new ski help -pow/all mtn

[wally]

Wondered if all you with ski wisdom could shed a little light on how these skis compare. Need new planks for this winter in NZ. I'm 6'0, 190lb and a capable/strong off-piste skier. Need a ski for variable kiwi pow and a bit of all-mtn use. I have Scratch BC's (185) as an all-mtn ski and want a bigger ski to charge harder on..
Thinkin:
-4FRNT VCT, 189
-Rossi S6, 185
-Nordica Blower, 185
-Armada ANT, 191
Any help is appreciated.

[jerr]

Kingswood 'Fats' or 'Mid-fats' would also be ideal options. Although each model has a better name now.

Put 190 Katana's on the list too.

Have fun

[nickwm21]

I ride vct 189s as my everyday ski. I ski in tahoe, never in NZ so don't know about the condish but the vct is a great ski... It is basically a gotama... But way lighter, $200 cheaper, and a little wider. Fast and floaty. Busts crud, slays pow, lands hucks, and absolutely rails groomers.

Are you replacing the bc's or adding to make a quiver? If you are going for a 1 ski quiver go with the vct... but if adding i would look at a ski with front rocker: obsethed, praxis, lhasa, czar, s7, ehp, JJ, mothership

[jerr]

After thought - Over the years I've decided that a NZ powder ski must be really burly to deal with the heavy cut up post-powder day mank that can be upon you by 11am some days. A soft ski or even a moderately stiff ski just gets beaten up a little too often and so isn't fun. A 130+ shovel is a lot to push through heavy cut up. So stiiiiffffff is an advantage. I got some XXL's (pretty damn burly + huge tip rise) this year and they bust through most stuff nicely. And on the sweet days they're effortless.

What ever you do it might be an idea to try and track down stuff from last year's stock. The exchange rate this year seems likely to make skis really really damn expensive, whether you buy them here or ship them in.

Good luck,

[wally]

Cheers for the input lads, Nickwn21, I'm not replacing the BC's so I see what you mean about avoiding quiver overlap... Good point. And cheers jerr, see what you mean regarding shovel width, think I have a bit of thinkin to do. My poor old kiwi dollar is up shit creek so will look to get past years stock or ex-demo planks...

[smmokan]

I ski the Rossi Steezes in 185cm (same as S6's) and love them for basically all conditions- for reference, I'm 5'11", about 185. When the snow gets thick and heavy or has a wind crust on top, they're not ideal, but they manage. In just about everything else, they rip. Previously I had an older pair of 183 Gotamas, and I like the Steezes MUCH more.

[SkivenHuckings]

I also ski the Steeze (174). If you ski really fast through wind crust they're super fun. Overall a GREAT ski, but a bit too my camber and side cut for my big mountain ski liking. The only thing they aren't super stable on is opening it up in crud and such. I think the VCT's would be more stable and stiff?

[cmsummit]

Fatypus D-Sender
Moment Ruby
Volkl Katana

[adrenalated]

Agree that if you're not replacing the BC's, you should get something with tip rocker and maybe a touch of tail rocker, depending on what you want the ski to do (traditional feel with better float = tip rocker, more "pivoty" feel = tip & tail rocker). Variable soft snow and heavy or otherwise funky pow is where rocker really shines, IMO.
I've skied the older 185 Blowers and the S6s and thought that the Blowers were a better ski for me. S6 is a good ski, no doubt, but has more sidecut than I'd like and the tip and tail are a bit soft (which makes the ski really playful but notsogood in heavy crud). I have not skied this year's Blowers though.
I much prefer my Praxis Pow RX with tip rocker over both of these skis in all soft conditions, however, including crud, wind/suncrust, wet heavy pow, blower pow, windslab, etc.