Gear:30

Volkl is unveiling today the new Mantra M5, the fifth iteration of the Mantra that Volkl originally released back in 2005. A lot has changed in skiing since then, but the Mantra is still one of the most recognizable and most iconic names in the game.Last month, Blister editor Sam Shaheen headed to Germany to ski the new Mantra M5, to tour the extremely impressive Volkl factory in Straubing, Germany, and to speak to two key designers at Volkl: Tobias Heil, the head of R&D at Volkl, and Dominik Grunert, the lead designer on the Mantra M5 and the women’s version of the Mantra, the Volkl Secret.This is a really fascinating conversation — and an extremely uncommon event. In 90+ years that Volkl has been around, rarely (if ever) has a review publication been granted this degree of direct access to Volkl R&D and Engineering, and Tobias and Dominik were extremely interesting, candid, and knowledgeable talking about the Mantra M5 in particular, and about the guiding design principles at Volkl in general.So you