Armada JP vs Julien (JJ) Ski Comparison and Review
188 cm 2007 JJ vs 185 cm 2010 JJ
In January 2011 I was lucky enough to spend my fourth season cat skiing at the snow filled resort of Wildhorse Cat Skiing and Powder Mining Co. Having just bought a new pair of rockered 2010 Armada JP vs Julien 185 cm skis I thought the next few days would be a good time to compare them against my old pair of non-rockered 2007 Armada JP vs Julien 188 cm skis. With the help of my Drift Innovation x170 720p helmet mounted camera I decided to get some footage with both of the skis in action to give an idea of what it’s like to ride skis like these.
YouTube Links:
I will caution everyone that I am quite excited to be skiing in the 35cm of fresh snow that we had on the day the footage was taken, however, I think the footage gives a good idea of what the skis are capable of.
Both skis are mounted on the manufacturer’s recommended mounting point and I think plays an important part in how the skis feel. This feels especially true in the 2010 JJ’s. The tips of the 2010 JJ’s don’t curl up as much as the 2007’s so you get the impression that the tips and skis want to dive a little more than the 2007’s. Having not since remounted the bindings on these skis further back from the manufacturer’s recommended line I am not sure how much change there would be in the skiing characteristics. I can tell you this much, if you try to skis rockered skis by leaning back so you keep the tips up, you are not going to get the full benefit of the skis and your legs will just end up getting tired. Rockered skis are meant to be skied with your weight centered while letting the long slanting tip produce the float for you.
The other thing that I have noticed between these two skis relates to the width at the waist dimensions of these two skis. The 2007 skis are 98mm at the waist while the 2010 JJ’s are 115mm at the waist. In the deep snow the extra float provided by the 115mm waist of the 2010’s can be felt. The 98mm waist of the 2007 JJ’s are by no means bad though. On the flip side of the conditions range when there is hard pack snow and you jump turn down a steep slope, you can feel the torque put into your lower leg and knee due to the wider 115mm platform vs the 98mm platform.
To add to this explanation I am using Garmont Megaride boots with Fritschi Freeride bindings on the 2007 JJ’s and Dynafit Vertical LT’s on the 2010 JJ’s. It’s possible that the Dynafits on the larger 115mm waist 2010 JJ’s are getting overpowered but maybe not.
Hope this helps someone out there on their quest to buy new rockered skis or if thinking about talking care of a friends previously loved 2007 JJ’s.
JJ 2007:
JJ 2010:
