When the Powder ski genre was just gaining traction, Völkl’s Snow Ranger stood head and shoulders above the field, largely because it was so powerfully built. Völkl has made many sorts of Powder skis since, including the legendary Katana – perhaps the studliest Powder ski ever – the infinitely rockered Shiro and the twin-tipped Bash. The Confession, the German brand’s current Powder specialist, is perhaps closest in spirit to the Snow Ranger. It’s lighter than the Katana, cambered so its more connected than a Shiro and most definitely directional.
The Confession is so stable through its midsection that it can be railed on hardpack, but steering its 23.8m-radius sidecut and tilting its 117mm of waist width high enough to lock on a carved turn is no connection for old men. It’s so strong that with a little muscle it can be steered through anything, but it does require a firm hand at the controls and abiding faith in the power conferred on those who attack the fall line.
Why do I bother to round up every Non-FIS Race model I can rustle, along with the talent required to rate them? Practically no one in America could give a damn about the category, much less what I have to say about it. In the modern world, there are myriad definitions of what constitutes an all-purpose ski, and not one of them fits the profile of a NFR model. Quite the opposite, in fact: race skis are used as the prime example of what an all-terrain ski isn’t.
The world has indeed gone mad. In the halcyon days of my youth, the best all-terrain skis were race skis because all the best skis were race skis. A lot has happened to race skis since I was wearing long thongs, but one thing hasn’t changed: the best of them are still miraculous all-terrain tools. The best of them, exemplified by the Völkl Racetiger SL, feel limitless.
Corty Lawrence, whose normal turn radius is on the long side, called the Racetiger SL “the most versatile of the genre, with a broad range of uses. It has a traditional Teutonic feel and demeanor, and alters turn shape/radius without a problem. Good at low speed and great at high speed,” said the son of skiing legend Andrea Mead Lawrence.
Rossignol’s 7 series began a decade ago with a model that was 115mm underfoot and abundantly rockered tip and tail. In its first incarnations it had no metal, which contributed to a loose ride on groomers but great flotation and ease in the soft snow for which it was intended. Later on in the 7 series’ long trajectory came the Super 7, which at the time meant Rossi incorporated Titanal laminates into its lay-up, making for a more stable platform. By the time the Soul 7 appears in 2013, the Super 7 shed its metal, getting its energy from a long and responsive camber pocket.
The entire 7 series stepped up in power and responsiveness when it adopted Carbon Alloy Matrix, a grid composed of carbon and basalt fibers. The Super 7 HD went through a gamut of renovations over a 3-season period that changed its baseline (less rocker), tip design (more integrated, less mass) and appearance (terrific rack appeal). What didn’t change is the Super 7 HD’s primary personality trait: a spring-like rebound that is perfectly tuned to the rhythm of a powder run.
The new Völkl Secret 102 should not be mistaken for a set of training wheels. If you don’t have the requisite technical skiing skills, the Secret 102 can sense this shortcoming the way German shepherds can smell fear. As you digest the contents of Perry Schaffner’s critique of the Secret 102, cited below, please remember she’s fresh from a collegiate racing career and is an active coach who crushes every turn as if it owed her money.
“This is a great powder/off piste ski. Really carries speed well. I skied the top in the choppy powder [at Snow Basin, UT] and it cut through it fairly well. Additionally, it was surprisingly lively on the groomed snow. Obviously a little more challenging to ski it in groomers since it is fairly wide under foot. I think this is a great ski if you mainly ski powder with some random days of groomers thrown in there.”
Not since Alexander the Great has world conquest seemed so simple. All Michaela Shiffrin has to do is step into her magic Redster S9’s and a couple of minutes later she’s standing on top of a podium, wearing another gold medal.
It’s clear at this juncture in Shiffrin’s journey that she is likely to shatter every record for World Cup victories, leaving legendary talents like Stenmark, Hirscher and Vonn in her wake. The possibility that she’s dominating her sport solely because she uses the best skis is as remote as Tiger Woods’ supremacy is due primarily to his choice of golf ball.
Yet it’s precisely because of her incandescent talent that her choice of gear must be as meticulously managed as every other part of her skiing life. I’m not trying to suggest that you should cop a pair of S9’s just like Michaela’s, because for one thing, you can’t. Her skis are sui generis, their specs a more closely guarded secret than any dossier in Austria’s foreign ministry. But you can get the closest thing a civilian can find to Ms. Shiffrin’s S9’s, and they won’t disappoint.
