Realskiers hasn’t reviewed a Technical ski for a few seasons, a reflection of the category’s general invisibility on the American market. I’d love for this to be a review of Atomic’s Redster X9S, an exceptional roadster that feels like you’re driving a low-slung sports car with a racing suspension. But precious few retailers stock them, and as goes the U.S. retailer community, so goes the country’s demo fleets.
I provide this prelude because while the Redster Q9.8 is worthy of your consideration – for reasons I will shortly present – it isn’t the ultimate expression of Atomic’s capabilities. If you don’t just ski groomers but attack them, you’ll like the way the narrower Redster X9S can cut a short turn with the sudden ferocity of a race slalom, but it’s Multi-Radius Sidecut allows the skier to mix in a liquid GS arc at will. Stability is assured in turns of all sizes by Atomic’s signature shock-absorption tech, Revoshock S, which uses floating steel plates arrayed along the forebody to keep the Redster X9S pinned to the slope.
The Q9.8 headlines a family of Redster spin-offs that adapt the Redster’s race-oriented tech to make it more suitable for occasional forays off-piste. The Redster Q9.8 is substantially wider (84.5mm underfoot @ 173cm) than the 65.5mm-waisted Redster X9S, but it retains a very tidy 14.4m sidecut radius. The Redster Q9.8 is assuredly more tolerant of off-trail conditions than the purebred racers, but it shouldn’t be mistaken for an all-mountain model. Once crispy corduroy is converted to sodden slush piles, the Redster Q9.8 is out of its element.
No matter what the snow conditions, the Redster Q9.8 can’t disguise its baked-in preference for short turns. While there’s nothing notable about a race ski that’s addicted to cutting short, swift arcs, it is an unusual trait in any ski with all-terrain pretensions. No matter where you point it, as soon you tip the Q9.8 into a turn, you’re out of it, like that. It’s not nervous or twitchy, and the edge doesn’t wobble, but neither does it want to hang out in the middle of big-bellied arc.
Veteran equipment tester Jim Schaffner called the Redster Q9.8, “A solid and comfortable Frontside ski. It has precision and control. It is a bit of a one-trick pony for firm, groomed Frontside, short-radius turns.” Of course, if snappy, short turns are your jam, the Q9.8 lives right in your wheelhouse. One of the Peter Glenn crew cited the Q9.8 as “Live, stable, fast and powerful out of turns, without losing momentum. Makes you feel like a real pro.”