The 2024 Volkl Mantra 102 is very much the Cadillac of all-mountain skis. While wider than 100 mm underfoot, it skis like a race ski, and does so with an insane level of smoothness and stability. Fans of high-speed skiing will love the overall power and sturdiness, as the 102 simply motors down any trail or zone of the mountain. This ski returns unchanged for 2024 with the exception of graphics, allowing skiers who loved in the past to get a chance once again, and for new and uninitiated skiers, they’ll have the pleasure of finding themselves cruising and flying down the mountain with the feeling of complete and total security. While it’s on the heavy side for the casual skier, for those who appreciate the feeling and composure of a sturdy set of sticks on their feet, the Mantra 102 is an absolute dream. One takeaway that we had from getting on it again this year is that it’s totally okay to ski it shorter than you think. At 6’2 225, I can basically have whatever size I want, but really enjoyed the 177. If you’re caught in the middle for sizing, it’s advisable to size down if you’re not in wide-open spaces all the time.

Volkl uses their Multilayer wood core in this ski, blending poplar and beech to achieve the sturdy foundation of the ski. On top of that foundation sits the metal frame, and this Tailored Titanal Frame has really come a long way in creating the edge grip as well as the maneuverability levels of this ski. With a plate underfoot and two individual frame pieces that run along the sides, around the tips and tails, the Mantra 102 is sharp and precise along the edges, while remaining flexible enough to be compliant when it comes to off-trail performance as well as being able to access the entirety of the sidecut in a carved turn on firmer snow. Sure, it’s not a race ski, but it feels a lot like one. To aid in initiation, the tips contain their Tailored Carbon Tips that create more torsional stiffness in the front of the ski with a lighter weight. Their new (as of last year) titanal frame features a narrower metal strip in this zone, so the carbon handles the stiffness and lowers the weight without sacrificing initiation performance. Even so, the 184 hits 2209 grams on the scale, so this ski is no feather.

At 102 mm underfoot, this is a wide-bodied all-mountain ski for sure. It has more of a directional feel as a result, and the rocker profile and taper shape also lean to this side of the spectrum. While not a whole lot more rockered than the narrower skis in the line, it’s a bit floatier, but nobody’s going to mistake this for a pure and playful powder ski. This ski features Volkl’s 3D Radius Sidecut, which places more emphasis on a shorter cut underfoot with longer shapes in the forebody and tail. As such, you can pressure the underfoot zone to get more of the 19-meter shape in the 184, but if you let it run, you’ll have amazing stability in more of a Super-G format with the tips hitting 30-meters and the tails 27. It’s a very natural transition between turn shapes and styles, and it’s incredibly helpful for skiers who make a variety of arcs throughout the course of a run.

As one of the biggest, smoothest, and most powerful skis out there on the market today, the 2024 Volkl Mantra 102 certainly holds a special place in our heart here at SkiEssentials.com. That said, it’s not a ski for everyone—there's a particular level of comfort and skill on skis that’s required to make the most out of this ski. That’s not to say it’s impossible or unattainable for a vast majority of skiers, but experts and former racers will have the most success in accessing the entirety of the performance of these powerful tools.