Atomic

Atomic can’t help being obsessed with speed. They’re Austrian down to their toes, thereby making it a patriotic obligation to assist Austrian natives in winning World Cup titles. They’ve been very good at meeting expectations, delivering a horde of gold to Austrian athletes. An interesting side development occurred on the way to the podium: non-racers discovered the amazing tranquility at speed that Atomic’s race-room skis exude. At one ski area we frequent, hardly a racing hotbed, there is a knot of very fast, talented skiers who crush the groomers on Atomic GS sticks, and every one of them said “aloha” to their 50^th birthday several seasons ago.

Point being, if you understand when and how to tip a ski, if you realize skiing is an active verb, you may decide when conditions are firm to pass over the entire flotilla of Atomic all-mountain skis and attach yourself to their nearest race model. We don’t review true (FIS) race skis here because we have too much respect for the coach-racer relationship to pretend we ought in any way to intervene, but if we did delude ourselves into declaiming on the subject, we’d tell you to try an Atomic.

On the race course, precision is paramount and compromise is unthinkable. In the freeride world of buttered turns, imprecision is part of the program, and some compromises better be made or the skier is in for a very rough ride.   So when Atomic creates what we would call an All-Mountain West ski (or fatter shape), they tune the entire ski to be more amenable to broken snow. Atomic also has made a conscious commercial choice to offer competitive product for less, pricing some of their off-piste skis several schillings below the competition. If you’re looking for good value in a very well made ski, Atomic is a sensible place to start your search.