Often “wider” translates as “less maneuverable,” but Atomic’s Vantage 95 C W confounds the conventional in more ways than one. The widest of the women’s Vantage series, the 95 C W manages to mask its width by being more effervescent, coming off the bottom of a powder turn as light as a Champagne bubble rising upwards to the surface of a flute.
Every product line needs a star, and for Atomic’s Vantage series, that star is the 90 CTi. Its lightweight construction belies a deep power reserve, capable of cutting into Vermont marble-hard boilerplate or turning aside a boulder of ossified Sierra cement. It’s a ski seemingly without preferences, willing to make short turns or long, at putter-along speeds or with the gas pedal floored.
Perhaps best of all for the skier who hopes to ski 50 days a year and ends up with 20, the 90 CTi isn’t an elitist that requires top-shelf management to release its potential. It doesn’t care where or how you like to travel, and won’t place limits on your opportunities to explore off-trail conditions.
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. The 90 CTi W’s relative quickness to the edge for a ski 90mm wide at the waist is directly attributable to the torsional rigidity delivered by the Carbon Tank Mesh.