It’s only natural that a ski like Völkl’s V-Werks Katana would shine when evaluated according to our Realskiers methodology. Our criteria are biased in favor of skis that scribe a continuous arc, a rare sighting in the Big Mountain menagerie. The V-Werks Katana’s presence atop our Power rankings is a testament to its unique capacity for applying carving characteristics to ungroomed terrain.
The new-age Katana skis like a very wide razor. What it doesn’t plane over it slices into with the confidence and panache of a fabulous fencer. Other wide skis don’t ski like this because they aren’t built like this, with 11 sheets of compressed carbon formed into a shape Völkl calls 3D.Ridge. It creates the long-sought balance between longitudinal softness and torsional rigidity that allows the ski to bow easily yet hold with the assurance of an anaconda.
If you don’t instantly fall in love with the i.Titan, it might be because you also want to date her equally attractive sister, the i.Rally. In skiing as in real life, you’re asking for trouble, for once you’ve gone out with both you won’t be able to chose.
Forced to chose on penalty of agonizing death or never skiing again, we’d probably pick the i.Rally. The deciding factor would be the i.Rally’s slightly more automatic response to turn initiation; it’s shovel connects earlier to the snow, augmenting the sensation of never-ending contact and imparting confidence in the ski’s imperturbable predictability. As noted by one of Peter Glenn’s stalwarts, “This ski turns itself on groomed slopes.”
The Vantage 85 W is so affordable because its construction sticks to the essentials and eliminates the extraneous. A light wood core encased in a slip of fiberglass provides support and energy; a thick vertical sidewall puts direct pressure on the edge, giving the Vantage 85 W the tenacity of pricier rides.
