Maybe I am, inexplicably, a Volkl girl (Volkl Yumi review)

[mustski]

Someone do an analysis of body movement and flex patterns in skis and figure out why people like certain skis. ;)

It's for the same reason that we like certain cars!

 

[tinymoose]

It's for the same reason that we like certain cars!

But I was hoping for a graph or something. Pie chart?

 

[MaineSkiLady]

The ski was just boring.

I know! The Yumi's just felt sluggish. Maybe it was just my mad waxing skillz that are evident on the Black Pearls

Well, thank you, contesstant, for getting me off the hook. My exact description of same (same length) ski. Also the "opening up" part. Where was the life?? No, not your waxing skills, although this isn't to say that they're not excellent. I was doing back to back demos. The one prior was a hoot, and there was one several skis later that "tripped my trigger." This ski bored me. It was like a horse that just wanted to go back to the barn. Meh.

 

[mustski]

Yup. The Yumi is definitely off the demo list ... it sounds too much like a Camry!

 

[MaineSkiLady]

Yup. The Yumi is definitely off the demo list ... it sounds too much like a Camry!

Not even. More like a Chevy Malibu (with profuse apologies to anyone who owns one!> just off the top of my head comparison). Compared to the Ramp Frenzy, which was a Mazda Miata on a clear fall day, on the Kangamagus Highway (twisty mountain pass road in NH), with the top down (of course)!!

 

[MaineSkiLady]

And I just have to scratch my head. WHAT am I missing here? WHAT are others seeing/finding that I'm not? Top-rated ski? Okay, let's put it this way: if it was the only ski I could use for a day, I wouldn't NOT ski. We'd tolerate one another. But I took 5 skis down the SAME "course" so I wouldn't be doing different pitches or snow consistency, even tried to be on the exact same side of the run with each ski, skied in my usual way (which, in early Dec, isn't exactly blazing?). Gave them 5th gear at the end on a rough groomed hardpack open slope and pushed hard. They were...to quote Randy Jackson..."just okay."

 

[contesstant]

Well, thank you, contesstant, for getting me off the hook. My exact description of same (same length) ski. Also the "opening up" part. Where was the life?? No, not your waxing skills, although this isn't to say that they're not excellent. I was doing back to back demos. The one prior was a hoot, and there was one several skis later that "tripped my trigger." This ski bored me. It was like a horse that just wanted to go back to the barn. Meh.

As a horse person, yes, they were like a horse that was desensitized by giving too many lessons! I'm not a speed demon but I can definitely get some speed on my Black Pearls, but not on the Yumis at all!

Yup. The Yumi is definitely off the demo list ... it sounds too much like a Camry!

Hmm, as Camry driver, maybe so! Can't wait to get rid of that car. My manual transmission turbo Jetta was WAY more fun ;)

 

[mustski]

As a horse person, yes, they were like a horse that was desensitized by giving too many lessons! I'm not a speed demon but I can definitely get some speed on my Black Pearls, but not on the Yumis at all!



Hmm, as Camry driver, maybe so! Can't wait to get rid of that car. My manual transmission turbo Jetta was WAY more fun ;)

Try a mercedes - speed and handling and power!

 

[B.E.G.]

So interesting how we all have different ski preferences! I actually found the Yumi very fun and lively. I'm not as experienced a skier as Contesstant or MSL are, so perhaps that may have something to do with it. I also didn't love the Black Pearl and I know Contesstant loves hers - different strokes I know I didn't feel as confident and secure on the BPs, whereas on the Yumi, I felt super stable and confident, which is how I felt about my Kenjas.

The guys at my ski shop were saying that the women who have been taking the Yumi out have been raving about them too. Huh.

 

[mustski]

The two so different diva responses to the same ski just points out how important demoing can really be. Another excuse for a demo day.

 

[MissySki]

Just to throw in another wrench, I love my Black Pearls and I enjoyed the Yumis too. I straddle the Blizzard and Volkl line though as I also really love my Auras and have in fact been using them as my go to ski this year when it was my Black Pearls last year. The Auras have just been the way to go for me at the mountain I'm skiing at this year, however I also have a couple of ladies in my adult seasonal group who rock the Black Pearls regularly. It's so interesting how people can have such different takes on the same skis and which skis to use for what terrain and conditions.

 

[contesstant]

It really is interesting. And who knows if the Yumis were due for wax (they looked fine.) Conditions were identical on both days (this drought out here is getting very serious.)

 

[MaineSkiLady]

A major factor in this could also well be “from whence we came.” I hail from a different era: mega-cambered, zero-sidecut straight skis, which required a different skill-set training altogether.

And the measure of skill attainment was the length of your skis. Although I was 20# more in my “prime,” my target length for skis was 190, in what was then called “a de-tuned slalom ski.” Hit that target at start of my 4th ski season. (And skied a 190 for nearly 20 years.) I was an adult learner, had all those hurdles to scale - and I’m now likely older than some of your moms, some of you being too young to be my kids.

First time I got on a truly shaped ski, I exited the chairlift, pressured the ski - and did a near-180 right back into the lift shack! That’s how different the amount of pressure control was.

The liveliness of a particular straight ski was a major factor for me, in terms of how easily I could turn it. I grew to love love love rebound. So this is a ski characteristic that still trips my proverbial trigger, even though it’s now just a matter of feel, not so much an aid to turning.

A brief and possibly unnecessary “background check,” as it were. But how/when/where we got started factors pretty heavily into this perception equation.

 

[Pequenita]

I think part of it also is that we have so many options now that we can be more picky about how a ski feels. The ski options 30 years ago were "long" and "longer" (yay! ego!), and maybe recreational/gs/slalom, and you either liked how your skis felt (or dealt with it) or didn't ski.

Or, maybe I was just a kid and didn't care.

 

[MissySki]

Interesting point MSL. I have never skied straight skis, I didn't start until I was in my 20's and everything was already parabolic though still full camber predominantly. I'd certainly think this could have an impact on how skis feel to me in general since I have no other frame of reference. We do have crossover in our love of the Ramp Frenzies (I was taken aback by how they zoomed and were amazingly stable when you got on them), and I bet you would've liked the Chickadees as well.

 

[canski]

MSL - me too! 190 detuned SL skis at 120 lbs~! Those were the days. I'm sure I couldn't ski them today, though - as I have adapted (gratefully) - but still love a ski with rebound. Based on previous post, it also seems we like similar skis.

 

[tinymoose]

190 skis sound terrifying to me.

 

[MaineSkiLady]

I have never skied straight skis,

Well, I’m sure you’d be quite surprised if you ever had the chance to try one and turn it. (Still have around 4 pairs in my garage!!)(Including a rather brilliant, circa-mid-90's 197 Rossi 7SK, now something of a “collectible classic”)

As to Ramp Frenzy, this is the type of ski I’m now seeking for 75+% of where/how I ski. Full camber, narrower waist, so no Chickadee on my radar. I think I have gone too wide, and it has negatively impacted my skiing. Low>mid 80's is about it, although I do have some 98's for that incredibly rare snow day - or spring mank. (Got used a whole 3 days last season, which was a GOOD one for snow.) Even Black Pearl is a stretch @ 88. For me. They are not the ice-dicers that my 85 wide Dynastar Edens are. So I’m looking, contrary to many herein, to go narrower and dump the rocker/early rise, etc.

For what it’s worth, there used to be MANY more skis similar to the Frenzy in terms of sidecut, camber and intended performance. The playing field has narrowed considerably in recent years, with these major-rockered deep powder skis being widely purchased - and used HERE, on ICE. Just saw a zero-camber powder ski the other day in rack that had to have had 20" of no contact at tip, 15" at tail. Really? In Maine? Okay then - whatever.

MSL - me too! 190 detuned SL skis at 120 lbs~! Those were the days. I'm sure I couldn't ski them today, though - as I have adapted (gratefully) - but still love a ski with rebound. Based on previous post, it also seems we like similar skis.

Bet you could! You'd just have to call up the old up-unweighting business, from distant memory, also the toe to mid to heel foot work.
Ever try a Fischer Watea (many widths now out there)? Whoa>MAJOR rebound. Just about bucked myself off into the woods. (They were DH's.)

 

[canski]

Oh, I know I could - was an instructor in the late 60's - mid 70's - and will never forget checking and up-unweighting - we actually used to go uphill that way when doing clinics - but I kinda like the carvy feel now....
AND I have a pair of Fischer Maungas (one of the Wateas) . Have had other Fischers (Vision 76 and RX8) and now Nordicas (Firefox and just got Hells Belles). Love setting an edge and getting thrown across the hill into my next turn, I guess.

 

[MissySki]

As to Ramp Frenzy, this is the type of ski I’m now seeking for 75+% of where/how I ski. Full camber, narrower waist, so no Chickadee on my radar. I think I have gone too wide, and it has negatively impacted my skiing. Low>mid 80's is about it, although I do have some 98's for that incredibly rare snow day - or spring mank. (Got used a whole 3 days last season, which was a GOOD one for snow.) Even Black Pearl is a stretch @ 88. For me. They are not the ice-dicers that my 85 wide Dynastar Edens are. So I’m looking, contrary to many herein, to go narrower and dump the rocker/early rise, etc.

I was shocked by how much I love my used ebay junior race skis that I grabbed up pre-season this year, they are sooooo much fun and grip on ice like crazy. I have grown to really like skis with a waist in the 80s and 90s range, so I had my doubts that a 68 would do it for me especially because I couldn't find race skis to demo before buying. I guess I lucked out that I really like my Volkl Racetigers, and they were dirt cheap, nice little addition to my quiver for the seriously bulletproof days.