by Jackson Hogen | Sep 1, 2023
Any time a brand introduces a fundamentally new technology, it takes a couple of years to learn how to optimize it. After Völkl engineers had a few seasons to tinker with Titanal Frame, testing countless iterations, they found a way not only to perfect the benefits of Titanal Frame, but to magnify its virtues with a couple of complementary components. The marriage of Tailored Titanal Frame with 3D Radius Sidecut and Tailored Carbon Tips created a new benchmark for the genre, that will, in all probability, soon be recognized as one of the greatest all-terrain skis of all time.
The key to Titanal Frame is breaking what is normally a uniform topsheet of metal into three sections. The fore and aft sections of Titanal are shaped like an elongated “U”, with metal concentrated around the perimeter. The alu alloy here is .7mm thick, much thicker than usual, which accentuates the tip and tail’s connection to the snow, somewhat counterintuitive for an all-terrain ski.
The center section, which doesn’t mesh with the tip and tail pieces, is .3mm thick, a brilliant touch as it makes the center of the ski more flexible without losing its damping qualities in the critical underfoot area. This feature matches up perfectly with 3D Radius Sidecut, which we’ll get to in a moment.
In 2021/22 Völkl introduced Tailored Titanal Frame, that trims the width of the front section of Titanal to fit each size. This has the direct effect of making longer lengths noticeably beefier than their shorter kinder. If you’re used to skiing a 184cm, you might consider dropping to a 177cm to maximize the M6’s versatility.
Not content with all the forebody stability delivered by Titanal Frame, Völkl added a delicate braid of carbon fiber to the shovel, part of the ski most other all-terrain models leave floating inertly in space. Völkl made 100’s of iterations of Tailored Carbon Tips, searching for just the right response. The patch of fleece containing the carbon matrix has to be hand-laid into the mold, a level of artisanship that many skiers assume is the exclusive province of luxury brands.
Despite all these embellishments, the $749.99 MSRP for the 2024 M6 Mantra is less than it was two years ago for the M5 Mantra ($825). During a Zoom call prior to the M6 launch, I asked product manager Andreas Mann how it was possible, in an age when many brands strive to cut costs, Volkl ownership allowed R&D to increase their costs, to make a better, rather than a cheaper ski. His reply was the design team had the full confidence and support of upper management. This is what happens when product comes first.
by Jackson Hogen | Sep 1, 2023
Völkl takes product development very, very seriously, testing nearly 1,000 different skis a year, in every length it will manufacture. It uses a team of both in-house product designers and a dozen or so “externals” – top instructors and racers – to evaluate every design aspect. Their task is made trickier in that key design elements like Tailored Titanal Frame, 3D Sidecut, Tailored Carbon Tips and the Secret 96’s double-rockered baseline, all need to blend together for the magic to happen.
I mention this because the Secret 96 is essentially the same ski as the M6 Mantra, which sounds like a short-cut way to gin up a women’s ski. Far from it. One of the essential design goals of both new skis was to precisely tailor all aspects for all sizes, a process particularly beneficial for the largest and smallest sizes. Every decision was challenged in service to the main goals: more liveliness when pressured; accessible, tighter turn shapes; and smoother behavior in the turn transition, the “drift-to-carve” moment. The intent was to open up both the M6 Mantra and the Secret 96 to more skiers, especially in the shorter lengths, i.e., those made for women.
Völkl has a long history of developing strong women’s skis, like the Kenja, Aura and Kiku. With the Secret 96, Völkl has created another fabulous, benchmark model able to provide extraordinary performance that’s accessible to larger swath of the women’s market.
by Jackson Hogen | Sep 1, 2023
Four years ago, I speculated that the freshly minted Deacon V.Werks wouldn’t have the same downstream impact as the Katana V.Werks, but I may have spoken too soon. One of the most esoteric features of the Deacon V.Werks was a lattice-work of carbon fibers crisscrossing the tip, which inspired the Tailored Carbon Tips of the M6 Mantra and Kendo 88. Working in concert with Tailored Titanal Frame, Tailored Carbon Tips give the latest Mantra and Kendo the same clear connection to the front of the ski found in the Deacon V.Werks.
All carving skis are judged by how well they maintain edge connection throughout the turn on hard snow. Classically, the key to keeping a ski quiet all along its edge was to ladle on the Titanal, a proven method that achieves its damping objective in part by its mass. As an innovator in lightweight design, V.Werks instead turned to its wheelhouse material, carbon, to make a damp, non-metal ski that would be light and responsive.
Several factors work together to make the Deacon V.Werks easy to steer into a tight-radius turn without a lot of encouragement from the pilot. The cambered center section of its 3D Radius Sidecut is slalom-turn tight (14m@172cm); all the skier has to do to activate it is tilt the edge to a high angle, a normal move for anyone who knows how to carve. To make it easier to depress into a deep carve, the abbreviated camber line underfoot is fairly shallow and soft. The tip and tail rockers are long and gradual so the long-radius zones at front and rear don’t interfere with the ski’s quickness edge to edge.
The absence of metal and low elevation of the Marker system give the Deacon V.Werks a clarity of snow feel and lively energy that’s relatively rare among elite carvers. Most skis this damp and quiet on the edge are anything but nimble, but the Deacon V.Werks feels agile, quick to find the edge and lively coming off it. Jim Schaffner called it, “Idiot proof!!! This ski has great range. I found that the fore/aft balance was perfect, and the sweet spot as big as a locomotive. A powerful yet compliant arcing machine, it’s like having an auto-correct feature that makes it easier to ski.”
by Jackson Hogen | Sep 1, 2023
Five years ago, Völkl resurrected its beloved Mantra by concocting a new technology called Titanal Frame; four years ago, Völkl applied the Titanal Frame touch to its Frontside family. The latest pater familias of the Frontside clan is the Deacon 84, and like the M5 Mantra – since succeeded by the M6 – it represents a return to traditional Völkl values.
Compared to the RTM 84 it replaced, the Deacon 84 has more edge-gripping power, more energy out of the turn and an overall bigger performance envelope. It’s not just better than its predecessor; in its debut season, it out-pointed the entire, enormous Frontside field in Total Score, buoyed by the top Finesse score in the category, not bad for what is inherently a Power ski.
What is it about the Deacon 84 that allows it be all skis to all (Frontside) skiers? It’s the alluring combination of a fiberglass torsion box and tactically placed Titanal parts that nullify shock without stifling the glass structure’s naturally springy nature. It’s exceptional rebound – it will lift you right off the snow if you punch it – derives from the Deacon 84’s 3D Glass, top and bottom glass laminates that come together above the sidewall to create a torsion box. The 3-part Titanal Frame anchors the forebody and tail while allowing the center to react to pressure, so the glass can compress and load up energy for the turn transition.
As if immaculate edge grip weren’t enough, on the Deacon 84 it comes in three sizes, small, medium and large, facilitated by a triple-radius sidecut that gives the pilot total control over turn shape. Jim Schaffner, a Masterfit University instructor and longtime coach, “found this ski to be very versatile. This ski was super easy to pivot/ drift, yet at the same time, on medium pitch runs where I could go for it and really engage the front of the ski, I could feel the power and control. This is going to be a very popular ski for a large group of the market,” he presciently predicted.
by Jackson Hogen | Sep 1, 2023
There’s a trail of clues that would lead a ski behavioral therapist to believe that the Völkl Deacon 80 is the inferior in the relationship with its bigger brother, the Deacon 84. For starters, there’s its price, which works out to $100 less at retail. Price is usually an indicator of the cost of goods, and sure enough, the Deacon 80 uses glass for its 3-piece top laminate instead of the Titanal in the 84. And the Deacon 80 is, of course, narrower, which among carving skis can sometimes indicate that it’s geared slightly lower.
While these indicators are all true enough, the reality on snow is that the Deacon 80 is definitely in its brother’s league but it offers a different bundle of sensations. It’s more of a step laterally than down the product quality ladder. It uses the same structure as the 84’s Titanal Frame, with glass and a slice of spring steel in lieu of Titanal. The 80 copies the 3D.Ridge and 3D.Glass construction of the 84, it has exactly the same size splits (ranging from 162cm to 182cm) and while it’s slimmer, it’s thinner by the same 4mm everywhere, so its sidecut radii are also identical to the 84’s.
Alert readers will note the reference to “radii” in the last sentence, for the Deacon 80 also mimics the 3D Radius Sidecut of its big bro. The multi-radius shape is what gives the Deacon 80 the ability to make short turns or long on a whim; when the skier applies the additional edge angle needed to execute a tidy turn, it automatically activates the tighter-radius mid-section. Flatten out the ski and it reverts to a comfortable, long-radius cruiser.
According to our results, the Deacon 80 performs just a hair below its beefier bro in all technical criteria except the all-important one of continuous carving, the defining characteristic of the Frontside genre. While it’s not quite as lively coming off the edge as the 84, for this very reason it’s easier to move edge to edge without breaking contact with the snow.
