down to 156cm -- what a scream. Definitely would go with the shorter length despite loss of macho factor.