2009 Armada JJ Review

Length: 185cm (Measures 183.5cm tip to tail)
Dimensions: 126-136-115-133-121
Weight (per pair): 9.47 lbs
Effective Edge Length: 120cm
Boots used: Agent 110
Bindings used: Atomic FFG14 (914)

A Season in Review

Every year for the past six or so years, I have purchased a fat ski with the intent of skiing it purposefully when the conditions permit. This is to say, its a quiver ski, for powder only and will likely see limited days in New England, and be my go to ski for any time spent in Utah et al. Without fail, every season, that supposed quiver ski becomes my workhorse as I continue to venture to places where the snow is better, and become more comfortable with hard snow compromises for the sake of off-piste performance. The 2009 Armada JJ is no exception to this trend, as it not only became my go to ski, but it proved to be one of the most fun and versatile skis I have ever ridden.

I was dead set on picking up a rockered ski that was versatile enough to be used in the Northeast where we encounter a wide variety of conditions, even on the best of days. A neck deep at Jay in the trees still means boilerplate on wind-scoured ridgeline trails back to the lifts, so I couldn’t compromise too much in terms of hardpack performance. I also try and get out to Utah a few times a season to help take the edge off the inevitable mood swings of the New England winter weather, and in doing so I really like to travel light, especially with the cost of traveling – so that means 1 pair of skis in the roller bag.

After shopping around the web, and some good discussion on TGR with others in search for an EC-worthy rockered ski, I settled on the following candidates:

• PM Gear Lhasa Pow
• Rossignol S7
• 4Front EHP
• Armada JJ

The Lhasa’s were a bit out of my price range, and early reports had them being less than stellar on the hard pack. The S7 and EHP were also on the pricey side and hard to come by in shops around my neck of the woods. The JJ’s were a wildcard, being a total redesign of the model with little to no independent reviews available. No one had spent enough time on this ski to comment in detail, but what little could be determined by way of a few frustratingly short magazine reviews and Armada’s own website was very positive. Superlatives like “Best hard pack performing/carving powder ski” and “one ski quiver for the west” were enough to pique my interest; so when I walked into a local shop in Nashua and they actually had a few pair stacked up, I was stoked to get my hands on them.

Armada JJ Rocker and Camber Profile

November – Bretton Woods, NH

My first day on the JJ’s was a late November season opener on what was mostly rain-crust on-top of 4” of frozen granular on top of either grass or a man-made base. So in other words, ideal. I had a pair of 177 Mantra’s with me that I started the day on, crusing hard/fast groomers and eventually heading off onto the ungroomed trails. The Mantra’s huge sidecut was constantly hanging up in the breakable crust and skiing it these conditions required constant attention. After a few more runs I went down to the car and switched to the JJ’s which elicited mostly laughter and confused looks from those around me. I headed right back to the same ungroomed crusty runs and found a completely different experience. The JJ was an absolute joy to ski, steamrolling the crust and allowing me to make near effortless swooping GS turns down the entire face. I lapped the area for an hour or so, many times letting the ski run straight the entire run – and never once finding what I could describe as a speed limit. It was simply unflappable when you wanted it to be, but at any instant you could switch up to tight turns with amazing ease; It was two skis in one. I thought for sure all of this fun on such a crappy day had to come at a price, so I headed over to some of the groomers which were now quite skied off, and proceeded to put all 115mm of that waist up on edge and carve the hard pack in a manner that was near par with the Mantra. It was amazingly quick edge to edge for a ski so wide, and I could not believe the stability in a turn with so little effective edge, along with almost no noticeable tip flap that is commonly associated with rockered skis.

December – Cannon, NH

Fast forward a couple weeks to December for a surprise powder day at Cannon…

It was about 12-18” on rocks and grass but I could not resist taking out the new boards. These were the conditions this ski was meant for, and I was dying to see how the performed. In the deep stuff, this ski still has no speed limit – just point it and go without any consequences. Make any shape turn you want. GS turns in powder? Sure. Slashy/Surfy/Slarvy smear turns – piece of cake. Want to milk low angle pow like in the video above – Ski them like you would a traditional cambered ski; center balanced. I sent a few short drops (3-5 feet) including one I came off a little too far forward, and would have resulted in a nice blow-up on a traditional ski, but not the JJ, it just swallowed it up and kept on going. One thing worth noting is that there is tip-dive with this ski, likely because of its stiffness (which enables its stellar hard pack performance) throughout when compared to skis like the K2 Hellbent or Pontoon, but this is no cause for concern, as at no point did it lead to a hang-up. The tips continue to plane just beneath the surface, up and over anything in their path.

At this point I ventured into some frozen, powder covered bumps to see how the wide platform got around in extremely tight spaces. I have to say I was less than thrilled. The transition from the softer rockered tip to the stiffer cambered underfoot section was exposed, and it is abrupt. I also found myself getting caught up on, what were to me, extremely long tails. I was not at all used to the near center mount that is required to get the most out of this ski’s limited sidecut, and in the bumps this seemed to keep throwing me into the back seat. At the end of the day, I was still happy overall with the ski seeing as I bought it as a semi-quiver ski, and if frozen bumps were not its forte, then I figured I could live with that compromise.

January – Alta, UT

In early January I headed out to Utah for a long weekend of powder chasing. We touched down just as a storm system was pounding the Wasatch and we were treated to a midweek 18” powder day at Alta with a conveniently broken down Collins lift that left runs off the High T virtually untracked until 3pm. The JJ continued to shine in powder. I loved making huge sweeping turns down West Rustler into powder choking hip-check slash turns. It was a totally new feeling to be able to surf on top of the snow like that, and it never gets old. My gripes with the long tails started to wane as I better understood how the ski likes to be ridden – with lots of forward pressure – no matter what the condition. As soon as I started to commit to the ski, and drive the tips, even in deep powder, the tails became non-existant and the ski was much more responsive.

It was a dream in the trees off of Wildcat – like skiing with a Joystick, just point them and go. Being able to change directions as soon as I could think of it, in snow that deep, completely changes the game, and encourages risk taking. I also loved how much energy the ski has, allowing you to pop and ollie out of deep powder. I’m not a jibber by trade, but a ski like this just makes you want to flip and spin. I should also reiterate what a great landing platform the ski is when hucking. Ever stable, never a hint of Hellbent wheelie thanks to the stiffness of the ski.

March – Alta, Snowbasin, Solitude, Brighton, UT

This was the true test of the JJ’s ability to be that west coast one quiver ski. As I was looking at the weather report, seeing that it hadn’t snowed for 2 weeks, I was really concerned that I’d be upset with my decision to pack this as my only ski for 7 straight days in Utah. Over the course of the week, conditions varied from from soft groomers and week-old powder to slush/corn snow, to rock hard frozen crust on an overcast day, to full on waist deep powder, and at no point did I regret having the JJ, in fact in many of the more adverse conditions, I questioned if any other ski would have performed better. Recycled frozen boiler plate without any Sun is going to suck on any ski, right?

The Bottom Line

What was expected to be total quiver ski for the deepest days, revealed itself as the most versatile and fun ski I have ever skied on. Its hands down your every day ski at Alta, and on the EC its your go-to ski on above average to epic days that can go bell to bell as conditions change. Slays the deep and steamrolls crud and cut up pow, then arcs like its on rails on the groomers and hard packed snow back to the lift.

GS Rating: 5/5