[The test results for the Vantage 95 C W are from 2016 and 2017; its only changes for 2017 are cosmetic.]

Often “wider” translates as “less maneuverable,” but Atomic’s Vantage 95 C W confounds the conventional in more ways than one. The widest of the women’s Vantage series, the 95 C W manages to mask its width by being more effervescent, coming off the bottom of a powder turn as light as a Champagne bubble rising upwards to the surface of a flute.

As ethereal as it feels in powder, the Vantage 95 C W is all bottom-line business between flights in the fluff. Its Dual Alternating Personality (DAP, a syndrome first identified in this sentence) is due to the Carbon Tank Mesh, an Atomic innovation that gives any ski a God complex. It may sound like hubris, but what can’t it do?

Not to be picky, but crank 11m radius turns out of a 15.8m chassis, for one thing. Also, a ski made to maraud off trail isn’t likely to hook up at the top of the turn on hard snow. To these detractors we declaim, “big deal.” The Vantage 95 C W isn’t just a good value; it’s a transcendent one. For value, for ease of operation and for performance with a ceiling most skiers will never bump into, we award the Atomic Vantage 95 C W a Silver Skier Selection.