They also offer a toned-down graphic that should appeal to those who aren’t down for demon chickens.
Read on to find out how.
Shape Flex/Construction:
The new ARV 96 UL is identical in terms of shape to the regular ARV 96.
My ARV ULs had a touch more camber than the regular ski.
The construction of the Ultralight is where things change.
The ski features a poplar/caruba core and adaptive Xrystal Mesh for dampening borrowed from the Tracer series.
Its still decently solid throughout though, definitely no noodle.
The Ultralight version feels similar underfoot, but slightly softer in the rest of the ski.
The turn radius feels quick and the ski transitions from edge to edge comfortably when carving.
Testing out a cruddy landing.
In crud, its the added dampness that helps.
Neither ARV is a particularly great crud ski but the UL deflects noticeably less than its poppier brother.
I also got to ski some medium depth pow days and was pretty surprised.
I didnt like the regular ARV much in soft snow at all.
But this damper and slightly softer version seemed to be more conducive to soft snow conditions.
So how do they compare?
Well, you might definitely feel the reduced weight of the ski in the air.
The Ultralight feels more like a pure park ski than something verging into mid-fat territory.
The UL, however, felt pretty much the same as the Prodigy and other narrow skis.
On landings, these skis feel pretty much identical to the original ARV 96, nice and stable.
Yes, they are a touch softer but I never noticed it being an issue on jumps.
Theres enough camber and little enough rocker that these just feel stable.
I needed to pop with more effort to create the same airtime.
In general, I prefer damper skis, so I did prefer the UL in this regard.
The lower swingweight would certainly make them easier than the regular ski for taps and spinning on/off.
Neither ski had any signs of delamination which is pretty good for me on recent evidence.
The one concern with going for the UL over the regular ARV would be the core.
Light skis are, as a general rule, less durable.
However, the ARV UL felt just as solid to ride as the regular ski.
You get a cleaner (more grown-up?)
graphic and shave off a couple of hundred grams per ski but the performance is quite similar.
