another ski question - bros/kehua/mantra

[departure]

I'm in the market for a new set of skis and was wondering whether yall could answer a few questions. (and I did use the search function but didn't find anything that really related to my problem)

I ski almost exclusively off-piste- steeps, trees, chutes, drops (not much more than 15ft) and will be living in Vancouver next year as a student - (so hopefully skiing some north shore stuff, whistler as much as I can afford) I'm about 140lbs, 5'11 and an advanced skier. Saying that, usually I don't get out more that 20 times a year and more often than not the conditions are less than ideal. I am interested in the 179 soft bros but was wondering how the 99mm waist perform in those shitty condition days (which I seem to get a lot of) or whether I should move down into a smaller waisted ski - something along the lines of the volkl mantra or fischer kehua?(btw I don't need twins).

Just wondering if you had any suggestions (doesn't have to be the skis listed above),
thanks

[uncle crud]

I think the tiny difference in the waist width of Bro vs Mantra isn't going to make a big change in lousy hardpack/ice/crap conditions.

Now if you said Bro vs whatever Volkl's GS race carver is called, then there would be a bigger change between the Bro or the Volkl. Basically you need to drop down to around mid 70s or narrower to find skis that are desiged to be doing their best on hard snow.

[Toby]

I am interested in the 179 soft bros but was wondering how the 99mm waist perform in those shitty condition days (which I seem to get a lot of)

My one ski quiver this winter will have a 114mm waist. The Bros are a very easy ski to ski, inbounds or out of bounds. I wouldn't be concerned with using them on harder days. Having said that, my experience is limited to the 188 super stiffs.

[Squatch]

I think the tiny difference in the waist width of Bro vs Mantra isn't going to make a big change in lousy hardpack/ice/crap conditions.

Now if you said Bro vs whatever Volkl's GS race carver is called, then there would be a bigger change between the Bro or the Volkl. Basically you need to drop down to around mid 70s or narrower to find skis that are desiged to be doing their best on hard snow.

meh...fat skis perform well in icy cruddy hardpack, just as well as narrow ones. For me it comes down to torsional stability. I've had two pairs of volkls: the G3 (70 mm waist) and the mantra. Both in a 191, 22 vs. 27 m radius. the mantra held on icy crud better than the G3, because it was more torsionally stiff. It also felt stiffer, even though it wasn't stiff via hand-flexing. The G3 carved better, but mostly I was not on groomers/didn't really care about carving performance, as that wasn't really the terrain i was interested in at the time I had those two. I've also found that fatter skis are stabler than skinnier skis.