Conflicting Technologies detract from a great ski...
Written: Dec 14 '04
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Does (almost) everything a "normal" expert skier would ask of it.
Cons: Poorly concieved matching or Marker's Motion binding, stiff tail causes excessive "chatter".
The Bottom Line: A great ski for people who do not try to "work" a perfect shaped turn, because other than the inability to do this, the ski works great.
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| RONinPC's Full Review: Volkl Vertigo Motion with Motion 1200 Binding |
I've taken this ski out several times to write a review, and as I've noticed that it is still among the most searched-for models, I reviewed my notes to create this. Keep in mind, this model is no longer a current Vokl offering, and subsequent models have addressed many of my concerns.
First off, you should know that I love this ski, but find one aspect of it very, very disturbing. I feel that the marriage of Volkl and Marker technology on this ski really needed further engineering.
Despite this, many people love the G Motion, and I can only credit this to the idea that I expect more from a ski, have the opportunity to compare it to many others available, and know what makes a ski good or bad.
I often question my own opinion, and sometimes need to re-test a ski to confirm my impressions.
On my re-test of the Vertigo Motion, I got to ski leftovers. Blown in crud, cut-up snow, moguls with a glaze in the troughs. A hint of shin deep powder here and there, five or so turns before you were back in the tracked stuff. The best turns all day were eight to ten linked in a load of avalanch debris- not optimal but fun anyway.
I skied with a friend who has a pair of G-30's, a predecessor to this model. He is an above average skier with Jackson Hole roots, and the former marketing director of the U.S. Ski team. We went all over the mountain seeking powder stashes.
In order for us to meet up, I had to take a run down a groomed, glazed over pitch. I knew going-in that I was on the motion system. I was determined to prove myself wrong. I made railroad arcs on the run prior to the pitch, and was impressed by the G-Motions ability to ride an arc. The radius was great, the edge was as confident as I remember the G-30 to be- this was pure Volkl.
I got to the pitch in question and determined to ski some corridors-this is an exercise where you make several turns of a particular shape, then connect to a larger turn and make the same set of turns on the other side of the hill- back and forth, five here, five there. I decided upon medium radius turns because they're the one turn where you can't really fake it. Short turns can vary from round to edge-sets, Long turns can easily move into railroad tracks- but a medium radius turn is what it is. That is not to say that "medium" is not open to interpretation, I view them as turns that would take about 1/4 of the width of the slope- like the turns you'd make in a Nastar course- but more complete. Anyway, I made medium radius turns.
I chattered. Lots.
This is a pretty long pitch, maybe about 500ft of vertical, and offered enough opportunity to change up my approach several times. The corridors allowed me to compare different snow consistancies between turns. Ultimately it came to this- I could not make a carved medium radius turn on firm snow without chatter. No matter where I stood, or how early I got on edge- I could not do it. The only way I could ski the turn without chatter was to let go of some edge and be a bit skiddy, or open up the radius and ride some arc. Maybe I just suck, and someone better than I am could do it. If you have some advice, leave it here as a comment...
This is not really an important point; skis that chatter in a medium radius turn. I rarely see anyone skiing round turns anymore. I come down a pitch making short radius turns, trying to see if I can do it top to bottom without thigh burn, without creating edge-sets- and I notice that I never really see anyone else doing that sort of thing. Heck with medium radius turns, Heck with short radius turns. Ride the arc or flatten 'em out; that seems to be what people ski like anyway. Flat skis and faded edges work perfect for bumps. Edge-sets are just fine on the steeps. I am criticizing a ski for it's inablity to perform a task no-one ever really asks of it.
The problem is, the Volkl G-Motion is an exceptional performer in the bumps. It was fantastic on the steeps. It was light and responsive in crud. The G-Motion rode arcs with power and precision. It was a perfect skis all day long... except it could not make medium radius turns without chatter. For the record, it could not really make short round turns without chatter either. I had to add more motion (funny coincidence there), and more edge set at the bottom. On-the-edge-and-off-it quick and snappy- no chatter, but try to bend the ski through a round arc and cha-cha-cha-chatter she went.
I could own this ski, and only ski it when I knew I'd be off the really firm stuff. I'd ski someting else when I was on the ice or chalk. I described this to my friend, saying that this was how I was going to approach the review. "That's nice Ron", he said, "How many pairs of skis is it reasonable to own?" And he of course was right. The G-Motion would not replace my Intuitive 74's or a pair of G-4's on a powder day. The G-Motion would not replace the T-50's, or a pair of Speed 63's, Fischer RC4's or Head worldcups. So even if this is a ski that is exceptional all over the mountain, could I buy it knowing that firm snow performance is so off?
I thought this ski was exceptional, but I would rather ski something that is just slightly less capable in the soft snow, and considerably more capable on the firm: As our winter's have been averaging, soft days are harder to come by.
Just as a note- I asked my friend to switch as we took our last run. I gave him my slalom skis (I had returned the G-Motion), I skied his G-30. He had a belt tune, I found that he was slightly under-beveled, and his g-30's were 188's (I was on 177's all day).
The G-30's were not much different than I had remembered them, back when I rated them the best ski available a few years ago. Heavier and damper than the G-Motion, the G-30 lacked the spark and energy that is in many of today’s skis. I think it had a wood core, and the G-Motion has something else (I am not sure of this though). The Motion has a ceramic like sound when tracking on ice- which is kinda weird.
We approached the same pitch I had skied earlier, and I made the same type of turns I had done in the morning- but this time right down the middle in the iciest section. Three of my turns chattered- and I immediately was able to correct it by applying a little more aft pressure and pulling my inside ski back. I could not do the same on the G-Motion.
My friend really hated the slalom skis...
You may never experience the issues I felt with the Volkl Vertigo Motion- this may be exactly the ski you are looking for. If you own them, I'd enjoy hearing about your experiences on hard snow. I skied it in a 177 with Marker Motion demo bindings. I do not know if the demos ski differently than the regular motion bindings. I'm 40, weigh 205, stand 5'10, and ski pretty aggressively.
Recommended:
No
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Epinions.com ID:
RONinPC
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Member: Ron Shepard
Location: Park City, UT
Reviews written: 133
Trusted by: 136 members
About Me:
Skiing, Biking, Sailing and Hiking are the passions of this Park City Family.
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