So these skis have been in the making for over a year. I’m a huge fan of the volkl sanouk. It is a polarizing ski, you either love it or you hate it. The sanouk is a 193cm flat camber ski with a swallowtail, that is relatively soft flexing. In untracked powder, it is arguably unmatched. The soft flex decambers and the ski becomes reverse camber. The mount point is a crazy -14 or something like that, so combined with the long tip, you can drive the ski at ridiculous speed, without ever having to worry about tip dive. However, this only works in soft snow, whenever it gets cut up the sanouk suffers and tosses the occupant around.
enter the HL swallowtail
Marshal was convinced that beefing the width and flex, while making a smaller cutout in the tail would make a more versatile platform but still retain the pow slayer qualities of the sanouk(or the tabla rasa)
im a big believer of the low, long rocker for this ski in particular.
I ski SW CO mostly, light dry pow
I do see the benefits of having the FR profile for skiing PNWet.
it is extremely stable in a 187cm( I am 6’ 1” 200lbs) it is 2500g a ski!
I ski fast, have been a snowcat operator for 20 years
these skis are so damp, so composed it is like a cheat code for the mountain. I can’t find the speed limit on them.
the construction is top notch, the swallowtail tail bar is next level sturdy, These skis will last a long time.
this thread is for owners of the swallowtails to chime in with their thoughts.
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