Telemark Talk / Telemark Tips Forum

Check out my latest Voile Objective review here


My first pair of Voile skis were the great Carbon Surfs. Back in 2005, they were the best and lightest fatties on the market. They were rated the #1 powder ski in every ski mag around the globe. And while I really liked them, I had still to bother with heavy, bulky skins. And they were still not as light as my Karhu Guides. I bought some other Voile skis afterwards but always came back to my Guides for pure powder fun because of their weight vs surface ratio. But I think that is about to change…

Over the years, I sort of became obsessed with the term lightweight. As you know, I don’t care much about gear and the plastic exo-skeleton boots you buy and how much your paid per gram for your Meidjo 5.1 bindings. For me, it’s all about fun and playing outside. But still, the feeling of being light on the snow is pretty much the best feeling you can get. My obsession didn't come out of curiosity or because I wanted to show off my 2k$ imported skis on the slopes. I couldn't care less about skimo races or uphill performance. It came mainly came from the fact that I only ski floppy XC shoes in the backcountry, no matter what. So the lighter the skis, the better the downhill control. That is my definition of fun.

Since the rich baby boomers came into the scene with their alpine touring gear, it somehow became possible to manufacture skis under 6lbs. Somehow, the AT crowd was able to turn backcountry skiing, a spiritual recreational activity practiced for fun and enlightenment, into a competitive beat-the-clock sport battle against other rich guys with expensive and exotic gear. Too bad for them, they will never understand the very essence of gliding on planks with bended knees. The one upside to that is that they are responsible for modern light skis and all sorts of new funny meta-para-loco-aramid fibers.

After all these years and all the new technology, I still haven’t found a better XCD powder ski than The Guide (and I've tried a few…) But this year I wanted to try something. My plan was to buy the best and lightest rando racing ski and turn it into my dream ski. I ended up wanted to buy a pair of Merelli VRT skis at a stunning 590g per ski. The main problem with randonnée skis is that none of them come in a waxless version. Well, that is not a real problem, since my plan was to send them to Bri7 to Fishscalized them. The other problem is that they might be super light, the main reason for this is that they only make them 160cm long. That is still problematic, as Bri7 can’t seem to be able to elongate skis yet.

I might no longer need to go through complex, expensive and exhaustive processes to get my dream ski. Voile might have build it for me already. Meet the Objective BC ski, Voile’s new and upcoming BC touring ski. Inspired by skimo racing, the latest member of Voile ski family places an emphasis on fast ascents and long-distance travel. It resides somewhere between the WSP and Vector skis. 4lbs 3oz, waxless, rockered tips…A lot of sidecut... And up to 178cm! Available August 2016...
Lightweight Paulownia Wood Core
2 Carbon Fiberglass Layers
Durable Polyamide Topsheet
1.8 mm Steel Side Edges
Rockered Tip


164cm 171cm 178cm
Tip Width (mm) 112 115 117
Waist (mm) 80 82 84
Tail Width (mm) 97 99 102
Radius (m) 8.0 18.5 19.5
Pair Weight 1.9kg 2.1kg 2.27kg

Now this might cause a lot of trouble within the XCD crowd. As we know, the XCD Knights never really approved skis wider than 109mm at the tip for pure XCD. With a 117mm tip @ 178cm, this might be problematic. I can't wait to see how they ski with floppy shoes and NNN bindings...! Dear Knights, wanna chime in?

LoveJohnny wrote: Lightweight Paulownia Wood Core
2 Carbon Fiberglass Layers
Durable Polyamide Topsheet
1.8 mm Steel Side Edges
Rockered Tip

Paulownia Wood? Carbon/Fiberglass? Polyamide?

Sounds exotic and expensive to me...

Maybe you should just get a Dynafit snow suit to go along with it

That ski is appealing to me also. Aren't they close to 800 bucks? I would put a light Riva cable binding on them.

Retail is 695$... Not the cheapest skis around but hey, this is the first ever ski with fish scales in that category...
This is HUGE news...!

Last year, I asked them if there was a way they could sell me a WSP ski with fish scales... I got my answer...

Wildsnow did a nice chart of current skis comparing ski weight vs surface... The Objectives are pretty much the cheapest... And the only waxless ones...

Look at those tips!

It is huge news, but I don't think it's going to go the way you want Johnny. I have a feeling those kind skis are going mated up with dynafits more often than not. This is the final merge between Skimo AT and XCD that I've been waiting to see.

But... wtf do I care? As long as we can still get leather boots and touring bindings, it's not a bad thing.

Those look like a small version of the Vector BCs. The tips look similar except for, like the Guides, the metal edges don't seem to wrap all the way around the tips (Vectors/V6s are full wrap.) Voile doesn't say if the bases are extruded or sintered. How stiff is the camber? These could be a very interesting ski for around here for touring in deep snow. 3-pins, light boots. I feel like a broken record, but I wish they had a bit more length...

They do are a smaller incarnation of the Vectors... But 850g lighter...

I wish they would make it longer too, but I understand the financial issues of doing longer skis... Overall, 178cm is pretty cool for anyone for that kind of ski... There's not a lot to be gained from a 180cm downhill-oriented ski like the Objective and say a 195cm one... Especially with that nice 18m radius... The gained weight would probably offset overall stability of a longer one... With a radius that small, it's obvsiouly not for long tours, but puuuurfect for east cost backyard fun...

The way I want? What is the way I want? I'm not trying to convert anyone to XCD... I don't care if people want only half the fun... That makes more fun in mother nature's bank for us...

Voile started as a pure telemark company... And they still are. If the majority of their sales comes from the AT crowd, good thing! That means more R&D for us and better prices...

Johnny I also loved my carbon surfs. I had one of my best powder runs ever on them and stuck with them as my bc ski until I got the vectors.

I was also interested in the WSPs but decided they are too short. I think the objectives are the ski I need to enable me to get to a quiver of three skis that do it all. Do they come with a smooth base also?

Hey LJ, good to hear from you!

I agree... that's the one kind of ski I like most... I mean «skinny» lightweight skis. Although, I am not totally convinced with the scale thing... I've got a pair of waxless Kharu and ... not my best. I like half & full skins... I would like to try a pair of Epoch...

Rod - try the new Fischer if you can get a chance. Scales are very good, much better than Karhu or Madshus. Although you being a small, lightweight guy as I recall, the camber may not agree with you.

And if you don't believe me, here is a review that outlines some S Bound vs Madshus climbing performance:

http://www.telemarktalk.com/viewtopic.p ... =30#p13454

I've not used the BD skins, but I've found similar results.

A few people I have talked to have complained about the S Bounds not being very "turny". I thought that strange so I inquired further. In most instances they were comparing to a rockered ski like the Vector and the other thing I found is that the lightweights didn't seem to like them. Speculation is that they just didn't have the weight to bend them enough.

Not sure how much different the newest gen might be, but Johnny seemed to think they have a tight turning radius:

http://www.telemarktalk.com/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=944

Which according to length/sidecut, they do not. For reference an Atomic TM22 has a 22m radius and has a 34mm sidecut vs the 29mm of the S98. For a given length, that tells us they must have a radius greater than 22m. Running length of the ski affects this a lot, but the S Bounds have a traditional tip and tail like TM22 does.

At any rate, his thinking that they turn tighter than the sidecut would suggest that when properly flexed, they bend tighter than what the specifications show.