2022 Armada Trace 108

The 2022 Armada Trace 108 is the perfect example of a freeride ski done right. If you’re looking for something light, agile, and floaty, then this is your ski. With a surprising amount of energy, the Trace 108 is built for ladies who spend the majority of their time in search of fresh and deep snow, and playful lines on the biggest mountains. One of the best parts of this ski is its versatility in terms of in and out of bounds performance. Feel free to ski this Trace 108 in the resort as a powder ski with an alpine binding on it 100 percent of the time, or slap a tech or hybrid touring binding on it and never set foot (or butt) on a lift. The light weight caruba wood core makes this ski one of the lighter skis at its width, and this gives it an obvious leg up in the touring and backcountry ski world.

At 108 mm underfoot, the penchant for soft-snow skiing is fairly obvious. What’s not so obvious is the ski’s quickness and maneuverability. Built with that light weight core, the ski benefits from Armada’s Adaptive mesh which lays stringers of composite material criss-crossed along the ski to increase and fine-tune torsional stiffness. This does a great job of boosting the performance of the ski without adding much weight, and the titanal binding reinforcement plate not only helps with adding confidence to the touring portion of skiing, but also adds a smidge of stability and dampness to the underfoot portions of the ski. Additionally, they make the ski lighter and quicker by using their thinner edges as well as their slant wall sidewalls. They mill out some of the upper portions of the ski, making a more trapezoidal shape, and this removal of material lightens the load and makes the Trace 108 quite a bit more maneuverable as a result.

In the powder, the rocker profile and taper shape line up quite well with what Armada’s trying to do with the ski. Fairly low and consistent in the tip, the skis don’t have a whole lot of splay, but the taper does start lower on the ski, making it smooth and floaty for skiers who are looking to stay on top and not dive down to the bottom. The weight plays a big role in this equation as well, as lighter skis simply float better. In the tail, the rocker is on the more generous side as well, and while the Trace 108 isn’t a twin tip in the freestyle sense of the word, the skis definitely have enough tail splay for the freeride and freestyle influence to be somewhat obvious.

Whether you decide to use the Armada Trace 108 in a total backcountry format or a complete resort application is up to you. You’re going to have a pretty darn good time either way. What’s most impressive about these skis is just how friendly and confidence-inspiring they are in the deep stuff. From the light weight to the rocker profile, the Trace 108 has the shape, construction, and profile to take you further and deeper into the world of freeride skiing, allowing you to dictate where and when you wish to send it.