Overview

Völkl didn’t actually invent the concept of quality control, but denizens of our little corner of the universe can be forgiven for thinking so. It set the standard for base finish for so long, if someone gave a trophy for the best QC they’d have to name it the Völkl Prize. Yet this noteworthy achievement probably plays only a minor role in why skiers who buy Völkls never buy just one pair; instead, they become Völkl junkies. Not that they become dissolute, as it takes an athlete to happily co-exist with the Völkls of yore, but they do become dependent. Mama, don’t take my Mantras (or Kenjas) away!

During Völkl’s ascension to market preeminence, it earned a reputation for powerful, technical skis with a small sweet spot and an unslakable thirst for speed. Völkl came to regard its experts-only-need-apply reputation as a stigma that limited its sales potential, so it set in motion a long-term plan to change how the brand was perceived by changing, sometimes radically, how it made skis.

The trick in this transformation was how to wean their public off its ultra-traditional, thick, fully cambered skis without losing its established base among the sport’s elite. It began by tampering with the Gotama, an off-trail ski that served as a logical place to excise an Old School, arched camber line and substitute a fully rockered baseline.

Once the new Gotama with the flat baseline was accepted, Völkl applied the same technique with its Frontside carvers, with the same result: the RTM 84 won instant adherents. With each passing season another venerable model passed through the modernization machinery.

The process continued in 2014, as the Kendo and Kenja were brought into the New Age fold with double rockered baselines with just a remnant of camber underfoot, and the revered Mantra and Aura were transformed into off-trail models with a camber-less, fully rockered baseline, all the better to smear with. The power that was once the exclusive province of highly skilled athletes became accessible to the nearly skilled, as well.

When Völkl unveiled the V-Werks Katana several seasons ago, it would have been supernaturally prescient to foretell that by 2017 it would be the inspiration for nearly all important models from 81 to 108mm underfoot. The V-Werks Katana was an experiment to see what would happen if a ski was made of a lot of highly compressed carbon and little else. It skied like the world’s fattest carving ski, not exactly a niche everyone was stampeding to occupy.

But the V-Werks Katana was onto something. It was possible to pare away a lot of material from a conventional ski construction and, if the remaining structure were strong enough, it would still perform at a high level. Völkl called this new shape 3D.Ridge, named for the raised central platform that’s forms the thickest part of the ski.

By 2016, 3D.Ridge design permeated the Völkl line, spreading the Lighter is Better gospel to all skiers. There was only one fly in this low-fat ointment: none of the Katana’s kinder skied with the authority of the original, all-carbon 3D.Ridge, which then as now costs a fortune to make and therefore isn’t marketable to the masses. In 2018 Völkl revealed the perfect patch for the power shortage, a bottom layer of glass configured to increase the torsional rigidity, called 3D. Glass. Ingenious in its simplicity, stunning in its impact on performance, 3D.Glass was the best across-the-board product upgrade of 2018.

It’s difficult to overstate the benefits of 3D.Glass, the craftily configured sheet of fiberglass that elevates the edge grip of every model it touches. The secret to 3D.Glass’s effectiveness is that it doesn’t just lay on the bottom of the stack of laminated components, but runs up the sidewall and tucks over its top, essentially forming an anchored, open box with the other elements as filling.

3D.Glass makes a ski livelier because glass is the springiest material in the ski. It makes a ski more resistant to twist because it has its own sidewalls. It helps maintain edge contact on hard snow and bats away clumps of broken snow off trail. It can’t put your boots on for you, but it does just about everything else.

Last season Völkl unveiled the fifth generation of its legendary Mantra, the M5. The Mantra M5 was created to win back the experts who once formed the backbone of the brand’s market support. The key to its success was a new way of deploying Titanal, breaking the top laminate into 3 pieces. Two long stirrups of .6mm Titanal wrap around the tip and tail, while a third, .4mm strip occupies the center of the ski. None of the pieces connect, which allows a honking layer of glass directly below them to “breathe.”

By that I mean the broken-up top laminate makes it both easier for the skier to flex the center of the ski and, just as importantly, allows the fiberglass sheet to compress. The instant the skier releases the pressure, ping!, the glass rebounds and pops the skier into the top of the next turn. If there’s one trait the new Titanal Frame could hang its hat on, it’s rebound energy.

Last season Titanal Frame spread its wings, infiltrating the Frontside genre with the Deacon 84 and moving to the front of the line in the Al-Mountain East category with the Kendo 88. Not coincidentally, the Kendo and Deacon 84 also share the 3D Radius Sidecut, an ingenious way of creating a classic “combi,” or hybrid GS/SL ski. If you ride the ski at a low edge angle, you’ll engage the longer radius tip and tail so you can cruise without fear of being yanked into a tight turn. To activate the slalomesque midsection, the skier needs to elevate the edge angle and apply pressure to the softened-up center section, and bingo! The ski tightens its turn radius instantly and in the same heartbeat releases the edge with enthusiasm. Once you understand how to operate it, 3D Radius is a gas to engage.

At the other end of the agility scale lies the Mantra 102, also introduced just last year and also embellished with Titanal Frame and 3D Radius, which in this over-sized application creates a ski that tries to subdue terrain rather than caress it.

Völkl has a huge fan base among strong women skiers who now have three Titanal Frame models to call their own: Kenja 88, Secret 102 and the returning Secret 92. None of these women’s models have been watered down to placate the masses; they’re every bit as bold and badass as their unisex counterparts.

The 2021 Völkl Season

Last year’s stunning slew of new models solidified the core of Völkl’s non-race collection, leaving only a few slots on the perimeter of the collection to update. Those vacancies have been filled this season with the Deacon v.werks, Katana 108, Kanjo 84, Yumi 84 and the 4-model Blaze collection.

 

The Deacon v.werks applies 3D Radius to an all-carbon confection that says auf wiedersehen to chatter. The resurrection of the Katana as a 108mm bruiser armed with Titanal Frame and 3D Radius Sidecut should elate the XXXL lads who’ve pining for the return of the original Katana.

 

The Kanjo and Yumi were given a full makeover as recently as two years ago, but this year’s changes deliver an even bigger performance boost. While their respective positions in Völkl’s collection haven’t changed, both have a much higher performance ceiling than any versions that preceded them. The 2021 Kanjo 84 and Yumi 84 benefit from Glass Frame (same idea as Titanal Frame but using fiberglass instead of Ti), 3D Radius Sidecut and a Titanal Power Plate for extra edge grip.

 

Völkl has always catered to the high end of the market, but as MSRP’s for elite all-terrain skis (backcountry models in particular) creep ever upwards, Big Mountain skiers on little mountain budgets may find themselves priced out of a market that was made for them. Rather than let this cadre of advanced skiers go unserved, Völkl created the Blaze 94 and Blaze 106, in both men’s and women’s versions. Their distinctive transparent graphics expose their guts to public view; what you see – a mostly wood core with a Titanal Power Plate underfoot – is what you get. Less obvious is their 3D Radius Sidecut and BC-worthy weight. A 186cm Blaze 106 tips the scales at a mere 1772g.