I'm confused. Are the new skis coming out, actually THIS good? After 6 - 7 hrs of intense and complicated drills both fwd & switch, this is the most incredible ski I've ever had the pleasure of putting on.
Is the tech behind this ski and result as precise and intuitive as I'm feeling on the snow? ...to the point whereby I had real trouble figuring out where my feet ended and skis began. It was freaky, like they became a part of me. That's coming from a skier that has not at all been a huge fan of "Planky" feeling carbon laden skis.
@ 177 and my 215 lbs, 6' it's no surprise that the skis become squirrely in the top speed zone. It seems this ski is more a lighter quality finesse ski than it was in the past. I can easily control them from the fwd position, center or back. The old Mantras always seemed to have a solid tail... to the point whereby sometimes it actually got in the way a bit esp in moguls. No such prob on this version. Well balanced and light seems to be what they were reaching for. My older sets of Mantras were really fast but nowhere in the stratosphere even close to my older set of Bones - Blizzard Bonafides (not sure many skis are) but then you suffer the two sheets of metal weight penalty. Light skis like the new M6 just don't seem to breach that top level speed quotient as easily, nor were they meant to. IMHO.
Volkl tends to nail down tight the factory tune. Or at least they did in the past w/ 5 sets of past Mantras in the books I've barely ever had to touch the factory tune. The M6 requires active input and finesse moves... more slalom than GS input. I'd save the GS for 184's. I personally prefer to ski w/ an aggressive tip and tail detune w/ a reduced "lock" during the end of turns.
One of the strengths of the M6 is that they whip from side to side as fast, if not faster than you can transition. Please report if you have taken this ski through the paces as I'm searching for weaknesses, and I'm curious about the results of others that have tried this ski for at least a few days in varying conditions.
Mounting the M6 was a breeze. I hope that ski manufacturers will take note and get on board w/ clearly marking the midline of the ski in several positions like they did on the M6.
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