The Volkl Confession is the most dedicated big mountain ski in their entire line of skis. It uses their new titanal band construction that we see in the Kanjo as well: a single strip of titanal running down the center of the ski. It provides the strength and power aggressive expert skiers demand, but is significantly lighter than a ski with a full sheet of metal, not to mention a ski with two. They have a rocker/camber/rocker profile, which is somewhat refreshing after a few years of nothing but fully rockered powder skis from Volkl. Skiers who have been grieving the loss of the Katana now have a ski that will fulfill their desires for a combination of float, power, stability, and maneuverability. All our testers skied the 186 cm Confession.
Rory Burke is one of those skiers who has been missing the Katana in the Volkl line. He deemed the Confession his “personal favorite” of the entire test and thought that it “picks up right where the old Katana left off.” The Confession likes to be skied relatively fast and aggressively and responds with what Rory describes as “super stability.” We know a lot of skiers are going to be excited to pick up a Volkl powder ski with camber under foot. Rory is certainly one of those skiers and he thinks Volkl really hit the nail on the head with the design of the Confession. As he puts it the ski has “camber where you want it! Rocker where you want it!”
While there is no women’s version of the Confession, some of our women testers couldn’t resist taking them out for a try. Although we only had access to the 186 cm length, Kristi Brown is ready to add one to her quiver, saying that she “needs a 179 cm ASAP!” Kristi describes the Confession as having “great edge hold”, but admits that the ski is “slightly forgiving” compared to other big mountain skis with metal. The Titanal Band construction really does keep the weight low for such a hard-charging ski. We think the fact that Kristi really liked the Confession despite the length being somewhat inappropriate says a lot about the ski and it’s approachability for being a big mountain ski. “Truthfully 186 cm is absolutely long for me unless I was in Alaska!”
Brooks Curran also appreciated the Titanal Band and the effect it had on the performance of the ski. “I like the efforts to reduce weight. It makes the ski more manageable.” Even though we’re spending a lot of time talking about approachability and manageability, it’s important to remember this is a big ski with a pretty big turn radius and it does have metal, so it’s no slouch. “When this thing gets up to speed it’s like a GS ski and that’s incredible for a ski this wide,” commented Brooks. He continued, “…it doesn’t seem to have a speed limit. Hard charging crud buster.”
Both Brooks and Mike Thomas gave the Confession 5 out of 5 for stability and torsional stiffness, however Mike agreed that the ski was easier to ski than he anticipated. He commented that he was “pretty surprised by this skis accessibility.” He described them as being “reasonably quick for how substantial it feels. It has a great solid feel on edge and charged through glop. Solid, solid, solid.”
Maybe you have a powder ski in your quiver that feels too soft? Maybe you’ve been tearing up at night over the idea that you can’t find another Katana to replace your pair with 200 days on them? The Confession is the answer to anyone who’s been asking for a burlier, cambered powder ski from Volkl. On the Confession you can, to quote the late great Shane McConkey, “just ski down there and jump off of something for crying out loud!”
