2010 Volkl Mantra Ski

I had the early  2005 brownish/gray top sheet mantra and thought it was the best all round ski I ever skied.  At 94 mm under foot it was the widest ski i had ever been on but was amazingly stable at speed and carved well on trail.  In powder and crud the ski excelled. I am 5' 9'' and weigh 190 and felt very comfortable on the 184 mm.  @ 184 it was the shortest ski I ever skied since 1985.

 

I upgraded to the white with red graphics model which was a little wider at 96 mm underfoot in a 184 and felt the ski had stiffened up slightly from the older model but it could be that the originals had lost some snap.  nevertheless the newer ones seemed to bust through crud a little better.  I put about 150 ski days on each of the two pairs and both pairs still had a lot of life in them.   the skis have survived core shots but the edges stayed put and no damage to the integrity of the skis.   

 

I would still be on my last pair, but after demoing some rockered skis last year.  At the end of last season I was thinking about switching to Katanas but after finding out that the new Mantra would have tip rocker, my decision was made. I broke down and bought the new 2011/2012 Mantras again in a 184.  I am really looking forward to  an Alta/Snowbird  trip this year.   I will post a review of the rockered Mantra after I ski it.  Btw since I started skiing on Mantras, both my kids and all my ski buddies started skiing on Mantras,   My wife skis the female model the Aura.  Everyone thinks this is the most awesome ski ever. 

 

Remember the Mantra, like all Volkls, like to be skied fast with authority, likes to be on edge.   On a Volkl speed is your friend they respond well to power not subtlety.   I have a pair older Gotamas (early all black model) in a 190 and the Mantra is a better all round ski.  With more side cut the Mantra is better than the goat in everything except deep powder but even then there is not much difference. I ski a lot of tight trees and crud and the Mantras are unbeatable. The Mantras are more maneuverable than the Goats in tight trees. The Goats are cool though because they throw out a bigger rooster tail and no one rides your ass.     

 

I am 6', 205 and ski these in a 184 length with Marker Duke bindings.  As many reviews note here, these are a great daily ski for going through tracked out snow all over the PNW, which is wetter and heavier than some other places.  For me, the Mantras do well enough on the groom to have plenty of fun getting to the areas that aren't groomed, and enough float (although some days I would like more) to not get too lost after a deep dump.  They were a bit more of a handfule after a couple feet of drier powder that fell at ~12-16 degrees, but not every ski really does absolutely everything well.  Basically, I ski a resort that gets a ton of traffic in the steeper areas (Mt. Hood Meadows, the front bowls and Heather Canyon) and the stability this ski offers in wet, heavy tracks is a real winner for this area. 

 

For a prospective buyer, be careful and remember that all this ease through crud comes at the price of a much stiffer ski than some others of this width.  In other words, the Mantra can be a bit more of a handful in tighter, bumpier runs after a lot of traffic, and there are probably better skis for hunting deep powder in the trees ... you do have to stay out over these, to be sure.  However, if you spend a lot of time going through other skiers tracks and have to deal with a lot of variable conditions, this ski is a good choice.

 

Yep, this ski is probably one of the most talked about on Epic. Yep, there is a ton of reviews on it already. Yep i'm bored so gonna write one anyway.

 

Stats:

Ski: 177 Volkl Mantra w/ Marker Jester

5'11"

165 lbs

Level 9

Mountain: Treble Cone, New Zealand

Conditions: Everything from bulletproof off piste to powder and summits.

Other skis I have/recently owned: 191 ON3P Wrenegade, 170 Fischer Progressor 8, 177 Volkl Wall, 176 Salomon Dumonts, 189 Hellbents.

 

I bought these for the days where the snow conditions are pretty crappy. My 191 Wrens can be a lot of work in crappy conditions, so I bought these for something a little more relaxed and nimble. Something for for cruising. This is why I opted for the 177 length, regularly I would ski something in the 184-190 range.

 

I love the feel of this ski. Nice solid flex, burly construction, two metal layers, awesome on snow feel, definitely far from "planky"

 

Groomers/Ice: These things seriously rock on groomed runs. Rock, rock, rock. I have never been on a 96mm ski that can hold an edge so well. They are decently stiff so this probably contributes to it. Much better on this type of terrain than Salomon Shoguns or Line Prophets. I could rail some nice high speed GS turns no problem. I know people who hated volkl for killing the explosive, but I can see why they did it. It is just a ski that suits a wider range of people.

 

Crud: These can't even touch the Wrenegades in crud, but thats like comparing a Line Mothership to a Line prophet. However, for their length crud performance was great.Better than every other similar ski I tried. I could ski pretty fast through chop ect without it giving way or anything. Again, the stiffer flex does its job and makes the ski nice a stable. It does have a speed limit, but its high enough. It is really a ski that will reward aggressive skiing (Duh, its a Volkl). I see a TON of people at my resort who really shouldn't be on this ski. They are generally people like my Dad who are bit older, and buy them as they are marketed as a high performance top of the line freeride ski (scene skiers)- but they don't ski nearly powerfully enough to get the real performance out of the ski.

 

Bumps: I have always heard these are tough in the bumps. I had no problems at all. Very good for a 96mm ski IMO.

 

Powder: They work. We get heavier snow over here. Similar to the PNW and tahoe i guess. I did feel a bit of tip dive at times. For how versatile they are pow performance is definitely decent. Again, if I was on the longer ski it probably would have been better. I had a day on these where I really should have had my Wrens.

 

I did a few summit hikes, and was pretty happy to have these as with the jesters they are super light. I could see using them on some short tours if I had dukes on them.

 

Durability: Mine have taken a beating and still look pretty nice. The metal topsheet is hard to damage. The bases are pretty thin. Only complaint in this category.

 

Overall: This was exactly what I was looking for. I wanted something for the variable days that we can frequently get over here. You can ski bulletproof off piste conditions, to pow, to groomers, to slush all in a day. It fits in perfectly with my Wrenegades.

I demoed these recently at sugar bowl.  They were recently waxed, but the edges were very rough and could have used a tune.  The conditions were 3-5" of fresh (it was still snowing when I was up there).  I am 5'6" and about 125 lbs.  My previous ski was the Fischer RX-6.  I consider myself to be a level 6 skier.  I skied the Mantra the second half of the day after trying the Nordica Enforcer.  I found the Mantra to be better than the Enforcer in crud, but not necessarily hard snow or powder.  For the first hour I was fighting with the ski trying to figure out how to ski it properly on harder snow.  Eventually I just sort of gave up on the harder stuff and moved onto the crud off of Disney chair; and i'm glad I did.  The Mantra handled so easily in crud.  Much better than the Enforcer, in my opinion, which tossed me around occasionally.  All of a sudden the same ski that used to feel bulky and unwieldy felt amazingly manuverable.  I ended up having too much fun and lost track of time while laping Disney chair so unfortunately I never got a chance to test these in any powder.  It took me awhile to get used to the wider waist and the longer ski, but once I did I really enjoyed the ride that the Mantra was able to provide.