Let the word go out across the land: the Mantra is back!
The new M5 Mantra actually isn’t a replica of an older, cambered version revered by so many of the Volkl faithful; it has an identity all its own. The M5’s unique construction restores the cambered baseline and tighter waistline of earlier Mantras, but how its various components are assembled that set the fifth generation Mantra apart from its antecedents.
The key to the M5’s character lies in the top layer of Titanal, a 3-piece affair that breaks up the usual single top piece. The front and back of the ski are framed in U-shaped .6mm-thick laminates. Between these sections is a .4mm mounting plate and beneath them all is a full-length sheet of fiberglass, a rigid, resilient trampoline of glass ready to energize turn after turn. Liberated from the tension of a single sheet of metal, the glass is more easily compressed – note the thinnest Titanal part is underfoot – and loaded up with rebound energy.
Among all the things the new Mantra does better than the model it replaces – tighter turn entry, better edge grip on hard snow, a higher speed range – perhaps the most exciting is rebound, an end-of-turn kick in the pants that launches the skier out of the old turn and across the fall line. It’s a quality a lot of modern all-mountain skis are lacking and one the M5 Mantra glorifies.
Compared to the rest of the field, the design of the M5 is differentiated by two interrelated, contrarian features. First, the Titanal Frame construction adds mass all around the tip and tail, which helps the forebody to hook up at the top of the turn and gives the tail extra stability when pressured through the bottom of the turn. Most other brands are trying to make the extremities lighter and more inert, not heavier and more reactive. (Völkl also adds a lightweight carbon weave to tip and tail, but this is in addition to, not in lieu of, the metal part.)
The second major differentiator is the M5’s Frontside orientation in a category more concerned with off-trail facility. If you were to drop the M5 and a more typical AMW ski into 8-inches of fresh snow, the majority would try to surf near the top while the M5 would seek the floor and drive off the first surface compact enough to support it. It’s an Old School approach to tearing up a crud field, one lifelong experts will recognize and approve of.
Penelope Gleason compares skiing the new Mantra to “re-connecting with your favorite high school boyfriend.” Husband and wingman Bob is also “so happy to have camber back in the Mantra. A smooth and snappy feeling. Carves like a blade and finished the turn with authority.” Across the country, Scott from Aspen Ski and Board is on the same page: “Best Mantra in years. With the addition of camber, Mantra now grips and rebounds better than the past full-rocker versions. It’s lighter, too!”