Two
Comparing the Two to the One is a simple matter of addition: add 8mm of width to every dimension of the One and you’ve got the Two. More surface area means more flotation and a super easy to smear mentality. A ski this wide, with this big a turn radius, isn’t meant...Yumi
The Yumi can play several different roles in a woman’s life. It can be the first new ski for a teenager who has grown up on hand-me-downs. For the mother who’s watched every other family member get new skis while she’s soldiered on with relics, it can be her first experience with a modern ski. The Yumi is also a great catch for the woman who’s spent her humdrum ski life on groomers and is ready to try an occasional foray off trail.
The Yumi works wonders as a step-up ski for the intermediate skier of any age. It can be skied skillfully or somewhat crudely; the Yumi isn’t judgmental. It’s in the self-esteem business, building a woman’s skills. Once the skier acquires technical talent, the Yumi is ready and able to perform at higher speeds and more exaggerated edge angles.
V-Werks Katana
It’s only natural that a ski like Völkl’s V-Werks Katana would shine when evaluated according to our Realskiers methodology. Our criteria are biased in favor of skis that scribe a continuous arc, a rare sighting in the Big Mountain menagerie. The V-Werks Katana’s presence atop our Power rankings is a testament to its unique capacity for applying carving characteristics to ungroomed terrain.
The new-age Katana skis like a very wide razor. What it doesn’t plane over it slices into with the confidence and panache of a fabulous fencer. Other wide skis don’t ski like this because they aren’t built like this, with 11 sheets of compressed carbon formed into a shape Völkl calls 3D.Ridge. It creates the long-sought balance between longitudinal softness and torsional rigidity that allows the ski to bow easily yet hold with the assurance of an anaconda.