Voile UltraVector BC Skis

After consultation with the excellent and friendly and knowledgable staff at Voile i bought these amazing backcountry skis and mounted my telemark bindings on them for touring and backcountry skiing, i have only been out a couple of times so far on mostly flat rolling access roads and trails as we still have pretty thin snow coverage and snow base here in the Breckenridge backcountry which is just starting to accumulate. But these skis have wonderful manners! they glide along effortlessly up and make lovely stable telemark turns down the gentle rolling terrain i have taken them on so far. They grip perfectly on the flat and gentle rolling trails going uphill with their traction bases and no skins (so no back sliding on gentle terrain) and they are very well behaved on the kinda "variable trail conditions" trip back down the local backcountry access trails we can slide on so far and which is currently being used by foot traffic, snowshoers, snow bikers, as well as xc and backcountry users

Ordered these thinking they would be a fun sometimes ski for when I wanted a goofy exploratory tele ski. Turns out they are the first ski I reach for for backcountry, and even for patrolling at a downhill ski area.

These skis are amazing. They have tackled everything from icy resort groomers to 1+ feet of fresh in the backcountry. Recently on a backcountry peak bag, I was able to drop in off the summit into icy wind hammered crust, and into powder in the lower bowls, with confident tele turns the whole way! It’s awesome, the perfect amount of camber to grip the ice when you absolutely need it, but a wide shovel to enjoy the powder that you went all that way for. You can feel the envy from your buddies when you flip your bindings into your mode on small climbs on the way out, I have yet to find a scenario where the scales are a serious disadvantage. They make low angle terrain more fun and in the end, more “worth it”! I have mine mounted with a pair of 22 Designs Axls, and have a second pair of Axls that I dream of putting on the normal Ultravector. Can’t recommend enough!!

I ski patrol at a local Cross Country ski hill and bought these to replace an old set of steel edged narrow XC light weight back country skis. I use the new skis on the groomed trails where snow conditions vary from icy to powdery; terrain varies from flat, gentle green runs to steepish black diamond runs. I am using the G3 Ion12 binding. The fish scale pattern works well on the groomed trails, from soft snow to hard and crusty. The skis do not fit in the standard XC tracks. Having a more robust ski, binding and boot setup than my previous setup makes patrolling the trails much easier and safer, especially on the steeper hills where the snow, when it has refrozen, can be challenging. I have yet to try out the skis in the back country. For use on the groomed XC trails I am certainly enjoying the skis.

I paired these skis with a Atomic Backland bindings and Fischer TransAlp boots for a very light weight ski with much more control than my former 3 pin set up. We do mostly low angle 4 wheel drive roads uphill and then have all sorts of options back down.

I fallen in love with these skis, the best of both world!! The Voilé UltraVector Backcountry with the Switchback X2 binding is a perfect match with my Leather Alico Double Ski Boots…, a Big Thumbs-up!!!

These skis are the bomb for rolling backcountry like we have here in Vermont. A few people I've gone out with said they were the best performing ski for our terrain and conditions. I was skeptical so I went and bought a pair for my self. They were right! And on top of that, no body makes a ski with these specs and the shallow rise. So there is nothing else like it!

I have this pair of Vector BCs, mounted with Voile Swithbacks, and they are fantastic for tooling around back in the woods but can handle a descent - best of both worlds. I have SuperChargers I often take for skinning, but these handle just as well as the the Super Chargers and then you have added benefit of not having to put skins back on if there is some light uphill. They are soft, so in some crud you might want stiffer skiis, but for most part these cover all the bases. They turn so nicely, with just a little lean and the float, but they aren't too wide to feel like they are knocking each other around. If I could only have one pair of skiis, these would be it.

First of all, I’m glad that Voile serves short people. I’m 5 feet tall, and finding the pair of the right length for the adult is always the challenge. Having an option of 153cm is incredible!! I’ve got the pair 2 years ago, and since having wonderful time on these. The fish scale is handy for touring through the rolling terrain and logging road access with ups and downs. I’ve got tele bindings on and skiing the powder is such a pleasure next to none!!! The fish scale bottom slows down a bit, and need steeper slope. It’s important to wax the fish scales. Both liquid wax and hot wax (with a rug to soak excess) works to keep them afloat. Otherwise you’ll end up with a massive snow ball under the foot in the spring snow.

... I say that even though I also own a pair of V8s which won 5 awards and which I love for deep days in big mountains. But even though my V8s rule in knee-deep, the Ultras are still my off-piste do-it-all favs. They give me the option of tele or parallel, they crud bust, they carve up peanut butter and cream cheese mank, and they fly down boot-top pow. They're responsive, secure and poppy (more so than previous Vectors ). With a light tele boot and Switchback X2 bindings, they make a fast classic style Nordic ski, especially for backcountry hits from snowsled tracks. And they have edges that hold surprisingly well on hard sidehill skin tracks. Best of all, they're forgiving on on the down because they're damp. I'd love to have a second pair without scales however in spring corn snow the scales are faster, probably because the scales cause underfoot melting and aeration reducing stiction. The Ultravector re-defines classic, skate, alpine,tele, backco, cuz they're light and stiff and they do it all. I weigh 160 and rock the 171s. My wife's 112 and she digs the 154s. It's her fav ski too!

This was my first pair of skis period and they took me up and down everything I wanted to during my first season of skiing. Most people don't jump into backcountry their first season of skiing, but I was lucky to be living at the north entrance to Yellowstone where there is amazing backcountry skiing right out my front door. The skis were great for lapping meadows during the poor snow conditions at the beginning of the season while I learned to ski and were exceptional as I graduated to steeper runs as the season progressed. There is some drag if you are trying to ski down slopes < 10-15 degress, but the feeling of not having to skin up for a 5 mile rolling approach is amazing and saves so much energy for the actual climb. They hold an edge incredibly well - which made initiating kick turns a little difficult as a beginner, but that could also just be my skill level so I'm not going to blame the skis. These are a great one quiver ski IMO as long as you set your expectation that low angle exits may take a little longer, but at least for me the efficiency you gain on the approach is worth it. For the next season, I do hope to get a pair on non-scaled Voiles like the Manti for deeper powder days. I did take these to a resort several days and had a bunch of fun on them, but ultimately would not recommend them for someone who is going to spend 30% or more of their time at the resort since the drag does get to be annoying. Also, they are not quite stiff enough for moguls IMO, but again I am just an intermediate skier at this point, so I'm sure an advanced or expert skier could ski anything on them. Also, these are backcountry skis so I don't think they should be judged on resort performance, just thought I'd mention it.

The day on the backside was fantastic! I have only one suggestion on how to improve the UltraVector BC. Maybe put a notch at the tail end for a skin strap. Other than that....the skis are perfect. My 164's are perfect for my body height and weight at 5'6" or 5'7" and130 pounds in my underwear. They are not too short. No falls today after three long laps on the backside and one lap coming down the Pebble Creek Ski Area here in Inkom, Idaho near Pocatello. I telemarked the backside powder and paralleled the front side hard, semi-frozen groomers in the area using my old Scarpa T3's from the late 1990's. Those boots handled the skis just fine. And the skis were great on both surfaces. I even liked the three pin cable bindings that I mounted with the 20 millimeter risers that I bought separately because I took the bindings off of an old pair of Karhu skis. The three pins allowed me to climb without a cable to slow me down, and the cables were easy to attach to my heal at the top of the climb for a secure connection to my skis for on the way down. The result is that I had enough of an energy saving to do a third lap. Fantastic set up ! They floated over powder like floating through the air....like they had wings. I hit some wind slab and they floated and pushed right through it almost like it wasn't there. They skied better than my Atomic RT 80's, and I didn't think that was possible, and they are lighter by almost 5 ounces for each ski, for a total weight saving of about 8 to 10 ounces for the pair. The fish scale bottoms helped me navigate quickly right and left with no problem trying to avoid questionable avy slope inclines, from avy not-so-safe to avy safe, etc. I love them. At almost 67 years old, they may just allow me to ski a few more years beyond what I might have been able to do before I bought these skis. Thank you so much for making such great skis. Scott Balsai

Recently bought a pair of Ultra Vector BC skis. great traction up hill. Maybe to much. I'm a heavy skier, 260lbs. They are soft skis with early rise and I push middle of ski down on the snow going down hill in powder. Not very good glide on the downhill runs . Might help to make fish scale kicker zone shorter. Also had 200lb. friend try them and had same problem.

These skis are perfect for tours we do that involve an XC approach before you can put skins on. And they ski great both uphill and downhill, super grippy on the up and fast and smooth on the down. Even mounted with the Tecton binding the setup is impressively lightweight.

Love these! Making uphill so much faster, they even worked on an incline I thought would be too steep. You should buy these skis!

After owning and skiing a pair of SuperChargers for the past 5 years, I wanted to get a similar but more versatile ski for back-country guiding and hut-trip use. These new Voile UltraVector BC skis were it--they are awesome!

My wife and I are both very happy with the UltraVector BC skis and Switchback X2 bindings. All of our issues with our old setup has been resolved. We can now climb with less effort due to the Switchback pivot and the the mount point is perfectly placed to maximize climbing grip which an issue previously. The early rise rocker is also much appreciated as there is no longer resistance to turning or diving due to too much camber. This setup does everything well and is the most fun we have ever had on skis! Where was this gear 40 years ago when I was enrolled in a tele class @ the University of Utah!

J’ai essayé aujourd’hui même ces skis équipés de fixation de telemark. Pour l’ascension ils sont légers et les écailles fonctionnent bien sur une pente légère. En descente, ils sont joueurs et pardonnent. Ils flottent très bien dans la poudreuse. Je crois que je vais avoir beaucoup de plaisirs avec ces skis ...

I love these skis. I first discovered them when touring in VT with some seasoned skiers. They were ALL on variations of the Vector BC. I got myself a pair the next day. Vermont has a lot of rolling terrain in the backcountry and these have enough grip to not make you question doing another lap or checking out a new section without the hassle of transitioning with skins. Great skis.

As a trail chief for the Catamount Trail Association in Vermont, I have found the UVBC in 164cm length to be the ultimate tool for attacking the Cat Trail which goes from Massachusetts to Canada along the spine of the Green Mountains. A few winters ago I through skied the entire trail in one push. I found the scale pattern aggressive enough to tackle 99% of the climbs, allowing for great descents, the short length perfect for wiggling and giggling in tight trees, the sidecut and flex shreds tight trail, steep powder, wind buff, pretty much everything I've thrown and these things, and they always shine brightly. I'm skiing these with Switchbacks always in tour mode(though I have HD 3 pins on all my other setups, and they are awesome too), and Scarpa T-4's. This setup is the ultimate setup to through ski the Catamount Trail!

Absolutely love my older 160 cm BC Vectors! They slice and efficiently rise in powder conditions, and enable quick, responsive turns in the steeps, chutes, and trees. That along with rugged light weight, make them a joy to tour the BC and get to favorite or new downhill lines, no matter how crooked! Lively and fun for working terrain features through woods, boulders, gullies etc. Very happy to see the shorter 154 cm have gained more spots in Voile` ski offerings!

A complete game changer coming from XCD skis. They kick and glide just as well but rather than being a cross country ski with edges they are an alpine ski with scales. If you have easy access to great snow with less-than-bc quantities of vertical then these will open up a whole new world of scoring turns that wouldn't be "worth it" to go through the skin ordeal. Farm out a bunch of 100 foot laps in an hour and not spend more than 2 minutes of that in transition. You will notice the scales on a low angle groomer in the resort but not on steeper powder shots where they are a blast. They are stiffer like the Superchargers so have great edge hold on firm ,snappy in crud and float well with their early tip rise. Alternate uses, grooming fat bike singletrack, awesome for chasing toddlers at the resort! ( they yardsale above you? pop them into tour mode and walk up to get them back on their skis), meadowskipping with your kids...any slope at the Nordic center or local woods becomes a powder day. I also have skins for mine and used them for the BC when more powder oriented(wider) skis aren't needed/wanted. They own undulating terrain.

I love this ski. It has a perfect turning radius, float and flex for the skiing I do in the Cascades. Closest I have found to a quiver of one - for me.

I ski the backcountry in Vermont and find this ski to be just what I need when doing low-angle touring. I find the 96mm underfoot (I have this in 177cm) perfect for an everyday BC ski. It also performs superbly when headed downhill, allowing you to maximize your reward after a long climb. If you are looking for a lightweight scaled ski that will do everything you want and need, look no further, this is the ski for you.