2023 Armada ARW 96

The Armada ARW 96 is one of their flagship women’s skis and provides versatile, playful performance both for the terrain park and as an all-mountain ski. It features a twin tip shape with tip and tail rocker and a 96 mm waist width. That mid-90 width range is home to some of the most well-rounded skis out there and is equally at home on firm and soft snow conditions. This is the type of ski that you can customize to your liking depending on where you decide to mount it. If you’re more of a park skier, you can go true center, while others may choose to go further back from that to boost its directional performance. The ARV 96 is constructed with a poplar and ash wood core, which provides a medium flex pattern: not too soft, and not too stiff. One thing Armada is known for is durability, which is reflected in the 2.5 Impact Edge found on all the ARV and ARW models.

Allison Kozar skied the 163 cm length in the ARW 96, which she described as “perfect.” Allison dished out some high scores too, with both flotation and playfulness receiving 5 out of 5 scores. Stability, quickness/maneuverability, forgiveness, torsional stiffness/edge grip, and overall impression were right behind at 4 out of 5. Interestingly, versatility dropped to 3 out of 5. Our take on that is that while the ski remains versatile for different terrain and conditions, it does prefer to be skied in a certain way. “Fun ski. Handled well in mashed potatoes, but also handled well on hard pack granular. Nice quick turns, not the most stable. There was certainly some chatter, but over a great ski for the lightweight intermediate to advanced skier.” It sounds like Allison experienced a touch more vibrations and chatter at higher speeds than she would’ve liked. We don’t necessarily take that as a downside, rather that high speed turns aren’t really a focus of this ski. For skiers who want fast directional performance, the Reliance 92 Ti may be a good one to look at. This theory was echoed by Louise Lintilhac, although she did mention the 163 cm length she tested felt short, which likely is affecting her feedback a little bit. For Louise, stability dropped to 2 out of 5. “This ski is a great beginner to intermediate ski for someone looking for quick turnability on the hard pack with the option for float when conditions get a bit powdery. They definitely have a speed limit and like short turns. They got quick squirrely when I tried to open it up. The nice light weight would be great for someone who wants an approachable daily driver.” We expect Louise would’ve found more stability had she been on the 170 cm length, but this is still valuable feedback from the former Freeride Tour competitor.

Carly Monahan had the opportunity to test the ARW 96 earlier in the season on a nice soft snow day. We got very consistent scores from Carly, with all of our criteria receiving 4 out of 5 scores, except for versatility, which dropped to 3 out of 5. Carly skied the 170 cm length we expect Louise would’ve preferred. Carly, despite noting that it skied true to size, did mention she would’ve ultimately preferred downsizing to the 163 if she were to purchase a pair. “I was lucky enough to ski these on a powder day pre-ski test. Hopping on the ARW 96 after the Reliance 88C I immediately noticed that they were much heavier and felt planky by comparison skating to the lift line. But once we hit the woods and some deeper snow, I was really impressed. Despite my initial "oof, these are heavy" thoughts, they were plenty maneuverable in the trees and a ton of fun in powdery bumps. They plowed through choppy stuff and on the groomers I could really feel the pop of the wood core through my turns. I'm not a park skier, but I can imagine these would shine in that world.”

Through our testing, two overall applications emerge as the best use for the ARW 96. One is for women who are going to spend a good amount of time in the terrain park. While our testers weren’t avid park skiers, it’s impossible to ignore its performance in that avenue. The other application is for less aggressive skiers and/or those that prefer seeking out soft snow conditions and making short turns rather than letting their skis run into high speed arcs on firm snow. If you’re a blend of the two, say a park skier who loves skiing trees too, it’s about as good as it gets!