The widest ski examined in these pages, Atomic’s Bent Chetler 120 not only doesn’t ski as wide as it measures, it actually behaves “normally,” instead of ultra-adapted for pow, which is what it is. The Bent Chetlers (there are now two, with the debut of a Bent Chetler 100) are adorned with HRZN Tech, extremities that are rockered both longitudinally, which is customary, and laterally, which is unique to them. HRZN Tech creates a 3D surface that behaves like the bow of a ship, forever in contact with the surface it’s shoving aside It also allows the skier to use either end of the ski as a point of rotation, a thought I must admit never occurred to me.
Dynastar draws no distinction between its men’s Legend X and women’s Legend W models, except that the men’s are predominantly black and the women’s white. The same construction that works well for guys is gangbusters for gals. Petite skiers are teed up for success by a 13m sidecut radius – a short radius to match a shorter skier – tucked inside a relative behemoth in terms of surface area. These contrasting traits give the Legend W 96 surprising agility for its girth and gobs of flotation for off-trail environs. The lighter weight is less fatiguing and makes Legend W 96 ideal for the advanced skier transitioning to a wide ski for the first time.
That a race-bred GS ski from Atomic can charge the fall line with the unleashed fury of a feral cat on the tail of its prey won’t come as news to anyone who’s ever stepped into an Atomic race ski, but would you believe an Atomic GS that will also dice short turns like a Veg-O-Matic? The ski isn’t naturally intrigued by short turns, but it’s so narrow and quick the pilot can snap off a flush of unfinished slalom turns at will.
