Of the three new Vantage models offered in the All-Mountain East category, the 90 CTI clearly out-performed its brethren in all-around aptitude for all-mountain skiing.  Wide enough for knee-deep powder, stout enough to bash through cut-up crud, quick enough to carve on corduroy; there’s nothing the 90 CTI won’t do and do with relish on top.

The 90 CTI doesn’t ski fat, meaning one doesn’t notice a balk at the top of the turn while the pilot pulls the ski up on edge, yet when it’s plopped down in a pile of powder it performs like it’s in its native element.  I had the blessed opportunity to experience this facility when I enjoyed one of the few powder runs of this execrable snow year when I happened to be essaying this model. No question I was in an ecstatic state and may have been smitten by any ski under the circumstances, but the 90 CTI nonetheless performed admirably, keeping the beat, holding the line, never letting it feel arduous. Sweet.

Lord only knows, not all runs are going to be powder.  Perhaps that’s why Bob Gleason, chief of surgery at The Boot Doctors, called the 90 CTI a “good climate change ski.”   It will make the most of whatever Nature provides.  “It drives through bumps like Audi through curves,” Gleason observes, noting an attribute that isn’t shared by all skis of this girth.

There’s little point to buying a ski in this genre if all one is going to do with it is swoop around on groomers.  (A Frontside or Technical ski is better adapted to this purpose.)  The Vantage 90 CTI is an ideal companion for anyone who’s bored with the bleak monotony of manicured slopes and is up for trying, well, whatever else is on the menu.