The ARV 96 is a classic Armada ski that pays respects to what the company has traditionally been focused on: twin tip park skis that are a whole lot of fun around the whole mountain. It uses their Freestyle Rocker profile with a Pop-Lite Core, made from a blend of different wood: some lightweight, some heavier and denser. It gives the ski a very energetic feel, while also feeling quite light on your feet. This ski is designed for playful skiers who cross over between the terrain park and all-mountain use, although could easily be enjoyed by a skier who doesn’t spend much time in the park at all. We had a variety of testers on the ARV 96, some of whom are park skiers, while others typically focus more on all mountain freeride.
Jeff Neagle, someone who falls into that park-skier category more than most of our other testers, thought it was “super fun!” He had a relatively long response to the ARV 96: “It just has such a playful, rewarding feel. This is the type of ski I personally would center mount and use as my every-day all mountain ski. It’s playful, quick, relatively stable, and just a lot of fun.” Jeff thought he would use it for “park, groomers, trees, and even some pow.” He tested the 177 cm length and gave the ARV 96 high scores for quickness, playfulness, versatility, and overall impression.
Bob St. Pierre, while he has a freestyle background, doesn’t spend much time in the park at all. He focused more on testing the ski’s all mountain performance. He too was on the 177 cm length, which he said felt a bit short. He described the ARV 96 as “easy to ski in short to medium turns, but balky at long turns.” We can understand that as the construction of the ARV 96 isn’t geared towards long, high speed turns. Bob thought it was “playful for sure” and “great fun on sides of trails.” Bob did have an interesting final thought on the ARV 96, “not really an expert ski, but certainly capable of most situations.”
Michael Carroll-Sherwin gave the ARV 96 5 out of 5 for stability, forgiveness, and versatility after testing the 177 cm length. We always take note when a ski hits top marks for both stability and forgiveness, as that’s a very difficult combination of performance characteristics for a manufacturer to achieve. He thought it’s “geared toward an all mountain skier with a knack for park laps.”
Marcus Shakun also was on the 177 cm length, which is definitely a bit short for his size. He recommended it for “someone looking to ski the mountain and play in the park,” just like Michael and Jeff’s reactions. The ARV 96 didn’t really have the stability Marcus was looking for, but he did find it was “playful in soft snow.” The ARV 96 will have a more stable feel for smaller skiers, and Marcus likely would’ve been better off on the 184 cm length, so keep that reaction in mind if you’re a bigger skier.
Noah Labow is another skier who splits his time between the terrain park and the rest of the mountain. He thought it would be a “great everyday ski” after testing the 177 cm length. Noah actually thought it had great stability, giving that criteria a 5 out of 5 score. That’s a great example of how the ski will perform differently for different skiers. Noah is quite a bit smaller than Marcus, and look how that changed his feedback.
The biggest fans of the ARV 96 will be those with a terrain park background or skiers who prefer skiing a relatively playful twin tip as their all mountain ski. We were impressed by the high scores for stability by certain testers, although if you’re a powerful hard-charger you might overpower the flex of the ski. For skiers that fall into that category, the Invictus series from Armada would likely be more appropriate.
