Gear Review | Valhalla 115 Bamboo

I'd already had some fantastic runs on my Stock skis the days before and was now curious to see how the skis would perform in the cold powdery snow between the narrow conifers.

After the first few metres, I felt a long-lasting woohooo effect! Rarely have I turned a corner so easily, so quickly and so surfily in knee-deep snow.

The centre width of 115mm, an early rising rocker and the 1950g per ski make this ski a real powder weapon. After winding my way downhill through the tree slalom in record time, the binding was set back to the ascent and the whole thing repeated a few more times. What was left at the end of the first day was a big grin on my face and the premonition that the fun was about to continue.

Post Corona ski courses

A few months later, the borders were open again, planning for the winter was underway and the first flakes were back. However, with the first good load of snow, corona also returned to our minds and, unfortunately, to the rest of my body.

The reintegration into ongoing winter operations then took place far too late in the form of piste days with the youngsters. The conditions ranged from hard, freshly groomed pistes in the morning to slightly slushy hilly terrain in the afternoon. However, the manoeuvrability of the skis on the piste was fun and a real benefit for the weakened body. I was able to change direction fluently without having to exert too much effort and always keep a close eye on my offspring.

Aim high at last with the PowderGuide Edition

Towards the end of the 2021/2022 season, a call came from Freiburg: A PowderGuide edition of the ski is ready, a matching ATK binding is also available and the package can be tested further.

Unfortunately, the last snowfalls in the Bernese Oberland had already been a few days ago, so I had the opportunity to test the ski's last favourite discipline, which Freddy uses to advertise the ski's strengths: "chopped up".

The ski is fitted with bamboo lamellas glued on edge, which are said to produce excellent flexing properties. After my first descents on well groomed slopes, I can clearly confirm what the manufacturer promises with 10 out of 10 points in choppy conditions.  With the pop typical of bamboo, the ski is agile and playful, but if necessary it pulls unperturbed through choppy snow as if on rails. The shovel is reinforced with flax fibres to ensure balanced handling and good tracking stability. If you trust the pin binding, you can really let it rip with the ski and start playful excursions into the vertical thanks to the pop.

The over-egg tour

The final alpine challenge for the skis was a ski tour with a very heterogeneous snow cover.  Early in the morning, the snow was well frozen from the cold night. On the ascent, the hard snow surface was not a major problem at first. Only on some traverses did the edge have to be set very precisely to ensure sufficient grip.

On the descent, there was a mixture of powder, broken snow, ice and then more soft spring snow at the bottom. This was the first time the ski was shown its limits. Whilst it cruised confidently through the soft snow sections as always, the ski unfortunately lost its edge stability on icy sections. The ski clearly lacks firmness here. In the icy sections, the speed had to be taken out and the next soft snow field had to be fixed.