Voile Hypercharger Short Review...

[bovine]

Well, I ended up pulling the trigger on a pair of Hyperchargers and am glad I did. I've skied on them 5 days so far in a variety of bc snow conditions here in the San Juans:

wind consolidated slab
mature powder
hollow/trap-door dense pow
supportive surface hoar
20" of blower pow
sun-effected glop w/firm below
breakable sun-crust/trap door

I went with a pair of 185s and put G3 Ions on them mounted to Voile's recommended line, skiing them w/Scarpa Maestale RS's.

Ski dimensions are: 143-108-126-for the 185s

I'm pushing 200 lbs with my pack, aggressive skier/experienced

The skis are very light feeling on the skin track (without bindings they're 6 lbs, 10 oz). Voile made the top sheets a light orange-fade to white to help reduce snow build up. I can tell the difference between how snow built up on my old Chargers to the new skis- hardly any issues with snow sticking to the top sheets.

The tours I've done so far have ranged in distance from a couple miles to up to around 8. On an average day I'm climbing around 2-3,000 vert give or take. I'm looking forward to getting them into some bigger lines once our snowpack "stabilizes" in late winter/early spring...

Descending, the skis have been very nice- responsive, predictable, don't feel too light or deflective. I can easily vary my turn shape from tight to more open and higher speeds. Tight trees-super responsive, open high speed rippers-no problem. They are more of a carving ski-not so much "slarving", but I can release the tails if I need to-slightly upturned tails.

Before skiing them I put a 1 degree base bevel on and slightly detuned the tips and tails, plus a couple hot waxes to help ward off the rocks out there.

To me, they feel like a great upgrade from my Chargers. They have more sidecut than the old Chargers which makes them more responsive at slower speeds, but still feel stable.

Overall, I'm really stoked on these skis and recommend them for anyone looking for a lightweight, touring focussed ski. *I'm not affiliated w/Voile or trying to pimp their skis, but I do like them.

[mgltraveler]

Thank you for the review- I'm very close to buying a pair for a tele touring setup and have been searching for reviews of these. Awesome to hear you are so happy with them!

[natebob]

Is the flex of the Hyper Charger similar to the original Charger? Have you by chance skied the BD Helio 105? If so, could you compare it to the Hyper Charger? Thanks!

[bovine]

I've been skiing the original Chargers (ones with the forest graphic) for the past 7 seasons. Chargers can haul ass when needed and are pretty solid in all bc snow conditions- a little wide for hard wind-buffed or corn. Also, less side-cut, so in super tight trees or slower speed, tight terrain, you have to muscle them a bit.

My Hyperchargers feel a touch softer and they have quite a bit more side-cut, but they don't feel hooky at all. I had a pair of the old Voile Insane skis, which had huge side-cut, and they definitely felt hooky and locked into a turn. Very intuitive skis, turn easily, yet can also handle speed.

So far, I've put about 12 touring days on the Hyperchargers and I'm really liking them. I ski in the northern San Juans and so far, have mostly been skiing powder, but have also had them in sun crusted trap door, wind slab, up-side-down snow pack, surface hoar with unconsolidated beneath... The skis feel powerful and I haven't felt under-gunned in variable conditions. They tour great-light feeling and the lighter-colored top sheets help reduce/eliminate snow accumulation.


I've not skied on the new BD skis. I have read that the 105 is kind of a slarvy ski. They are now made by Blizzard, so the quality and consistency should be there. Full vertical sidewall vs a cap design on the Voile...

Hope that helps- Doug

Is the flex of the Hyper Charger similar to the original Charger? Have you by chance skied the BD Helio 105? If so, could you compare it to the Hyper Charger? Thanks!