For the second year in a row, the Tracer 108 takes the Editors’ Choice stage, receiving high marks among testers for versatility and playfulness.
“Skiing the Tracer 108 is like being a kid in a candy store; you can get whatever you want,” one tester exclaimed. “The question is: what do you want to ski first?”
Armada’s Tracer series sets sights on blending skintrack speed with chargeability through a variety of conditions. For the 108, the midfat offering in the four-ski series, updates for the ’19/20 season manifest in a fiberglass-encased poplar/karuba core intended to shed weight (seven percent over last year’s model) while maintaining downhill power. Testers took note: “Stable underfoot, even flex and fully reliable through most speeds and all turn shapes,” one said. “The lightened version of this season’s Tracer 108 is an incredibly capable backcountry ski,” another commented.
To further reduce overall mass while maintaining torsional rigidity, the ski boasts a sloped cap construction—resembling the top of a hexagon—that, from a thick platform underfoot, tapers toward the ski’s edges. Armada overlays the core with a mesh innegra fiber designed to increase impact resistance and dampening qualities. “If these skis were a bit more damp, they’d really be the full package,” one tester griped. But another tester noted the 108’s boundary-blending personality, calling it “tough enough to handle the crud; light enough to be my everyday tourer.”
$875
armadaskis.com
134/108/126 7.6 lbs. (180)
Lengths: 164, 172, 180, 188
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