The Volkl Deacon 84 has some pretty big shoes to fill. No longer is the RTM 84 going to be the go-to model for front-side carving fun. For years, the RTM 84 has been the staple, the bar, the pinnacle of Volkl’s all-mountain carver. You could literally Ride The Mountain on those skis. Fortunately, Volkl’s backup plan is actually a step up. They’ve basically combined their 3D Ridge construction with their Titanal Frame to create the next step in modern carving and all-mountain evolution. They kept the 3D Glass, the full sidewall, and the wood core, and added a 3D Radius sidecut for versatile turn shapes. Overall, this marks a huge improvement over the RTM 84, and we look forward to strong performance both on and off-trail for seasons to come. Our testers were generally very impressed with the edge hold and the composure of this new carving stick.
Marcus Shakun is one of our taller testers, and would have preferred the 182, but still found that the 177 cm test length excelled in both short turns and off-piste adventures. He scored the Deacon 84 5’s in stability and quickness. At that length and with Marcus’ height, I’d hope they’re quick! His overall impression of 4.5 is a great indicator that Marcus was a huge fan of the new build. “Skied a 177 and took it off-trail. It turned on a dime and held an amazing edge. At speed, they’re quite stable.” That’s some pretty impressive feedback for a new ski that’s pretty short for the tester. Marcus also commented that the flex is not great for less-aggressive skiers, specifically mentioning that the tail was pretty stiff.
Also on the 177, Troy Dehm found it to not only be the appropriate length, but also a “hell of a ski! Incredible edge hold with a ton of pop out of your turns. Awesome quick turns and love the 17-meter radius. Big front shovel with no chatter. You can really throw the skis out from under you and rip them back the other way. Nimble in the trees and could be great with some light powder. Perfect ski for many ability levels. Excellent ski!” Unsurprisingly, Troy scored it a 5 out of 5 for overall impression.
Parker Herlihy skied the 177 and thought it was the correct size for him. He scored the Deacon 84 a 5 out of 5 for torsional stiffness and edge hold while his overall impression was a 4 out of 5. His lower scores for flotation and versatility do not come as a shock, as the Deacon 84 is an on-trail groomer-oriented ski for sure. He loved the quickness: “Nimbly bimbly! Strong edge to edge grip and feels like it’s intended for high speed.” Good info from Parker here, as it sounds like he was able to utilize the ski exactly how it was designed.
Rick Randall was also on the properly sized 177 and was pretty much 4’s out of 5 all across the board for all characteristics. Playfulness was his low score of 3, and with a stiffer ski like the Deacon 84, that’s not surprising. He did, however, call the 84 “really easy to ski. Felt comfortable right away on it. Good edge hold, can mix up short to longer radius carved turns and slide easily for short swing turns. Stable at speed and handled the death cookies well.” Sounds like Rick liked the 3D Radius sidecut on the Deacon 84, as that’s exactly how it’s supposed to work.
The 2020 Volkl Deacon 84 is all lined up to take the spot that the RTM 84 held before. The RTM laid the groundwork down, and the Deacon is taking it to a new level. The additional construction technologies that Volkl uses make a huge difference, as evidence by our tester’s results.
