Völkl has always cultivated a high-end clientele, both in terms of skill set and what they’re willing to pay for skis. The German brand has been so successful at cultivating an affluent, expert customer base that it has the enviable problem of being pigeonholed as a high-end ski for talented skiers. But even the expert-ski market has a price ceiling above which it’s risky to rise, which puts a damper on commercial adventurism.
But what if money were no object? To answer this envelope-pressing question Völkl created v.werks, a special production unit that focused on the Holy Grail of ski design, superlight construction wedded to elite performance. The star product of the V.Werks lab was the Katana V.Werks, which remains in the line in 23/24. Its 3D.Ridge chassis worked so well, it became the backbone of Völkl’s non-race collections. Within a few years of the Katana’s introduction, its DNA had spread to nearly every corner of Völkl’s recreational collection. From a construction standpoint, the Katana became the conceptual grandfather of almost the entire line.
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.”
“This ski made short-radius, powerful turns with more ease than any ski in its category,’ concurred Sawyer Alford from Bobo’s, who usually attacks the fall line like it owed him money. “I felt that the turn initiation starts itself, making this ski one of the easiest and most fun skis to ski on that I have gotten to ride all season.” Theron Lee, a technical skier with the stance and style of a slalom specialist – a sharp contrast with Sawyer – found the Deacon V.Werks to be “very powerful and precise. Best suited for someone with race technique or at least a proficient skier: fun for a good skier, a handful for an intermediate. Very smooth and stable at speed; the faster you go the better.” In short, V.Werks hit its target: the Deacon V.Werks is a high-energy carver that’s simplicity itself to steer for skiers with the requisite skills.