deciding on new ski gear (twintip)

Hello,

First a bit about myself:
I live in Europe and I ski in the French and Swiss Alps most of the time. I consider myself advanced skier on groomed slopes, moderate on bumps and i want to learn in park and powder (if I am so lucky to get some...).
6'2" and 185 lbs (thanks to google for the conversion :P)


I have been reading a lot about the new skis for 2009/2010 and I decided to buy a twin tip ski that I will use besides my old (5 seasons) Head iXRC 1100 ski.. which is a thin ski 67mm under the foot and 176 tall. These go fast and stable at high speeds, and they manoeuvre very well in bumps.

The reason for wanting a twin tip is because I want to learn (and probably take some lessons) to ride in the parks and whenever theres a chance of going in fresh snow or a bit of offpiste skiing, I want to go for it too and learn some new set of skills. But I dont want to spend too much on skis which are solely designed for backcountry offpiste deep powder skis since we are not so lucky in Europe to get that alot.

On the other hand, a pure park ski is not for me either, since i will be so frustrated that they wont turn on groomers like I want to.

I narrowed down my search to either:

Volkl Wall: seem to be excellent in park, but apparently not an entry level park ski? I am also worried about taking them to groomers. And will they perform in fresh snow?

Volkl Bridge: seen many different reviews, some are in love with it, some hate it...

Armada ARV: too much of an all mountain and too little of a park ski? But maybe this is really what I need ... ?

And of course, I am open to any other suggestions for skis to look at. The budget is about 500-600$ or 400-500Euro. Including the bindings (Marker Griffon 12 I guess?)

Another thought: Do boots really matter? Or don't worry about it and stick with one pair of boots?
Another thought 2: What is a good length for the twintip ski? 10 cm below my own height or same height? My other pair of skis is now 10 cm smaller (177 vs 6'2")

Thanks for any input!

Volkl Wall: Defiantly a park ski. I would not choose this ski because as you stated they will take more effort to turn (especially compared to a 67mm ski!) because of the turn radius.

Volkl Bridge: I love this ski but I am a Northwest (US) skier. My days mainly consist of tree skiing, and rarely ski groomers so i can't give advice on that.

Armada ARV: Out of the skis you've chosen this would fit the your terms the best. It's an all mountain ski that can do park. Also with a 92mm waist it can hold its own in the powder. This seems like a pretty good ski for you.

I don't know much about park boots, but I just use my normal boots. I don't think you need another pair of boots but i could be wrong.

With the sizing, I'd go a little shorter then your everyday skis, but they seem to be a little short for you right now (it's about the weight not the height) so i would go with a ski in the 175-180 range but that's just me. Some people go shorter, some people go longer with their twin tips. They go longer because twin tips have a shorter running length then non-twin tips (because of the turned up tail) and longer skis are faster. They go shorter because the skis are easier to spin.

Hope that helps.

good luck!

Line Prophet 90 is also a great choice....really good edge hold.  Will do fine in the park, though it's more of an all-mountain ski.

I have had the Volkl Bridges (I am a hater of it not a flat ski fan). I agree that the Volkl wall would not be a good fit for you. Armada ARVs for sure.

I am on the Armada Pipe Cleaners (fast twin tip, has tons of pop for jumps, does alright in the bumps, does alright in the snow, can make some pretty solid carves with them.

For what ever ski you end up with I would recommend that you mount them more traditional compared to a center mount.

How about Salomon Suspects ? They are in the same price range...

Thanks

edit: Armada's own website says that the PC is better than ARV on park/pipe AND groomers... any opinions?


Edited by fuzzylogic - 10/15/09 at 1:27pm

In case anyone cares: I went for the ARV's with Peak 12 bindings on it. (they have only one binding position - mid sole)
Havent had the chance yet to try them out though.