2021 VOLKL BLAZE SERIES SKI PREVIEW
Back in October, we sat down with the product development team from Volkl to chat about skiing, ski design, what we’ve liked over the past few seasons, and what we’d like to see. Volkl brought along with product manager, Andi Mann, whose stamp of approval is required before any Volkl product reaches a consumer. Needless to say, he’s a very important man in Volkl’s ski development. Andi and the Volkl crew brought along some examples for their newest line of skis, and we couldn’t resist the opportunity to sit down and chat with him about these new Volkl Blaze skis.
The Blaze skis are brand new lightweight, playful freeride skis. Volkl as a company is known for their precision feel and powerful, quite popular skis such as the M5 Mantra, Kendo 88, etc. These new Blaze skis replace the 90Eight and 100Eight that have been in the line for a few years and are positioned as some of the lightest freeride skis in their class. Volkl has done an excellent job of blending a lightweight, quick, playful feel with that precision that we expect from Volkl, and we’re very excited about the resulting performance.
Volkl uses a new hybrid core, which is largely responsible for the quickness and light swing weight, yet it maintains impressive edge grip too. Volkl introduced their 3D Radius concept in skis like the Kendo 88 and Mantra 102, and it’s further enhanced in the Blaze skis. The new Blaze 106 has a 40/19/30 m turning radius range in the 186 cm length. They also use what Volkl is calling a Suspension Tip design where the wood core follows the shape of the tip, resulting in a smoother, less catchy feel. To round it out, they add a sheet of titanal underfoot for binding retention and increased edge grip.
There are a total of 4 new Blaze skis, although realistically it’s more like two widths, 106 and 94, available in 2 different colors and length ranges. You can expect to see full-length, in-depth reviews of the new Blaze skis in the coming weeks and months, but we couldn’t wait any longer to introduce them! Of course, we’ve already spent quite a lot of time testing them, so don’t hesitate if you have any questions already.