2023 Armada ARW 106 UL

Female freeride skiers will love the lightweight, floaty feel of the Armada ARW 106 UL. An excellent option for those deeper days or even for your one-ski quiver, it offers a lot of options thanks to its fun-loving nature. Boasting a 106 mm underfoot with a rockered, twin tip profile in both the tip and tails, this freestyle-oriented pow slayer is fun and slashy on all terrain, no matter what you throw their way. Maneuverable and playful, you get the best of both worlds with the ARW 106, giving credit to Armada’s use of lightweight caruba wood for the core to ensure agility, pop, and energy all at the same time. From backcountry booters to cliff drops and deep, pow-slashing turns, they love to float and plow through the deep stuff. Taking it one step further for us, Armada put something called smear tech to use in these skis, utilizing a 3D beveled base in the tip and tails. What this does is create a noticeably smooth and smeary feel through powder, rounding out the shape of the extremeties of the ski in order to enhance that. For women looking for the ultimate powder ski with ample playfulness and smooth sailing through the air and beyond, the 2023 Armada ARW 106 UL will be the ski for you.

Louise Lintilhac skied the 172 in length and found them a bit too long for her. With quite the range in scores, it’s clear that our tester experienced several notable qualities in this ski with some not-so-memorable ones as well. Her overall impression was a 2, with 1’s for maneuverability and playfulness, which makes some sense given the width and length that didn’t seem to suit her. However, the highest scores were awarded for flotation and stability, both falling under categories that most would want in a solid powder ski. She found that “This ski is a serious flotation machine. At home on deep days but slow edge to edge and not a playful snappy ski. I had a hard time getting them to do anything but go straight down the hill. While the flotation helped in the chop, the large turning radius made them unwieldy and unresponsive.” Given the 19.5 m turn radius in the 172 cm, it definitely doesn’t seem like the ski for someone looking for that snap and pop in and out of turns. Apparently not a daily driver for firmer conditions, but a leading contender for sleeper pow days!

For Carly Monahan, the 164 was true to size and a good length for her. Having tested them on a spring-like day, the snow was on the heavier side which ended up mimicking deeper powder potentially and hopefully highlighted these skis to some degree. Quite the opposite of Louise, her scores were all 4’s and 5’s, with a solid 4 for overall impression. She found the ARW 106 to be an “adept all-mountain charmer. For a wide ski, the ARW is super maneuverable with a low swing weight and playful profile, and flex pattern. Lively, surfy; find some soft snow and the ARW is sure to put a grin on your face!” Maybe it was the conditions that day or Carly’s personal preference but having extra width underfoot with added playfulness really spoke for these skis.

A true boss in the deep stuff, the Armada ARW 106 UL can quite literally surf through open pow fields, lofty cliff drops and wide-open terrain. With the ability to rip large arcing turns but not without that playful side, they may not shine on firm conditions but boy are they fun in the fresh!