I reviewed a few new skis from Volkl last spring. This is the second post in a four-part review series. The first installment was about Volkl Katana. In this serie’s future posts I will discuss two other skis as well, namely Gotama and Tigershark 10FT Power Switch. The review was done last spring in northern Finland as soon as these skis were available. Check out the review conditions and skier details in this serie’s Volkl Katana ski review.

177 Volkl Mantra 07/08 ski review results

These were probably a bit small for me…or so I thought at first. I normally ski 06/07 190cm Volkl Gotamas and/or 189cm older (green) Seth Pistols, and some 180cm park skis.

The dimensions of the Volkl Mantras are a very versatile 133-96-116mm. On the slopes, I was really surprised how well the 177cm Volkl Mantra behaved: I’d say predictable and stable but still somehow unforgiving. Both Volkl Mantra and Katana have a little bit softer flex and a somewhat “lazier” feel, whereas Gotama is very “snappy” but at the same time a bit more demanding.

My groomer technique needs some updating, and I was actually getting some tips from a ski-instructor friend while testing these skis. We both laughed at how I was much more comfortable on Volkl Mantras than on some real “carvers” and managed to do much better two-footed carves on these wonderful masterpieces of German ski engineering. Conditions probably played a role here: skinnier skis really started to “boot out” in the bottomless slush (yes, really weird conditions…you kind of had to surf the slush in a way just slightly resembling real pow skiing).

Volkl Mantra 07/08 is a good all-around ski

I’d say Volkl Mantra is a real all-around ski. I especially dig the fact that there’s almost a “pintail” design put into the ski: while the tip is as wide as in Gotama, the tail is much narrower. So even with a slightly narrower waist the ski lets you plane as the tip goes up and the tail goes down on the snow. Brilliant, don’t you think? Still there’s enough sidecut for quick carves on the harder stuff. The narrower tail also lets you finish the turn as you like, skidded or carved.

My only gripe with the 177cm Volkl Mantra length was that the tail felt really short (ok, let’s admit that a slight back seating is one of my normal bad ski habits). Seems like the standard binding mounting for these is pretty “traditional”, i.e. really far back on the ski, like it usually has been in the Volkl lineup. But I also think that on the 184 cm version, I wouldn’t have even noticed this. I also think that the longer length would rock in some longer turns, and I’d really like to test the 191cm model on some creamy windbuff or just on some groomed long gs-run…hmmmmm, can you say speed!

Overall impression: 07/08 Volkl Mantra is a very good and well thought-out ski. Also, it is suprisingly forgiving for Volkl - this might even be considered a drawback for some people though. These skis are probably not the best ones for any particular condition but I’d say that if you suck on these, don’t bother blaming the equipment…