Volkl Kiku Ski
February 12, 2009
ON SALE for the crazy price of $524.21 at backcountry.com! Click here!
The buzz this year has been all about the Kiku, as evidenced by all the drool I had to wipe off the skis when the local patrollers saw them stashed next to the snow pit I was digging. OK, so I admit to adding a little drool of my own when I pulled the Kikus out of the box. And they deserve the admiration. These women-specific fatties look like powder boards, but perform in all conditions. The more I ski them the more I like them, and it’s a crying shame that my demo pair has heavy alpine bindings, because I’d love to schlep the Kikus to the backcountry and let ‘em rip in the real powder (which, sadly, we don’t have at the local resort here this year). But, as we know, I’m lazy, and the chances of me reaching for a heavy setup when I can take my superlight-can-be-lifted-with-a-pinky backcountry setup are pretty minimal. So I’ve tested the Kiku at the resort only. I wanted to hold off on this review until I could try these in deep powder, but it just doesn’t seem like this is the year. I’ll update the review with the report from the white room if I get that chance.
What I do know about the Kikus is that they’re a powerful, no-nonsense ski that can rip some serious big, fast turns. As the lucky recipient of knee surgery last year, I’ve been tentative about speed, but I had to just get over it when I got on the Kikus. They just do not want to do sissy little speed-shedding slalom-y turns, they want big, sweeping, wide, fast giant-radius downhill turns. Because it’s just not fun to wrestle with 105mm-underfoot skis to try to get them to do things they don’t want to do, I was forced to get over my post-knee-trauma hesitation and rip it up the way the Kikus are meant to do. And ever since then, I’ve liked them more and more.
I’ve read reviews criticizing the Kiku for being “soft” and to that I say “whaaaa?” This is not a soft ski. This is a powerful, stable, solid board, not a noodle. Beginners might not like it for this reason, and with my initial start-of-season hesitation, I didn’t like it either until I remembered how to ski with aggression. Usually I find Volkls to be a fairly forgiving, dependable ski, but the Kiku won’t do you any favors unless you ski with authority. This isn’t a downside by any means; the Kiku is very stable and has saved my bacon in a few sketchy chutes by holding the line when it really, really needed to be held. Once you learn the nuance of the Kiku, you can readily convince it to cooperate for short, tight turns, but the big-radius sweeps are where it’s at for this ski.
Because we’ve had such a lame snow year, most of my Kiku time has been on hardpack, chop, and crud. Yippee. But it’s still been fun, since this is a fun ski. My one complaint about the ski is that it chatters on hardpack at high speeds. I can’t believe I’m writing that, because ski reviews usually fall back on that standard complaint at some point, so I vowed never to use the phrase. But, there I was, straightlining it down the steep hardpack, and when I powered into a turn, it happened – chatter. But come on- it’s a fattie powder ski, can you blame it? Hardpack is lame. Personally I can forgive a little backtalk from the Kiku when it’s restricted to hardpack. What little powder I could find was completely demolished by the Kikus. My regular ski (also Volkl, by the way) is no skinny minnie, but the Kiku is so much wider I was tickled by how much higher I rode over the powder. I expected to lose a little speed in the 10″ of fresh but the Kikus just blasted through it, leaving me giggling inwardly and thinking “oooh, neat!” I usually return demos after I’ve posted the review, but I really want to hang on to these for a few more weeks just in case we get a powder dump at the resort. I suspect that 20-24″ of pow is where the Kiku will find its proper home.
Oh, I guess I do have one other complaint – the topsheets. They’re cream colored with red splashes with flowers. Not cool. I don’t let topsheets dictate my ski choice, but I do think this design could stand some improvement. They look like they’re supposed to form some sort of shape when put together, but I must be failing the ski Rorschach because I just can’t see it. If anyone can write in with a good explanation of what these topsheets are about, you’ll deserve a prize. In the meantime, ignore the topsheets and don’t worry – these skis are worthy. Enjoy.
Volkl Queen Attiva Ski
February 6, 2008
Note: the ski I tested, pictured above, is the 05/06 version of this ski.
As some of you may know (oh, who am I kidding, you don’t know, so I’ll tell you), I had knee surgery this year. Getting back to skiing has been a little rough. I wasn’t even particularly enjoying skiing this year. I was able to ski the groomers just fine but let’s face it, groomers are boring as hell. I was resigned to a ho-hum season when I got the chance to try these babies.
Immediately I was transformed from the shadow of my former schussing self into a happy ski sprite, zooming down the slopes on these versatile, powerful, FAST skis from Volkl. These are marketed as more of a powder ski, and let me tell you, they do deliver in the pow pow. They have that fun diving-porpoise movement and they sing through the powder like angels on high. That’s one of my more nonsensical metaphors, but I’m so transported by these skis that I can’t make sense anymore.
One of the most pleasant surprises of these light (5-ish lbs) planks is that they still cut through the chop like butter. They’re flexible and light but the tips are somehow firm enough to hold their ground against the death cookies (been a while since you heard that term, eh? Hey, I never said I was a spring chicken). The only conditions that gave me trouble were hardpack/near-ice. The Queens are a little too flexible to grip the ice well, but who cares, who wants to ski on ice anyway? Surprisingly nimble for being fatties, the Queens are even enjoyable in the bumps and are versatile enough to hold any type of turn on the (ick) groomers. They are incredible in the powder but truly are an all-mountain ski. Added bonus – they’re nice and light, perfect for climbing.
Extra big points to Volkl for making a women’s ski with such cool graphics, too. A women’s ski that’s black, red and gold – now that is awesome. Volkl’s going to have a hard time shaking me off their bandwagon now, and everyone’s a winner.
