Rails / Jibs
Generally speaking, I’ve found a sliding scale of tradeoffs exists with park skis – an Indifference Curve, for any of you econ geeks reading this. For every “unit” of playfulness you sacrifice when designing a ski, you usually gain a “unit” of jump performance. For example: the Salomon NFX is an incredible big jump, competition-ready slopestyle ski. But, frankly, it’s not that fun and playful of a jib ski.
On the other end of the spectrum, the Line Blend is an incredibly surfy, fun jib ski, but its jump performance lacks considerably. Skis like the Head Caddy, Armada AR7 / ARV 86, and the Nordica OMW (soon to be phased out entirely) all fall somewhere in the middle of the spectrum.
The Whipit falls on the playful end of the spectrum, but not far from the middle. For such a playful ski, its jump performance is fairly impressive.
The Whipit is a fun, fairly surfy ski for such a narrow waist-width. All it takes is a little weight applied to the tips or tails, and the Whipit is easily coaxed into butters and presses. It’s noticeably more playful than the Head Caddy, but maybe a bit less surfy than the J Skis Allplay.
Its tapered, narrow tips keep the Whipit’s swing weight fairly low, and I could feel that when performing quick switch ups or bigger spins on and off rails. Like the Head Caddy, the Whipit never felt like the ski was holding me back from fast and / or bigger spins on rails; instead, it felt more like an extension of my body.
All-Mountain Performance
Around the mountain, the Whipit is most at home throwing slashes, hitting jibs, and it actually isn’t a terrible mogul ski even though it’s designed as a dedicated park ski. It’s clearly too narrow to really charge through more than a couple new inches of new snow though, and the Whipit’s soft tails really disqualify it from being an all-mountain charger.
Durability
So far, we’ve had good luck with durability on all the J Skis we’ve reviewed. I did get a few edge cracks by the end of the testing period (a couple more than on my AllPlays), but I’m incredibly hard on my equipment. I did a lot of disasters on the Whipit, many of which were gaps to the flat of down-flat-down rails up at Keystone.
I saw no issues of impending delamination in the tips, tails, or underfoot. Also, the topsheets of any J Ski don’t really seem to ever chip, which is pretty awesome. Nice work.
Bottom Line
Designed in Vermont, and built in eastern Canada, the Whipit would make a great east-coast one-ski park quiver. It’s highly playful and buttery, still holds its own enough on east coast-sized jumps, and is playful around the mountain on smaller terrain.
I would not recommend it as a competition-ready slopestyle ski simply because the tail is too soft to really be a big jump charger. Instead, the Whipit is a very fun, light, and durable rail and jib ski that will still allow you to hit jumps comfortably when you head over to the jump line.
Very good review. I want to buy new all mountain/park skis, but I can’t decide between LINE CHRONIC and J SKIS WHIPIT. Have you ever ridden CHRONICs and could you please give me some advice? And I can’t decide size too :( . I am 170cm and I weigh 75KG (Intermidiate level skier).
Thank you =)
Hahaha, I have the same question. Jskis are made by the founder of Line so im guessing that they will be pretty similar. Since Line skis are made in china, Im pretty sure that skis handmade in Canada are gonna be much higher quality. Im probably gonna get the jskis but its up to you. :)
The difference between the J Whipit and Line Chronic is the Whipit is more surfy in soft snow & buttery due to the slightly tapered tip which also makes it easy to butter without catching a tip. It’s also softer under foot yet stiffer in the tips. This enables the ski to be solid on landings and skiing fast yet when you want to butter, the under foot flex conforms to tight transitions and enables butter without washing out from under you. Most people comment that it feels like there’s nothing on your feet and as if it reads your mind if you read the reviews on the product page.
Email me anytime if you have other questions info@jskis.com
Jason
So i live near chicago and and we dont get much snow here (sadly). I was wondering if you could tell me how these skis would preform on groomed and hardpacked snow. Im not sure if i should get these skis because I would mainly do all mountain with a decent amount of laps in the park. I dont want them to be too park oriented but i do ride twin tips now with no problem. So if you could help me, i would really appreciate it. Thanks
If you like skiing in the park and still want to ski all over the mountain then the Whipit is definitely going to be your ski. It’s light weight and buttery flex makes it great in the park but I always design my skis with a sidecut geometry to always be solid ripping all mtn as well. Obviously if you never go into the park then there’s some better options I make like the Masterblaster ski, but if you want to shred all mtn and then drop into the park with equal comfort than the Whipit at 90mm wide is definitely best. If you want something slightly wider for more versatility from the park to the trees, you can consider the Allplay ski which is 98mm wide.
You can read customer reviews on the bottom of the Whipit ski page, just choose a graphic here https://jskis.com/collections/whipit
Also feel free to also email me anytime if you have other questions at info@jskis.com
Thanks for considering my skis!
How light is this ski compared to something like the atomic punx or Scott jib?
Hey Cory,
The Whipit ski is one of the lightest, most buttery park skis on the market, and at 90mm underfoot will give you much more stability than the other options. The design of this ski is meant to be an all-mountain park ski that can crush where ever you ski it, whereas the other skis will lack in performance outside of the park.
You can read customer reviews on the bottom of the Whipit ski page, just choose a graphic here https://jskis.com/collections/whipit
Also feel free to also email me anytime if you have other questions at info@jskis.com
Thanks for considering my skis!
If I am looking for a stiffer ski for pipe what would you recommend
Please :)
How would these be as chase little kids around skis? My current quiver is bonafides and billy goats and I want something fun to ski the blues with my 6yo and a pair of these popped up cheap.