UKH

I've just bought my first pair of boots so looking to get skis now.

I'm 183cm & 75kg
I usually ski for a week in Europe and a few days in Scotland per year
I'd consider myself an intermediate skier, skiing blues and reds well and getting down blacks, I'm just starting to learn to carve.

I want something that's good on piste but can do a bit of off piste and cope with icy runs and chopped up slushy snow at the end of the day, so considering an all mountain ski. I can get good deals with Armada, Salomon and Atomic so only looking at those brands.

Thinking:
Salomon Stance 84
Salomon QST 92
Atomic Maverick 86C
Armada Declivity 88C

Would a ski like the stance 84 be too stiff for an intermediate with its metal layer, or would something like the QST be too soft for a fair bit of time spent on piste?

Thanks.

What skis have you used up to now ?

get whichever one you like the colour of.

the only one that is a slight outlier is the Sal Stance 84, this has a noticeably tighter radius. this'll turn sharper and easier on a hard surface, and is likely to be easier to carve on piste and ice. 

the others are much or a muchness for for any difference you would be able to notice. I would expect they all might be slightly better in the soft / slack-country than the St 84, but not exactly leagues apart.

Up to now, I've only hired piste skis 

Do you think the Stance 84 would be very stiff and would require a lot of effort/power to ski well, or is ok for the average intermediate? 

I wouldn't think so, however I'v not looked at the spec or sales BS in that much detail. unless it's selling itself specifically as "very stiff" then it's within the bounds of normal.

up to a point, stiffer skis are easier to handle on piste and hard-pack, ice, and rough shyte; they are easier to keep control of, keep them on their edge and prevent them from wandering off in different directions. off-piste / powder skis tend to be a bit more bendable and have more shovel at the tip which gives less effective edge length and more overall pliability.

there's really no such thing as a "beginner" or "intermediate" ski. there's are designs for different purposes, and price-point manufacture. It's when you go far to far into a specialist ski, that they become difficult in anything other than their intended use. Downhill racing skis are a nightmare for anything other than - downhill racing, and slalom skis are absolutely crap for anything other than hard, sharp turn on hard snow. So, yes, you'd need to be a good skier to be able to handle those types of skis effectively and in different conditions.

to some extent a stiff ski is not great if you're just noodlign back and forth on a nursery slope. but, that's not what you're going to do, and you'd have to go a lot further into the the niche markets before you'd pick up something that's just not right and hard to handle.

on reflection the St 84 might be your best choice: it's a piste-ski that'll work off; the others are essentially off-piste skis that work on. the others wouldn't be bad, but on balance I think these are more in line with where you're likely to spend the majority of your time.

Makes sense, thanks for your advice

There are very good reviews and videos of the ski’s you mention on this website www.ski essentials.com