(Disclaimer: I tried to follow the 'ski advice' format in the stickied post)
Hello, my name is Dan and I don't ski because I've been snowboarding for 30 years but I have an almost 10 year old son who has been skiing for 5 years now. He has outgrown his awesome little Blizzard Gunsmoke 119 skis and I'm having a hard time figuring out what to get him next.
We shred mostly at Mt. Bachelor but we travel all over (hit Tahoe 3 weeks ago and Baker last weekend). Our son is an advanced skier who skis everything with speed, power and style. He does 360's, 540s on big park jumps, just learned backflips, hits every rail, airs out of the superpipe, lays down carves as well as the alpine skiers, rides tons of powder, is starting to launch little rocks and cliffs and freerides like an adult. What we're looking for in this future pair of skis is a freestyle ski that performs well in all conditions (a daily driver) that will be good for park, pipe, pow, freeriding and crushing groomers at high speeds. He is about 4'-8" and 65 pounds and has been on 119's that he has outgrown so we are looking in the 130 or so range.
We are tempted to go back to the Gunsmokes as they have been a rad ski for him and he has progressed like crazy on them, but they have a setback of center binding and people are saying he should start skiing more centered. The Gunsmokes are cambered and we feel he should stay on camber if possible.
We've asked all sorts of people about this and have gotten so many differing answers it's hard to figure out what the best choice is. it's even worse when you start googling. So I'm asking all you rippers, what ski should my little guy get next to take it to the next level? Any suggestions on profiles, tip and waist widths, etc.?
and my BUDGET is as low as possible as we are not wealthy, but I'm willing to consider anything that will help my little man continue to progress.
Thank you for your time. Aloha!