Volkl 724 AX3 Gamma

[volklgirl]

My first demo for this year is an older model:
03-04 724 AX3 Gamma 177cm (108-70-96, 19.2m), billed as "the first true high-performance women's all-condition ski for advanced to expert women".

I've had it for a while but never mounted it up until today. It comes with the Marker Motion 12, but the closest thing we had was the Piston Motion 1400 off my GC race skis. So, I switched the plate and binding from the GCs to the AX3s and off I went.

• Conditions: 25deg and falling. Night skiing after a day of freshies....huge junked up piles of fluff and packed powder with hard pack/ice in between. Definitely not optimal conditions for any ski test. :(
• The Test Runs: 2 runs down our race hill (a blue) making high-speed arcs, then 2 runs down Buck (a black), one doing high-speed turns, one doing slow speed carves and swishers with a cruise through the upper ridge bumps.
• Impressions: The high-speed cruisers down the blue rocked. This ski was not affected by the crud at all and just cut neatly through it with no fuss whatsoever. I was incredibly impressed that it was rock solid yet undemanding. The steeps were a different story for me however. On the high-speed run I found that I was overpowering the ski even at its 177cm length. Admittedly, I'm way beyond the target weight range for the Gamma series and this may be part of the problem. It still cut through the crud with aplomb, but I always felt like it was about to break loose at any moment. On the short turn run, I found that it was resistant to short carvers but skidded nicely even through the crap. I also found that I kept getting my tails hung up in the bumps and I constantly felt like I was too far back on the ski. This surprised me since I expected it to be forward mounted, so I checked it against hubby's 724 Pro (same year, same length) and found that the binding was just slightly behind his but that my boot center mark was actually ahead of the ski's center mark. Now I'm completely confused!

In general, I think they'd be a good match for a less agressive speed loving cruiser who spends all her time on piste. Overall I was disappointed in the performance of this ski and spent the rest of the night on my beloved Karmas (of course) I intend to give them another shot this weekend under less ugly conditions.

 

[volklgirl]

Review Update!!!

Thursday while I was busy destroying my race skis :( , hubby adjusted the mounting on these skis, moving them forward on the plate 1 full set of holes. A side-by-side comparison to my Karmas of the same length showed the bindings to now be in the same position as those on the Karmas. WHAT A DIFFERENCE!!!

I'm now happy to report that these skis are sweet!

• 
  Conditions: 34 deg rising to 40 deg. Snow began as true "packed powder" (firm but not icy) and ended the day wet, heavy, and mash potatoey.
  The Test Runs: Everything and everywhere. I spent the whole day on them except for race time. We skied greens, blues, and blacks with all types of snow.
  New Impressions: This ski was happiest doing long carving arcs at medium to high speeds, but was equally adept at skidding through the glop and making short turns down the fall line. Given the turn radius and length of my test ski, I was tickled to find that it was soft enough to rip off perfectly carved short turns as fast or slow as I wanted to. While it didn't have the aplomb of the Karma when things got really ugly, it was smoothly competent at everything I could throw at it today and its narrower waist gave it much better edge grip and easier carving requirements on the hard stuff.

In A Nut Shell: Given that this ski is older technology, I was quite impressed with its range of abilities. Anyone who needs a one-ski quiver on a tight budget should be able to pick this ski up dirt cheap and be happy with its performance anywhere but really deep pow and crud. It was a smooth bulldozer at high speeds and an easy-going and undemanding cruiser the rest of the time. In shorter lengths this should be an able performer for anyone from intermediate up.

ps. My Mom has the next step down from the AX3, the EXT in a 156 (?), and uses it when conditions get too nasty for her little bitty SL race skis. She loves the added waist width and length that make them stable but undemanding.