The Völkl Kendo has been around so long it should be considered the founding father of the All-Mountain East genre. True, it hasn’t always been the same ski, evolving over the years from a fully cambered, hard-snow centric model to a double rockered affair with a wider waist and tapered tip, all accommodations to improve its off-trail aptitude. The Kendo of today is indeed much more amenable to maneuvering in tracked-up powder than its ancestors of the same name. It’s become more than just a wide carving tool; it’s now the paradigm of the all-condition ski.

The Kendo has stuck around as long as it has because Völkl never deviated from a classic wood core, metal laminate construction. What changed over the years were the sidecut, which recently added a soupçon of taper to the tip, and the baseline, which is now modestly rockered at tip and tail. The 2019 Kendo is a powerful ski, but not in a showy, take-no-prisoners style. The energy off the tail is decisive and secure, but not explosive. The Kendo sets an edge you can trust.

Bob Gleason, emeritus owner of Boot Doctors in Telluride and Taos, outlines the Kendo’s profile: “This ski does what it’s supposed to: hold very well. I would say the edge control on short turns at slow speeds lacks a little bit, but otherwise still very great.” If the worst you can say about a ski is it drifts a mite in short, slow turns, chances are this is a deficiency the advanced skier can live with.

Condemning the Kendo to a lifetime of slow, belabored turns would be a waste of the ski’s talents and the skier’s effort. The Kendo should be piloted with flaps down, energizing it with the speed it needs to be responsive. The Kendo is meant to canter when it isn’t allowed to gallop, so don’t be reticent with the whip hand.