Voile Hyper V8 Touring Ski

awesome backcountry ski for touring and pow! does well under many conditions. lightweight and priced well.

These skis are a meadow-skipping, surf-on-top, powder-slarving dream. They have one of the best surface area to weight ratios on the market and come with a profile and shape that is destined to hunt down soft snow all season long. I'm convinced that this ski paired with a lightweight touring binding (Atomic MTN w/o brake), a UL+ boot (Scarpa F1 LT), and lightweight skins (Pomoca Free Pro 2.0) is the ultimate backcountry powder harvester. The liberal amount of tip and tail release gives the ski a surfy feel and the short turning radius allows for a playful and nimble style of skiing. The lightweight construction makes this thing feel like a 100 mm underfoot ski while touring up, and the surface area allows you to stay on top of deep snow. This last point is paramount if you are looking to ski mellow backcountry terrain (<32°): having a wide ski allows you to go faster and ski more freely on a gentle slope. If so facto: safe, human-powered, less-avalanche-prone terrain is way more fun to ski with the Hyper V8! And don't ever think you'll be sharing said mellow terrain, because all of the backcountry-bro-brahs will think that mellow slope isn't gnarly enough for them, and that's just fine. More untouched, giggle-inducing, powder skiing for you. Keep in mind, this isn't the ski you want if you're interested in Alaskan spines, mock speeds, or variable snow (you can't have it all and this isn't a directional, high speed charger). You bet your bottom dollar that I'll be on these skis again this upcoming season.

Take away - if you are looking for excellent powder skis that tour pretty well these are it; if you're looking to charge uphill, be cautious (see below).

Skiing -- I skied these in 2-4 feet of light powder for two days - one resort, one backcountry. In powder I couldn't have asked for a better ski; I was smiling the whole time. On day 1 we skied at the resort and I was pleasantly surprised the ski never felt like it got pushed around in variable conditions later in the day despite it's light weight. Even on the groomers they turned over fairly well. On day three we took a tour in the rain and even in the heavy snow they floated well.

Touring -- unbelievable weight for the surface area of these skis. I charged uphill and felt like I had fresh legs every run. The one thing I would caution is that the rockered tails got in my way on several kick turns. This was frustrating at first, but I eventually adapted my kick turns to this and honestly didn't really notice by day two of going uphill.

I personally would still give these a 5 star rating (so light! so buttery in powder!) but as this is a touring focused shop people are focused on the up. From other reviews it seams the HyperCharges have a more touring focused/all around ski profile. But, I love shorter turns and was looking to fill the powder quiver so am super happy with this purchase.

Buy from CCBC -- awesome customer service every time.