Advanced and expert ladies will love the full-throttle nature of this one. As one of the sturdiest and stoutest all-mountain skis around, the 2024 Volkl Kenja 88 continues its dominant role within the ~88 mm group. Because of its hard-charging personality and nature, it’s best when used by skilled and experienced skiers, although there is some room for progressing intermediates here, especially with the new build that we saw come through for last season. For 2024, the ski gets a graphics refresh, but is otherwise unchanged. When those new updates came out for 2023, the ski became slightly more approachable from a turn radius perspective but remained an amazing option in the ultra high-performance range. For true all-mountain skiing in the very sense of the term, the Volkl Kenja has been a benchmark ski in the category, and that certainly continues into the next season.

Built with all of Volkl’s best technology, the Kenja is a pretty stiff and fairly heavy ski for its class. Tipping the scale at just under 1710grams in the 163, the ski consists of Volk’s Multilayer wood core of poplar and beech, one full metal laminate and one Tailored Titanal Frame. This is the big part of the Kenja’s makeup, and the signature that gives it its carving flair and soft snow acumen. The Titanal Frame actually consists of three separate pieces of titanal: one plate underfoot that extends slightly into the forebody and tail, and two frame pieces that wrap along the sides of the ski. These do not connect, allowing for proper and smooth flex of the ski from tip to tail without taking away from edge precision and grip. When you’re on groomers, even firm ones, this starts to make a lot of sense. In terms of initiation, Volkl substitutes wider metal in the very shovel for their Tailored Carbon Tips, increasing the reactivity of the start phase to the turn while keeping metal for grip and smoothness. This ski hooks in cleanly, for sure, but it’s not overly demanding like some other skis in this range.

In terms of shape, the Kenja is about as traditional as it gets for this width and application. We get pretty normal tip and tail rocker with average camber underfoot. The tails are more rounded than squared off, and this plays well against the stiffness of the ski overall. It’s not hooky, but it sure holds. There’s minimal splay in the tail, leading to a far more directional character that loves to carve and play around with different turn shapes and styles. Much of this is also due to the 3D Radius Sidecut that allows skiers to mix it up not only from turn to turn, but also within carves. The 163 generates a 13-meter arc in the underfoot zone with longer 23 and 21-meter shapes in the tips and tails. Whether you’re tightening it up as you go or making it looser and longer, the ski allows you to make a multitude of turn shapes and styles at the skier’s whim. Again, this pairs well with the three-piece frame as it allows the ski to flex and access different points of the sidecut at different times, and it does so quite naturally and easily.

The Kenja is a very special ski and has been for quite some time. Skiers like us here in Vermont love the versatility of the ski, as much of the time, we find ourselves on relatively firm groomers. There’s fresh snow to be had, for sure, but it doesn’t usually come in huge chunks. As such, the Kenja is super useful in that it can handle the few inches of softer snow as well as the hard groomers. It’s about as precise and stable as it gets, and we’ve loved being able to stand on the edge with confidence and control.