The Völkl Racetiger Speedwall SL UVO is the top offer from the german manufacturer inside the slalom catalog. Anyone who remembers how the P series felt like and tasted this is the modern continuation.

The size offering is divided in two shapes, one for the 170 cm and 165 cm sizes and another one for the shorter 160 cm and 155 cm sizes. Why is this? Ask Völkl. Although I may have some clues for you. If you look at the rest of the manufacturers you will soon discover one sidecut fits all the sizes for an specific ski. That makes the 170 cm size in an SL ski have a 14 m radius. But the 155 cm can easily fall into the 11 m register because it follows the same sidecut pattern. Does this policy of one shape fits them all? Well… that is not easy to answer. In Völkl they’ve decided to give their own answer and that means having two sidecuts for one model. I can tell you one thing about this. At least they look like they care about they do and what you feel about their product.

Völkl Racetiger Speedwall SL UVO
© Marker Völkl International GmbH

The long sizes start with a generous shovel of 123 mm width, followed by a 68 mm waist closed by a 104 mm tail. The short sizes start with a 120 mm shovel, again a 68 mm waist and closes the draw a 101 mm tail. Speaking of tails. The Völkl Racetiger Speedwall SL UVO has a very distinctive tail shape. There are not many skis in the market with this quite aggressive shape. This tail will hold you endlessly but it has one condition. You’d better do the right thing at the right time, all the time. And that means something. If you have no idea what is this about you may look somewhere else since there are easier SL skis, in the Völkl scope too.

So the main conclusion is this: The Völkl Racetiger Speedwall SL UVO is not a recreational ski nor a “go for a walk” one. It requires high level skills, good physical condition and forgetting about anything that is not related to high performance slalom turns. Be specially aware of your physical condition when selecting this ski as your slalom tool. If you are a powerful legged skier this is it. If you are a bit heavy this is it too. But if you are not particularly powerful in your legs and you are a light skier you may find better fitted with other options. Any ski must be bent to let it do the work, and the The Völkl Racetiger Speedwall SL UVO is not one of the softest ones, quite the contrary.

It feels balanced with an easy turn initiation but it’s not that easy to disengage the edge once it’s hold. The mid turn phase is satisfactory since you won’t find any problem but where some may find stability as the perfect word to define it, many others will feel it as thick and massive. At the end of the turns you will be able to hold from that edge as if there was no gravity although there is one condition for that. Speed.

The mounted bindings are from Marker and they are the specific model for this type of skis. The DIN regulation goes from 6 to 16, leaving clear once more what’s the focus of this model. The bindings are also painted to match the new style for this year, coupling perfectly to the ski’s image.

The Völkl Racetiger Speedwall SL UVO features the same old known Völkl technologies such as the Speed Multilayer Woodcar, Power Construction, the Titanium reinforcement thing and so on. There has been also some cosmetic renewal which will be discussed later. And the UVO is still with us.

As others did before, Völkl has found the Holy Grail. That is, yet another anti-everything-bad-for-skiing-gizmo. This time, the toy (sorry… the system) is supposed to reduce undesired vibrations. Good, at least they don’t turn them into electricity. The problem is, trust me, it doesn’t work. It just doesn’t. Look, if any of these systems had worked any time in the past, from the old Rossignol’s VAS to today’s Völkl’s UVO, every single pair of skis in the known universe would have some sort of device like that. They don’t work at all. They can show you slides, figures, tables, graphics, make fancy spots on YouTube or any other fireworks to try to convince you. Just forget it, buy your favorite pair and enjoy skiing! And yes, the Völkl Racetiger Speedwall SL UVO is still a great ski.

If you have read the whole article you may be thinking if the Völkl Racetiger Speedwall SL UVO is the right slalom ski for you If you can, try it. It’s worth the experience. If you have no chance just make sure you have the skills and the physical condition. You will enjoy this is a lot if so.