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.
For the beleaguered skier on a budget, it must seem like every highly rated model has a core made from Caspian Sea caviar. Thank goodness for the Atomic Vantage 85 W. With a down-to-earth street price of $399, it’s perfect for the intermediate woman who wants to ski more of the mountain. The Vantage 85 W is so affordable because its construction sticks to the essentials and eliminates the extraneous. A light wood core encased in a slip of fiberglass provides support and energy; a thick vertical sidewall puts direct pressure on the edge, giving the Vantage 85 W the tenacity of pricier rides.
The key components that allow the Vantage 100 CTi to feel less like a barge and more like a broad missile are its Titanium Backbone, a whittled-down vertebra of metal that aids damping in the jolt-inducing terrain that prevails off-trail, and Carbon Tank Mesh, a carbon fiber matrix that improves the strength of the entire structure with minimal weight. Like an XXL-size dancer blessed with agility and grace, the Vantage 100 CTi makes sinuous moves that belie its broad-beam dimensions.
Atomic’s Bent Chetler is a delightfully off-the-wall ski that turns out to behave like the most normal kid in its class. You fear it will roll edge to edge with the reflexes of a locomotive, but it actually responds to tipping and bending with the pliability of a yogi. Created by Chris Bentchetler to facilitate terrain park tricks in the backcountry, the Backland Bent Chetler biggest trick maybe the way its midsection stays anchored to the snow whether it’s hard or soft.
