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.
“Light and agile for 100mm underfoot,” notes the perspicacious Matt from Footloose. “It carves like it’s narrow, but has a big platform for versatility in soft snow.” One reason this 100 skis like a more petite model is that, despite the obligatory front rocker, it hooks up early as long as the skier is in an aggressive, forward-pressing stance. Several testers noted the need to stay forward in order to get the most of the Vantage 100 CTI’s potential.
It’s not an exaggeration to say the Vantage 95 C isn’t just the best value in the All-Mountain West genre; it’s 2017’s best ski for the buck, period, end of story.
Or, as in this review, the beginning. For the Vantage 95 C is so good, it earned its podium position among our Finesse models on technical merit, not the come-hither appeal of a price point. The technology that elevates the 95 C above its presumed peers is called Carbon Tank Mesh, a grid of carbon strands that covers the entire ski and contributes considerably to its grip, stability and pop.
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.