Steve. I'm a ski instructor. Physically and age-wise we are the same. I've been skiing on AC3's for 3 seasons. These are great, aggressive skis in any conditions, but not so aggressive that you have to push and struggle with 'em. They hold their edge nicely in bare patches, grip and contour in moguls and keep a nice smooth line while cruising groomed runs. Their sidecut allows for good fast turns in powder, and glide nicely through it. I firmly believe that a guy your size and with similar ski interests cannot go wrong with these Volkls. You may even attain satori. You should consider taking lessons though, in order to learn to ski with shape skis as the style is totally different from the sticks you have been using for the last 20 years. And by the way: no longer that 177 cms ... no kidding... size does matter.

Skis have become wider because the wider the ski is, the better it will float in powder. By going to a fatter ski, you will have better flotation in powder. If you wanted to go wider than your 70 mm waist K2's, you could go anywhere from 80 to 95 and still have it be a specific all mountain ski. If you wanted to go over 100 under foot, you would be getting into the powder specific and big mountain ski range. Hope this can be of use!