How fleeting is stardom, how swiftly the limelight fades. It was only two years ago that the Völkl 90EIGHT was injected with new life by 3D.Glass, which this pundit declaimed as the most clever product upgrade of the year. Then along came the M5 Mantra and the 90EIGHT lost popularity like a close talker with bad breath.

The problem with this fall from grace is that the two skis are quite different, despite having similar sidecuts and baselines, which would normally suggest some overlap in their behavioral profile. But their signature construction features are from two different worlds that have circled each other in the ski universe for decades: a metal laminate, traditionally the province of GS and speed event skis, versus a fiberglass torsion box, once upon a time the paradigm of race slalom design.

Not to digress, but the metal laminate Völkl came up with for the M5 Mantra isn’t just an undifferentiated sheet of Titanal, but a 3-piece arrangement unlike anything seen before. Similarly, the torsion box at the heart of the 90EIGHT is sui generis. Instead of wrapping fiberglass around the core, the torsion box begins as two parts that meet in the mold. The top sheet follows the contours of the 3D.Ridge design that was originally created to trim weight from Völkl’s off-trail collection. The genius of 3D.Glass is that it isn’t just a matching bottom laminate; it also runs up and over the sidewall, creating a short flap that joins the edge of the 3D.Ridge. Voilà, torsion box.

Getting to the point, a laminate like the M5 is intended to stay in contact with the snow throughout the turn; the energy generated during loading is meant to be propulsive, shooting the skier forward. Lost contact means lost speed means lost race. (The M5’s Titanal Frame restores some rebound traditional lay-ups suppress, but let’s stay on point,) A torsion box like the 90EIGHT is designed to recoil when pressured, which means that, given a push off the edge, it will elevate both itself and its pilot, fly over the turn transition and land ready to lock onto another arc.

When it comes to demolishing crud, the M5 is more of a bulldozer and the 90EIGHT more like a crate of grenades. The lighter and peppier 90EIGHT is more inclined to glide over broken terrain, while the carving power of the M5 wants to dive into it. Jack Walzer of Jan’s has the 90EIGHT pegged as “fun, playful, great in soft snow ski and very lively.” If you plan on using your new All-Mountain West skis primarily off-trail, the 90EIGHT is probably the superior tool.

For packing a lot of power in a lightweight, easy to manage package we again award the 90EIGHT a Silver Skier Selection.