The Volkl Kenja has been around for quite some time now and has become synonymous with high performance women’s all mountain skiing. It has a 90 mm waist width, camber underfoot with tip and tail rocker, and uses two full sheets of titanal sandwiched around a multilayer wood core. That’s a recipe for a high end, ripping ski, which our testing in the past has proved the Kenja to be. Its performance is at a level that not many women’s specific skis can match, and the ski has developed a strong following because of that. If you’re considering a Kenja, you should be at a relatively high ability level, which our testers can confirm. All our women testers on the Kenja skied the 170 cm length, which is actually the longest length.
Mar Kuhnel scored the Kenja 5 out of 5 for stability and torsional stiffness, but the forgiveness score fell down to a 3 out of 5. Her first comment on the Kenja is perfect, “the Kenja… it’s a Kenja!” That feels vague, sure, but the Kenja really is known for having a specific feel. “Super stable and charged when I stood on it. Pretty forgiving through the bumps, but it needs a little more skier input than some comparable skis, otherwise it will buck you around a bit.” Mar mentioned that she “enjoyed skiing it more this time than I have in the past,” which is interesting. Perhaps that means the Kenja just takes a few days to get used to its level of performance.
Ariel Aidala had some really valuable feedback for the Kenja. She did give it high scores, including 5 out of 5 for stability, quickness, and torsional stiffness, but Ariel admitted that “overall I was really digging this ski, but I wouldn’t personally purchase it because it was so stiff it’s just not for me.” That’s a fantastic point, the Kenja is not for everyone. Ariel did say more about her time on the Kenja, commenting that “it felt very stiff and could get great edge hold, but this also resulted in me having to give it to the ski, which is fatiguing over time.” The Kenja rips, but you gotta be ready for it.
Danielle Nichols had a fairly similar reaction to Ariel. She gave it high scores for torsional stiffness and stability, but lower scores for forgiveness and playfulness. Danielle thought it performed best on firm snow where she could really benefit from the impressive torsional stiffness and edge grip. “Once I figured out how to get the tip going it was pretty fun for larger radius turns.” We think that’s an interesting comment as it plays off the idea that, in theory, it took Mar some time to get used to it. The Kenja isn’t a super intuitive ski, it takes a little while to unlock its true potential.
Annie MacDonald absolutely loved the Kenja! She’s a good example of the type of skier who can really get a lot out of it: fast and aggressive. She called it a “solid all mountain machine!” That’s an understatement if anything. “Carves in groomers, powers through crud, torsionally stiff so can really stand on the edge and it holds well. Overall a great ski for a variety of conditions.” We agree 100%. If you’re up for it and willing to give it enough skier input, the Kenja can shred the whole mountain.
For advanced and expert level women who value stiffness, vibration damping, stability, and power in their all mountain skis, it doesn’t get any better than the Kenja. The downside is that it can be relatively demanding and somewhat fatiguing, but that’s a small price to pay in our opinion for the level of performance it achieves.
