The Volkl 90Eight W is a women’s all mountain ski that’s designed to be versatile and lightweight, yet still have strong torsional stiffness for holding an edge on firm snow. How does Volkl go about building a ski to accomplish these things? They utilize 3D.Ridge and 3D.Glass construction techniques. This construction has been tweaked over the years and is proven to provide impressive performance at a lighter weight than traditional ski construction. The 90Eight has a rocker, camber, rocker profile with a turn radius that ranges from 14.6 to 17.9 depending on what length you choose. There is a slight amount of early taper in the tips and tails, which should help increase maneuverability and the ability to pivot or smear a turn. That 98 mm waist width hits a really nice range for a versatile all mountain ski. We had four women testers on the 90Eight, all of whom skied the 163 cm length.
Annie MacDonald thought it was a “great all mountain ski!” Annie gave it high scores across the board. In fact, the only score lower than 4 out of 5 was forgiveness, suggesting you need to be at a certain ability level and ready to give the ski some skier input. Annie described it as a “versatile ski,” saying that it felt “extremely light and torsionally stiff.” Annie thought the 90Eight would “suit a wide range of abilities from intermediate to expert.” So, while she did give the ski its lowest score for forgiveness, she obviously thinks it’s approachable for more than just advanced and expert skiers. Annie also thought it “felt very balanced,” and that is had both “good carving and smearing.”
Jenny Lawson “loved it!” She described it as “easy to turn,” and thought it was a “great all around ski.” Jenny thought it had excellent torsional stiffness and stability, giving those attributes 5 out of 5 on our scoring sheet. Jenny also thought the ski reacted differently to how she wanted to ski. She said she “could be lazy or work hard on this ski.” That’s a nice characteristic for an all mountain ski. Sometimes you want to ski hard and fast, but sometimes it’s time to relax a little bit. Jenny also thought it was “fun in the slushy snow” that we had while she was testing. The 98 mm width definitely helps in softer snow.
Elissa thought it felt “very lightweight for its size.” While Elissa thought it had great flotation with its 98 mm width and found it to be very versatile, she also mentioned that the ski can handle “wide open carves on open slopes.” We agree. The stability and torsional stiffness provided by the 3D.Ride construction allows you to make some pretty darn impressive carves for a that’s this wide and this lightweight.
Emily Crofton said she “liked it a lot!” Emily gave the highest scores for quickness and edge hold, which are two awesome characteristics to have in one ski and is another example of the impressive performance from the 3D.Ridge construction. “This ski really does the work for you. Very stable, maneuverable, and versatile. Solid all mountain ski with really good quickness and edge hold.”
If you’re looking for all mountain versatility and you have a preference for lighter weight skis, the 90Eight should definitely be on your radar. Whether you’re skiing powder, trees, moguls, or just cruising groomers laying down carving turns, the 90Eight can do it all. It’s even light enough to justify mounting it with an alpine touring binding and using it for backcountry or sidecountry exploration. While there are lighter touring skis out there, the 90Eight has awesome downhill performance and is still quite lightweight.
