Völkl kept the model name and basic construction, but altered just about everything else about the new and noticeably improved Kendo.   While the baseline retains a cambered profile underfoot, the tip and tail are now emphatically rockered.  The sidecut has been tweaked a tad dimensionally, and the new tip has the elongated taper associated with off-piste skis instead of the traditional sidecut that has been a Kendo staple for what seems like an eternity.

While it hasn’t been quite that long, the Kendo has been around long enough that it’s become a reference ski, meaning it sets the performance bar for the entire category.  We’re pleased to report that hasn’t changed; the Kendo remains the standard against which other All-Mountain East skis are judged.

The Kendo is programmed to spring into action when it’s rolled to a high edge angle, where the energy coiled in its compressed camber can propel the pilot on a precise trajectory into the next turn. Scott Sahr of Aspen Ski and Board noted how it “holds a great edge at high speeds, with good rebound for maximizing turn transitions.”

The last paragraph could just as easily been written about Kendos of yore, but there’s more to the new Kendo, for as Matt from Footloose observes, “The evolution of this ski keeps getting better and better.”  What’s getting better are its all-terrain temperament, its adaptability to 3-D conditions and its willingness to get off the edge and drift.  The half-drift, half-carve turn known as a stivot is second nature to the new Kendo, an indication that it’s more open to suggestion about turn shape and snow conditions than its predecessors. In a word, it’s smoother.