Völkl has found the ideal upgrade for its 3D.Ridge construction, itself a relatively recent innovation that trimmed away significant swaths of ski core material to make several key models, like the RTM 81, lighter and more flexible. Called 3D.Glass, it’s essentially the bottom half of a torsion box. Just adding a glass laminate to a ski would probably have helped, but Völkl went a step further and therein lies the trick that makes the addition of 3D.Glass instantly evident: in the center, the glass layer runs up and over the top of the sidewall, essentially demi-capping the core from the bottom up.
Last season Blizzard pulled off a coup that was, as far as this ski journalist is aware, a singular one in the annals of ski sales: a women’s ski, the Black Pearl, emerged as the top selling ski in the specialty channel. The reason the event was unprecedented is that women make up at best 40% of the new ski market. To be the number one ski means the Black Pearl had to dominate women’s sales. What voodoo did Blizzard do to make the Black Pearl so supernaturally successful?
3D.Glass is like a blend of ski Botox and blow: it makes everything about the RTM 84 smoother, with no visible sign of surgery, and the ski is preternaturally more energetic, ever ready to respond to athletic input. 3D.Glass is all the more effective because the RTM 84 baseline includes a cambered patch underfoot. Applying pressure on this glass arch is what has injected a few cc’s of pure energy into the RTM 84’s routine.
You expect a race slalom ski to be comet quick, and the Völkl Racetiger Speedwall SL UVO doesn’t disappoint in this signature department. What you don’t expect is the grace to accept longer turns when requested and a ride so polished it feels like the ski is doing all the heavy lifting. As nimble as teenage gymnasts, these Völkls nonetheless never act nervous. Their imperturbable calm is attributable to the UVO dampening element affixed to the forebody, allowing the skis to maintain snow contact through any turn shape.
Of all the skis in the very well populated All-Mountain East genre, the Völkl Kendo exhibits both the best balance of Power and Finesse properties and the perfect blend of hard snow and soft snow performance. Of course it can’t be as quick as a 72mm Technical ski or float like a 108mm Big Mountain model, but it manages to feel at home in any habitat. The Kendo kicks butt because it combines a traditional wood and Titanal structure with a modern, rocker/camber/rocker baseline and a shape that favors off-trail conditions.
