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

B

B.E.G.

Guest
Of course, I am not THE Volklgirl - I don't aspire to that :smile:

That said, I had the pleasure of taking out the Volkl Yumi this morning.

Length: 154
Dimensions: 125/83/103
Sidecut radius: 15.3 m
Tip rocker only

Skier stats:
5'1" 97 lbs.
upper intermediate, comfortable on all blues, groomed blacks.
Small but athletic and fairly strong for my weight
This is my 4th season skiing

Pre-review caveat: I was also in new boots that, while fitting well size-wise, were far too narrow and progressively caused me more and more toe pain (my toe is now black- if you have advice on dealing with that, please see my other thread in the Health and Injuries subforum!).

Impressions: Gosh, these were fun! Light, lively, but super stable. I took these out in packed powder, chopped up pow, and some hard snow, and it pretty much ate everything up. It doesn't quite have the Kenja's crud busting capabilities, due to lacking that metal top sheet, but it handled it admirably. Edgewood solid - I felt absolutely secure on these skis at every single moment. Nice float too in soft snow, despite being only 83 underfoot. However, I was skiing these a little long and I'm light so those are factors to consider too.

AND I had fun on them, and they were incredibly responsive and forgiving, despite the fact that I was in pain all morning from the boots. I'm considering it forgiving since the skis didn't buck me off while I was fumbling the first run remembering how to ski and trying to figure out why my boots weren't working.

*This* is the ski for the lightweight skier who has avoided Volkl in the past due to stiffness. This is also the ski for the upper intermediate who is wanting to improve, or the advanced skier who wants something more frontside oriented, IMO. I would say that like many Volkls, the Yumi will reward you for speed. Being slow or tentative won't get you in trouble, but they are way more fun when you start going faster. I would get these, except there's too much overlap with my Temptation 82s and the 154 felt a tad long for me (and I think the 147 would feel too short).
ma5ahaqu.jpg


I was planning on demoing the Wild Belle too and took it out for one run, but due to toe issues, had to quit, so I can't review it. The one run I has it on felt smooth but I'm hoping to try it again later.
 

litterbug

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
SO sorry to hear about your toe! I've lost my share of toenails; I have no advice on how to make it better faster. However, a lot of people here talk about their toenail never growing back, which is not what happened to me. I've lost the toenails on my big toes at least 3 times each in bad hiking boots, and some others a few times. The big toenails are a little thicker than they used to be, but otherwise they're totally normal. The other toenails look normal. I didn't do anything special except wrap them in tape when the old nail got loose before falling off.

Great review on the Yumis! I'm wondering whether they'd even overlap with my new Temptation 88s, which will stay unmounted until I figure out where to put the bindings.
 

tinymoose

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Thanks for the review! I'm looking forward to trying them sometime this year, I hope!
 
B

B.E.G.

Guest
Thanks Litterbug! I might wrap them in tape later just so the old nail doesn't get caught on things (if it does fall off). It's still pretty bruised and blue/black today, so I'm thinking it's likely. I asked the ski shop guys when I was switching out skis if I should stop, and they said if I wasn't in too much pain, the damage was already done so skiing on it more wouldn't affect it :-\ I think there would probably be overlap with your 88s. What's the dilemma on the mounting point?

Tinymoose - I think you'll like them! Though I really wish they had the Yumi in a 150 or so instead of a 147/154.
 

Serafina

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
I was on the lift the other day with a woman sporting a pair of Tierras. We raved about those for a while, then she said she'd recently demo-ed these Yumis, and she was absolutely over the top about them. She was on the smaller side, too. I heard enough about them on that ride to make me think about looking into whether they're made in a length that is suitable for me, even though I've already made my annual ski purchase for the season.
 
B

B.E.G.

Guest
I can't remember whether I had the rep set the bindings forward of the mounting line or not, so I need to demo them before having them drilled. :rolleyes:

Whoops! :P

I'm about to go back to the ski shop later today to get my boots worked on, and that is danger zone for me. So many new skiiiiiissss
 
B

B.E.G.

Guest
Serafina, SkiDiva, NESKier, MissySki - I really think Volkl got it right with this one. It had really nice balance and just the right amount of stiffness - it definitely wasn't a noodle!
 

contesstant

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
OK, so I spent the entire day on the Yumi's and did not like them at all. They were just blah, had what felt like less edge grip than my wider Black Pearls, and would not let me open up on the easier sections and rip turns like I do on my Pearls. I skied them in a 161, my Pearls are a 159. The length felt good. The ski was just boring. Turn radius felt bigger than the Pearls, which seemed odd, too. I am beginning to think I like a "turny" ski that is forgiving.
 

tinymoose

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
That's interesting you feel that the Black Pearls are more turny, because the turn radius seems to be larger on them than the Yumi based on what I see online.
 

contesstant

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

mustski

Angel Diva
OK, so I spent the entire day on the Yumi's and did not like them at all. They were just blah, had what felt like less edge grip than my wider Black Pearls, and would not let me open up on the easier sections and rip turns like I do on my Pearls. I skied them in a 161, my Pearls are a 159. The length felt good. The ski was just boring. Turn radius felt bigger than the Pearls, which seemed odd, too. I am beginning to think I like a "turny" ski that is forgiving.
Actually, you are not the first person I have heard describe the Yumi as boring. Too bad. I had hoped it would have the usual Volkl pop.
 

contesstant

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
It could very well have been driver error. And conditions here are piles of powdered sugar with rather large patches of ice between them. That being said, there were a few stretches that I took yesterday on my Pearls that were virtually untouched corduroy and I was laying some nice energetic turns, but the same runs today on the Yumis were very uninspiring. Still, I was hoping the Yumis would help me in that piles/ice junk that is dominant up here right now. They did not. They were worse.
 

tinymoose

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

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