You can’t fake it on an Atomic Redster G9. Posers will know they’re in trouble in about 50 feet. Your boots will suddenly feel eerily loose. As if sensing your weakness, the G9 will hit the afterburners and if you don’t catch up with it pronto and press into the front of your 130-flex boots, you could be in for a wild ride, as if riding in the back of a cartoon cab on the set of Who Shot Roger Rabbit?

But if you show it proper respect in the first place and stand on it with controlled aggression, its acceleration will feel as smooth as the finest German sedan. You’re not just in control; you’re in charge of a speed-generating machine that feels capable of carving up the Hahnenkamm.

There’s no doubt that part of the G9’s inspiring tranquility at speed is due to Servotec, a slender carbon rod running down the center of the ski that actively pushes the shovel back on the snow. The change that validated the G9’s claim to being “Ultra Titanium Powered” is the addition of third .3mm-thick Titanal laminate in its guts. With all this metal on board, you might expect the G9 to steer like a battleship, but its slender profile and firecracker response to pressure makes it feel as nimble as Nureyev.

Don’t get me wrong. The Redster G9 is not soft, but it doesn’t come off as ungodly stiff, either, mainly because it can flip edge to edge so easily. Corty Lawrence called the G9 “snappy quick, admiring how it “loves high edge angles, responding with an ebullient rebound.” The XXL Lawrence would have loved it even more if he could have tested a 183cm instead of a 177cm, which would have improved its stability at speed.

Another elite Power skier, Jim Schaffner from Start Haus, gave the new Redster G9 perfect scores for its technical properties. After his test gallops down Snow Basin, he issued this warning, “Caution: this ski will put a very hard to remove smile on your face. It’s the perfect balance of grace and power, with a huge sweet spot.” To which I would add another caution: Schaffner is still a practicing race coach whose natural arc leaves a trench in the snow as deep as a crevasse. You don’t have to be as accomplished as Schaffner to feel as comfy in its saddle, but let’s just say it doesn’t discourage aggression.