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Individual Review Volkl Kendo

Sierrajim

Ski Savant
Industry Insider
Joined
Dec 6, 2016
Posts
136
Location
Truckee, Ca
Crazy 88s - Volkl Kendo

The Kendo returns as it has been for some years now. Although a bit of tip rocker was added recently, it really didn’t change the capabilities of the ski much although the overall feel is now somewhat different. While the Kendo is not new or really even new-ish, it is one of the long term market leaders in this category so even though it was unchanged, I felt I should ski it as sort of a benchmark when testing this category. Pursuant to that goal, the Kendo was the first ski that I tested when I started in on this width category. This year, the 88’s were initially all tested at Mammoth.

The Kendo is on the stiff side of medium for this category and it is pretty firm in the tail. This is a good fit flex- wise for a strong skier. Out on snow, my first run on the Kendo was early in the morning and in the shade, the snow was still very hard. I started with short and medium radius turns on the groomers and the first impression you get from the Kendo is that it is very light and nimble feeling. At slower speeds it takes a little pressure to get the body of the ski to flex but once speeds pick up, the Kendo bends well. Once the ski begins to flex you immediately feel one of the major attributes of the Kendo. This is a lively and energetic ski with good grip. When the ski releases, it returns more “pop” than most of its competitors. Near the bottom of the first run, I opened up the speeds and the grip was still very good and the Kendo was stable from the end of the rockered section all the way to the tail. At those higher speeds and on refrozen marbles, the rockered tip felt detached and fluttery. Although the ski had good grip throughout the run, it was not particularly damp and the 177 felt short.

The second pass with the Kendo brought some broken and mixed snow conditions along with some chalky lumps that were trying to be bumps. In between all this was a fair bit of soft snow that was blown in by the ever-present Mammoth winds. Through this wide mix of conditions the light weight made the Kendo feel quick and tossable. The tip was maneuverable in the semi bumps but tended to deflect in the rockered section and the stiff tail would bounce you if you were not well centered. The Kendo remains a traditional feeling ski that is a bit biased toward firm snow and is a bit better on smoother snow than in the rough stuff or the bumps.
 
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