The new Atomic S9 is as close as a civilian should get to a true race slalom. Set it to a high edge once at the top of steep face and it will go off like a string of firecrackers, striking and recoiling with every pop, pop, pop. Despite the intensity of its grip, there’s nothing nervous about it; the ski remains calm, even at its fastest and most furious. Like its stable mate, the G9, the Redster S9 is considerably slimmer than the Atomic that preceded it. This helps keep its orientation in the fall line even though its 12.7m radius sidecut (165cm) can pivot on a dime.
It’s unlikely that the new Atomic Redster X9 will instantly make you a better skier; it’s a certainty it’ll make you feel like one. The Redster X9 is built to turn speed into more speed by maintaining edge contact no matter how hard you try to make it fly. It’s signature technology, Servotec, is meant to impart the impression of power steering by making it easy to find an early edge and holding it for as little or as long as you like.
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. .
The Atomic Vantage 90 CTi is the perfect candidate to represent the All-Mountain East category, a genre that occupies the middle ground in a ski market segmented by width. The Vantage 90 CTi exemplifies this “does-a-bit-of-everything” personality. It can’t be quicker than a Race Slalom nor as floaty as a Big Mountain model, but it does a decent impersonation of both, which is a pretty neat trick in itself. Like a musician who can play any tune you can name, the Vantage 90 CTi will move to whatever rhythm you care to set.
Unlike most made-for-women skis, the Vantage 90 CTi W pulls practically no punches compared to its men’s counterpart. Its all-wood core is a little lighter, that’s it. The women’s ski still sports a cutout Titanal sheet called Titanium Backbone 2.0 that’s a principal contributor to the ski’s success in cruddy conditions.
The other special sauce that elevates this Vantage’s versatility is the Carbon Tank Mesh. Covering the length of the ski, the carbon component pumps up the performance in every criterion.
