The Maverick 100 Ti’s special sauce is the combined effect of its double-rockered baseline (25/60/15), tapered tip and unique HRZN Tech Tip that’s rockered on both axes. Atomic calls this combo the ski’s Flow Profile, a good term for how a ski meets the snow. In the case of the Maverick 100 Ti, the front rocker reveals a decided preference for off-trail skiing, sacrificing early connection at the top of the turn on firm snow for a better buffer when barging through cut-up crud.
The 100 Ti is the best of the new Mavericks at drifting, able to smudge over loose, sloppy snow whether meeting it head-on, sideways or somewhere in between. It also has a bit more metal than its bros by dint of its added surface area, so it surprisingly holds a better edge on sheer surfaces than its skinnier siblings. Because its front rocker shortens its effective contact length by 25%, the Maverick 100 Ti is one of the rare AMW models for which we suggest grown males consider a 188cm.
Even though they’re a great leap ahead of the Vantage Pro Lite series they replace, the Maverick models are still an exercise in minimalism. Atomic underscores how the Mavericks are built with “only the essential materials.” True enough, and the Maverick 100 Ti has enough of the essentials to earn a Recommended medallion in the hotly competitive AMW genre.
The personality profile of the Mindbender 99 Ti can be traced directly to the Ti Y-Beam, its principal structural component. As if often the case, Titanal laminates have such a profound effect on torsional rigidity and vibration damping that both its presence and its absence are palpably evident. In the Mindbender 99 Ti, wherever the Ti goes, Power properties follow; where it’s excised, Finesse facility blooms in its absence.
The forward prongs of the Y-Beam yoke travel over the edge, so at the top of the turn early tip pressure is rewarded with engagement at the earliest contact point. Through the critical mid-section, the Y-Beam expands edge-to-edge for max torsional rigidity before retreating to the center of the ski in the tail. Its edge grip underfoot derives from the wall-to-wall section of the “Y” pattern, sticking to any surface that will hold snow, then relaxing its grip through the bottom of the turn. This creates a built-in micro-drift that helps the tail release and keeps it pliable in manky bumps.
No ski will feel easy if it can’t grip on hard snow, so K2 attaches an insurance policy in the guise of a slender, separate core and sidewall combo that sits astride the Mindbender 99 Ti midsection. Dubbed Powerwall, its bonus standheight and damping multiply any force applied from above, amplifying the skier’s efforts. It’s a classic K2 embellishment, reducing the exertion required of the skier without compromising the result.
Any ski with a Power/Finesse Balance score above 90 is doing a lot of things right. The flex of the new ZX100 from Kästle is balanced and even, and the ZX100 resides comfortably on the borderline between drifting and edging as it dances close to the fall line. If you want to make a tighter turn that’s more carve than swivel, be prepared to work for it, but that’s the case for just about every ski in this genre. It somehow manages to feel lightweight and more maneuverable than most AMW models, yet it’s not particularly light; the Kastle FX 96 Ti is actually lighter, despite sporting two sheets of Titanal.
While there’s nothing extraordinary about its essential elements or their construction, the ZX100 gets all the basics right. Its non-metal make-up is refreshing in a genre loaded with as much metal as a gunboat. You may get it to quake at supersonic speeds and of course the baseline is rockered and the forebody tapered to neuter the shovel, but overall the ZX100 feels stable and confident.
The only quibble I can concoct is that Kästle should reconsider aligning the ZX too closely with the budget-challenged youth of America, as its blend of security and peppy personality could suit skiers of any generation. In full awareness of the irony of the gesture, we award the ZX100 a Silver Skier Selection.
Few conditions are as intimidating as bone-flat light, where all terrain features disappear in a miasma of misty grey. Not that this is anyone’s idea of Nirvana, but it happens, and when it does it would be good to be on the MX98. It exudes confidence, a blessing when the pilot has little of his own. Like the Bonafide 97 and the Mantra M6, the MX98 doesn’t care where you aim it. Its tendency is to stay pinned to the planet, rolling over whatever is presented in its path. While one wouldn’t call it agile, neither is it nervous or indecisive. Whether flat or on edge, it’s a ski you can trust, which is of paramount importance when you can’t see squat.
Sad to say, the most likely condition an all-terrain ski will encounter is also the most mundane: groomers. If you own an MX98, you’ll actually look forward to a morning of corduroy, for groomers are to the MX98 what the briar patch was to Brer Rabbit: its natural element. Rolling it edge to edge, twin-track style, you’d never guess you were on a 98mm-waisted ski. The ski simply doesn’t call attention to itself in any unpleasant way: no loose tip, no sense of sluggish girth, no soft tail to spin out. If you know how to fire out of a turn, the MX98 gives you a tail you can stomp on.
I would contend that the Enforcer 100 is the most powerful model in the All-Mountain West pantheon. It earns this distinction due to an extra-high camber line that begins to load with stored energy from the moment you stand on it. Nordica alleges that the Enforcer 100 surrenders half of its baseline to rocker: 30% in the front and 20% of the rear running surface are pulled off the snow at one of the most aggressive angles in the genre. Yet despite this inherent loss of snow contact, the Enforcer 100 doesn’t ski “loose,” not at all. The tip and tail are made of the same stern stuffing as the midsection, so they don’t flop around on hard snow and aren’t easily buffeted off course by sodden crud.
The acid test for an all-terrain ski with aspirations of greatness is a powder-covered mogul field that was untouched… two hours ago. The Enforcer 100 looks at this dumpster-fire of a ski run with the preternatural calm of the Buddha. It’s not worried if you’re not. Don’t be afraid to floor it, for the 2022 Enforcer 100 still has the guts of a GS race ski. Intimidation is not in its vocabulary.
Power and forgiveness in equal measure is the Holy Grail of ski design. The Enforcer 100 comes frightfully close to this ideal.
