Not since Alexander the Great has world conquest seemed so simple. All Michaela Shiffrin has to do is step into her magic Redster S9’s and a couple of minutes later she’s standing on top of a podium, wearing another gold medal.
It’s clear at this juncture in Shiffrin’s journey that she is likely to shatter every record for World Cup victories, leaving legendary talents like Stenmark, Hirscher and Vonn in her wake. The possibility that she’s dominating her sport solely because she uses the best skis is as remote as Tiger Woods’ supremacy is due primarily to his choice of golf ball.
Yet it’s precisely because of her incandescent talent that her choice of gear must be as meticulously managed as every other part of her skiing life. I’m not trying to suggest that you should cop a pair of S9’s just like Michaela’s, because for one thing, you can’t. Her skis are sui generis, their specs a more closely guarded secret than any dossier in Austria’s foreign ministry. But you can get the closest thing a civilian can find to Ms. Shiffrin’s S9’s, and they won’t disappoint.
No other ski extant feels as quick to find a fresh edge as the Redster S9, and once it gets its steel into the snow you are nailed to the turn. Which is fortunate, as you’ll move through that arc in about the same time it takes a hummingbird to flap its wings once. The arc isn’t over until the skinny tail zings, launching you through the turn transition and onto the next edge with the speed of thought.
The Redster S9 is so gifted at short turns, it seems sacrilegious to linger on the edge, but a longer radius turn can be coaxed out of it as long it’s only tipped a teensy bit. But long turns aren’t part of its normal repertoire, and if you want to drift into a turn, you’re on the wrong stick.
The Redster S9 is a slalom specialist from the Servotec damping system decorating its topskin to the World Cup base finish on its bottom, but it has enough forgiveness in its make-up to a fun free-skiing toy when it’s not running gates. “Definitely a slalom ski,” avers Corty Lawrence, “but a fun, lively, playful one, with a precise and defined turn shape.” Jim Schaffner of Start Haus was “impressed how Atomic has kept the full race characteristics and still made the ski fun and playful. This Non-FIS SL could be raced or recreated!”
