Atomic concocted its Carbon Tank Mesh to give all its Vantage models a performance boost, but this bantamweight technology’s best application is in the women’s market. Carbon Tank Mesh provides stability without the added weight that can make a fat ski feel ponderous. It’s what allows a relatively wide ski like the Vantage 95 C W to still feel quick edge to edge, and it improves how that edge holds in all conditions.

The contributions of Carbon Tank Mesh don’t end there. Because the ski feels lighter, it’s more maneuverable in off-trail conditions like trees and couloirs where quick reflexes matter. Because it’s more torsionally rigid, it’s able to hold its own in heavy chop that would normally deflect a lightweight ski.

The Vantage 95 C W’s shape strikes just the right balance between the surface area needed flotation and the sidecut that facilitates carving. This is why this model feels so easy to ski regardless of the conditions. The Vantage 95 C W passes the acid test of an off-trail ski: how well does it handle conditions it wasn’t made for? One of our testers encountered just such terrain and came out smiling. “This ski was great, especially going over the ice cookies. I felt like I could cruise through anything.”

Now that we’ve established the Vantage 95 C W’s bona fides, here’s the kicker: this multi-talented ski, suitable for a broad range of abilities, will retail for only $499 at most locations. That would be a steal even if the Vantage 95 C W fell short on the performance front, which it assuredly does not. For its overall facility we again award the Vantage 95 C W a Silver Skier Selection.