Cloud 12

[Neither the Cloud 12 nor its scores have changed since this review was posted two seasons ago.]

There isn’t an ounce of condescension in Atomic’s Cloud 12. Of course it doesn’t meet FIS specs, but that’s the whole point of the Technical category, to apply race room production to more versatile shapes. It retains two game-changing features that separate it, behaviorally, from the rest of the field.

The first feature to catch the eye is a rod that runs from under the binding, where it’s anchored in an elastomer base, to roughly the center of the forebody. Called Servotec, the rod is pre-stressed, so its rest position is already exerting down force on the front of the ski. When the ski is bowed during a turn, the tension on the rod relaxes; when the load on the ski is released, the rod’s recoil snaps the ski back on the snow, making edge changes feel both super accurate and totally magical.

The Cloud 12 isn’t made for the lackadaisical carver who wants to hang out on the tail end of a turn long enough to check her messages. The second self-evident feature that helps define the Cloud 12’s behavior is its svelte shape. This streamlined rocket thinks of recreational runs as another opportunity to win something, taking off down the fall line as if suddenly freed from a bad relationship.

Redster G9

You can’t fake it on an Atomic Redster G9. Posers will know they’re in trouble in about 50 feet. Your boots will suddenly feel eerily loose. As if sensing your weakness, the G9 will hit the afterburners and if you don’t catch up with it pronto and press into the front of your 130-flex boots, you could be in for a wild ride, as if riding in the back of a cartoon cab on the set of Who Shot Roger Rabbit?

But if you show it proper respect in the first place and stand on it with controlled aggression, its acceleration will feel as smooth as the finest German sedan. You’re not just in control; you’re in charge of a speed-generating machine that feels capable of carving up the Hahnenkamm.

There’s no doubt that part of the G9’s inspiring tranquility at speed is due to Servotec, a slender carbon rod running down the center of the ski that actively pushes the shovel back on the snow. The change that validated the G9’s claim to being “Ultra Titanium Powered” is the addition of third .3mm-thick Titanal laminate in its guts. With all this metal on board, you might expect the G9 to steer like a battleship, but its slender profile and firecracker response to pressure makes it feel as nimble as Nureyev.