Every product line needs a star, and for Atomic’s Vantage series, that star is the 90 CTi.   Its lightweight construction belies a deep power reserve, capable of cutting into Vermont marble-hard boilerplate or turning aside a boulder of ossified Sierra cement. It’s a ski seemingly without preferences, willing to make short turns or long, at putter-along speeds or with the gas pedal floored.

Perhaps best of all for the skier who hopes to ski 50 days a year and ends up with 20, the 90 CTi isn’t an elitist that requires top-shelf management to release its potential. It doesn’t care where or how you like to travel, and won’t place limits on your opportunities to explore off-trail conditions. It’s a ski for anyone and everyone who’d like his ride to help wherever possible and otherwise not be a bother.

It’s fitting that the 90 CTi’s highest average score is for our most valued criterion, Finesse/Power balance. It means, in essence, that the ski will provide whatever you, Dear Reader, may lack, be it confidence in tight trees, tenacity on the steeps or smoothness in chopped-up bumps.

“It has a natural feel underfoot,” says Boot Doctors’ owner Bob Gleason, trying to nail down what makes the 90 CTi seem effortless. “Forgiving with a light feel,” he adds, yet it “moves through weird snow without compunction.”

The consistency of the Vantage 90 CTi’s test scores, culled over two seasons of testing, speak to a ski that not only does everything well, it makes it all feel easy. For its marvelous manageability, we anoint this even-tempered Atomic a Silver Skier Selection.