Volkl Sanouk Review

[GBB]

I have finally been able to spend a couple of days on my Sanouks in a variety of conditions.

Me: 6'2 170 pounds on a good day, average skier, and don't really air anything over ten feet.

Other skis I like: 1st and 2nd generation Goats, and 186 LP orange topsheet vintage.

Mounted straight on the line with Naxos. None of that duck stance bs.

To start off, let me say that this is the longest ski that I have ever been on, and I had my reservations about the length before I skied them. With that said, these skis are a fun and extremely easy-to-ski ski.

Powder: As expected, these skis are an absolute blast in powder. Like others have said, I was really able to drive the tips without worrying about the least bit of tip dive. They are an extremely soft ski, but I can carry a good amount of speed down powder faces without holding on for dear life. Making big GS turns down wide open faces with these is carnally enjoyable.

Groomers: I only have a half day on these on soft groomers, but I was pleasantly surprised to see how well they did. They held an edge considerably well, and they love to make big GS turns. However I did find a speed limit on them (something I have failed to do on my LPs), and once that speed limit is reached things start to get squirrelly.

Hardpack: These aren't as bad in this aspect as people think, as long as your are willing to sacrifice a little bit of speed for some stability.

Crud: Far from the ideal ski in these conditions. In the little bit of crud that I encountered I was immediately wishing I had my LPs.

Trees: Super easy to ski in the trees, although it doesn't like to make short turns.

Overall I really like these skis, and although they aren't the perfect backcountry setup, they do a pretty damn good job. They are relatively light, so hiking and skinning is a breeze, which helps since I am lazy and out of shape.

For what they are built for, they excel at.

*written in a rush, editing to come at a later point.

[pechelman]

sounds about right on my impressions, though i mounted +2 because that line was just stupid far back
like -15 or something ridiculous
at +2 they still look far back and I wouldnt be scared of going +3 to be honest...still tons of tip to float

i never felt the squirrliness, so maybe i dont ski as fast, but im wondering if its because of your super rear mount.
was this hooky\squirrliness coming from the tips?

edgehold was great honestly, but requires a centered carving stance on firm as the tips do wash out a bit due to the very soft tip flex. it actually has a hinge like feeling infront that i dont like because its so soft, but only in chopped up and I can deal with it just fine.

i too was surprised with how easy they are to ski, especially in short turns on steeps or in trees

lastly
mine, the samurai topsheet ones, actually have a normal amount of camber for volkl skis. it surprised me because i thought they were flat.

[thd]

My Samurais were flat when I bought them, but now look like this:



Although differing slightly, they are both decambered from right in front of the bindings. I don't mind at all really, they're better than ever in soft snow. I have an unmounted pair as well, gotta check them later...

I bought them used and mounted with the existing holes. Adjusted to my boots, it equates to something like +4 (the center of the circle is the mark?), which makes them very turny and nice for tight trees. If I used them for wide open spaces more I guess a more rearward mounting would be nice, but as for float it's never been a problem for me (170 lbs).

[comish]

I had one of my favorite runs ever on a pair of these mounted on the line in 2 feet of fresh down an open steep untracked line. Just hauling ass driving the tips. Been trying to find a pair of pow skis that will duplicate the sensation I got of being able to really drive the tips in pow for a while.

Then I took them in the trees in 2 feet of fresh and wanted to chop off about a foot in the front and decided I didn't want a ski that long and sold them. Thought I wanted something with similar sidecut, shorter, and stiffer. Sometimes I still wonder if I should have just remounted at something like +2 and that then I would have liked them in a bit more in the trees...

Oh well.

[Teletori]

Thought I wanted something with similar sidecut, shorter, and stiffer.
Oh well.

Salomon Czar is exactly what you wan´t then...

Love my Sanouks as well. A lot more versatile than I imagined before I bought them. Tested them out on hard stuff after we got a hard raincrust all over the mountain. Was kicking myself for not bringing anything stiffer and smaller, but had a blast haulin around... Mounted at +2 ish.

[StormDay]

nice review.

Trees: Super easy to ski in the trees, although it doesn't like to make short turns.

I have found if I'm in at least 3-4" of new snow, I can get the Sanouk to do short turns pretty easily. Just need enough new snow to roll the ski up and get the big tip to engage. My Sanouks are amount on the line.

Camber: Both my Blue and Samurai Sanouks have a little camber.

[Bandit Man]

Thought I wanted something with similar sidecut, shorter, and stiffer. Sometimes I still wonder if I should have just remounted at something like +2 and that then I would have liked them in a bit more in the trees...

Oh well.

Have mine mounted at +1.5 and they are surprisingly nimble in the PNW trees I ski (which are pretty tight). Rip at high speed in the blower and quick in the trees. Almost as easy as Spats, but more fun on hardpack.

[verbier61]

by chance, I skied today my old sanouks (in 30 cm powder) for the first time in about two years, after becoming accustomed to lotus 138 and the new rockered big daddy. They are still ridicolously easy to ski in immaculate pow, but I believe a bit of rocker would make them even more delicious and more easy to turn in tight trees. Neadless to say, mine are still zero camber (or maybe a few mm of positive camber) and not yet rockered like thd's (of which I'm jealous.....)

[GBB]

i never felt the squirrliness, so maybe i dont ski as fast, but im wondering if its because of your super rear mount.
was this hooky\squirrliness coming from the tips?

I think the mount has a large part in the squirrelliness, and yes it was coming from the tips. The mount point is ridiculously far back which leaves a ton of tip and not a lot of tail. If I ever remount them, I think it'll be at +2 especially after seeing what people have said here about that mount point.

As far as camber goes, mine are almost flat.

[Smokey McPole]

The more you ski them, the flatter/more rockered they get. Plus you gotta realise that they are incredibly soft. They may be flat leaning up against your wall, but as soon as you stand on them in soft snow - instant rocker.

Both my pairs are mounted right on the line. Best traditional powder ski ever.

[H-wood]

The more you ski them, the flatter/more rockered they get. Plus you gotta realise that they are incredibly soft. They may be flat leaning up against your wall, but as soon as you stand on them in soft snow - instant rocker.

Both my pairs are mounted right on the line. Best traditional powder ski ever.
Today 01:34 PM

Agreed (could do without the tail though). Since they are ultra-light and soft, with about 160cm of effective edge, if this feels like a big hard-to-turn ski you need to get more forward or something. Wish I had a pair w/ dynafits for powder touring.

[verbier61]

Best traditional powder ski ever.

I thought the same before trying the new rockered big daddies and birdos puder luder.....

[FiveLarge]

Fun ski for sure. I read quite a bit about mount point before settling in at +1 - which ended up being more like +.5 since the shop didn't listen to my instructions and used the line on the topsheet as opposed to the line on the sidewall. Oh well - I had thought about going on the line anyway - so ended up splitting the difference. I just remember reading from input on here that the ski is designed to have alot of ski in front given the flex and early rise shovel - hence the rec moutn point - something to the effect of if you're feeling like you need to mount way ahead of the line, you might as well get a different ski - sort of defeating the purpose of the design. I don't have a ton of days on mine - the tips do feel pretty remote - but haven't really ever wished I was mounted more forward. I like being able to really drive the tips and not worry about them burying at all. In even windaffect pow, they're fun to just blast GS turns down the mountain on.

[Wetdog]

I coveted these skis back when I first saw them on the Volkl Website in 04 while buying my Gotamas. Back then, Gotamas seemed huge and were the biggest ski I had been on. The Sanouks looked even more huge and suitable, I thought, only for Heli and Cat skiing on big powder faces and were about $1000, if you could find them. Over the last five years, I have owned and ridden a lot of bigger skis and the Gotamas and Sanouks look less huge, but always wanted to try a Sanouk. Last spring I bought a mint pair with bindings mounted at my exact boot sole for $250 off e-bay.

After 8 weeks of high pressure and icy groomers, a storm finally hit Whistler. They reported only 20cm but it was a lot more than that of heavy, deep PNW powder. It took everyone by surprise as we had all pretty much shunted the fat skis to the back of the closet. I simply sank on my Gotamas, which I had chosen to bring expecting a mellow dust on crust day.

Today, I went up with my Praxis Powders and the Sanouks. Sanouks were up first. Wow, what a difference! I was so impressed with this ski. It is only 5mm wider than the Got at the waist, but the difference was like night and day. The softer flex, near zero camber and slight early rise, early taper tip and swallow tail just keep them right up skiing the same lines that sank me the day before. They were definitely more old school than the Praxis but really fun. I had heard that they were a handful in tracked out stuff, but while they were lively, I found they were still quite pleasant, though really heavy cut up stuff would be a challenge. On the soft packed groomers I could just fly cutting big GS turns, though they would come around in shorter radius turns if I pushed them, they were more comfortable in the larger radius.

In the untracked is where they really shone though. I spent the day doing laps with a big smile on my face. I never once wanted to go get my Praxis. There were a lot of fat skis out today, many fatter than the Sanouk, but I had no problem staying with any of them. In fact, there were two guys, one on Rossi S6's and the other on Salomon Czars who were struggling to make their way through the pow and were amazed when I flew past them on the Sanouks. There was quite the chat in the lift line.

On the way back down the mountain I hit the Dave Murray Downhill. There were some slightly icy patches that I had to be careful on, but most of it was softer packed snow and the Sanouks just flew, albeit with a speed limit. Lower down where there had been mixed precip, there was a light slush and they carved beautifully through it all. I was really impressed with this ski. I should have bought it years ago when I first saw it.

There are better all around skis out there that can ski powder and everything else through to icy groomers well, and a number of rockered skis that surpass the Sanouk in pow, but as a specailty deep snow day ski, it is still hard to beat the fun factor of the Sanouk. My thought is to mount them with Dynafits as a backcountry powder rig as some other members have done.

[GBB]

My thought is to mount them with Dynafits as a backcountry powder rig as some other members have done.

That's my next step as soon as I get the funds together.

From a fun factor, these skis are hard to beat.

[verbier61]

I have used my old sanouks twice this winter for logistic reasons, and agree with wetdog and GBB. Sanouks still compare decently with new generation obeses, although nowadays I would use my lotuses 138 as the first choice for a deep powder day. A friend who tried rossi S7 and is a sanouk habituee told that they have a very similar feeling.

[GBB]

The more days I spend on mine, the more and more I like them. I feel that I could ski them everyday in any sort of soft stuff without any reservations.
Now all I can think about is getting a pair of Dynafits to turn these into a dream powder touring rig.

[AK]

background: coming from 183 mojo 103's and 176 LP's for big-mountain riding and 163 BD havocs with dynafits for ski-mountaineering

I've got the wood topsheet sanouks and had them mounted with freerides last season and had a hard time getting into it. I knew the ski had a following but I just couldn't find the love for it. the tail was always washing out on me and never felt like the ski was getting much input from me: it seemed like there was a communication break-down somewhere along the line.

soooo, I put dynafits on them this season to give them another chance, and what a difference; it was a whole new ski. I mounted +1 and with just a couple weeks on them, I'm really happy with the placement. I agree with pechelman in that I would still be comfortable moving them even more forward, but for now, I'm quite happy. I'm 150lbs w/out gear and I float like a cork in water on these things. I like that I can still ski them aggressively with as much forward boot pressure as I want and I never feel like I'm going to go over the handelbars if I unexpectedly hit something.

I spent a lot of time researching the dynafit/sanouk combo as I was very apprehensive of the softness of the ski pre-releasing my bindings. as of now, I've skied these hard, taken some small (5-8ft) airs, landed backseat a couple times on them, and I have yet to prerelease. I'm comfortable enough now to let them them run as they've given me the confidence that I'm not going to be knocking my front teeth out on the tips due to the heel releasing. granted, I'm a smaller guy, so I'm sure this is weighing in my favor regarding this.

they are a dream-ski in soft conditions. I'm with everyone else on how they ski in powder and trees etc etc so I won't repeat it. I was surprised to see that they could cut through crud as well as they do also. I think hard crud would be a different story, but the soft chop I skied them in, they did great.

I was surprised that they could hold a relatively good edge on hardpack too. of course your boots are inches off the ground when the edge is engaged, but with that aside, as long as the snow is consistent and you are really driving the tip, they carve just fine.

where I haven't cared for them is with any kind of breakable crust, or real variable conditions. I will punch through, and with the nature of the soft, massive tip that hates to be under ANY snow, it will careen unpredictable to the closest weak spot in the crust and shoot me out and seems to kick me out differently every time. I don't feel like I have a ton of control with them in these conditions. it's not like an LP that you can drive through the crust and predictably surface in control. in these conditions the sanouk kinda reminds me of training a puppy to fetch: you throw the ball and sometimes the puppy will bring it right back to you as planned and sometimes it will just stand there with that dumb look on it's face and look at you like "you want me to go do what for you? yeah right!"

all in all, I'm super stoked on the dynafit/sanouk partnership and I look forward to a long future with many descents with them. oh, I almost forgot: doing kick-turns with the binding mounted as far back as it is, is a breeze. it's no more difficult to kick-turn on these then with my 163 Havocs. hope this helps...

[Wetdog]

I just got back from a cat ski trip on which I brought my Praxis and Sanouks. Day one was all on East facing slopes with lots of deep lighter storm snow and alternating back and forth between the Praxis and the Sanouks, I found the Sanouks were much more to my liking. They had better float and could lock better into wide sweeping GS turns in the Pow but were easy enough to bring into shorter turns or vary the turn radius mid turn. The tail had a more locked in feeling in turns and they just flew through everything. They weren't quite as maneuverable as the Praxis in the trees, but they were damned good.

Next day was sunny and we skied more open, South facing, alpine slopes with unbreakable wind crust up top, switching to breakable, then softer powder down below. The Sanouks were a bit more challenged there, with the Praxis being superior in the crust and the Sanouks in the Pow. But once the sun got to the snow and it warmed up, softening the crusts and transforming the powder into heavier wetter snow, the Sanouks were out of their element. The Praxis ruled the day in that stuff. I think it was the heaviness of the snow, although untracked, that overwhelmed the softer flex of the Sanouk. One of the other skiers was on older 190 EHPs which are like a stiffer Sanouk and he was having no problems.

The Sanouks are a little one dimensional, but in that dimension, untracked lighter powder, nothing I have yet tried skis as well as the Sanouk.