Atomic probably could have just appended a “W” on its unisex Vantage X 80 CTi and it would have already had a damn good women’s ski. Instead, Atomic makes three modifications that together make this model one of the most accommodating for female skiers. To make it lighter, Atomic pulls the ash out of the men’s model from which it is cloned, replacing it with poplar. To keep the unrockered tail from taking over at the end of a carved turn, Atomic uses a V-shaped sidecut that allows the narrower rear to slide out of the turn exit. To help women keep their lower center of mass forward where they’re able to pressure the ski from the top of the arc – a Vantage X 80 CTi W advantage – Atomic subtly elevates the heel.
Let the word go out across the land: the Mantra is back! The new M5 Mantra actually isn’t a replica of an older, cambered version revered by so many of the Volkl faithful; it has an identity all its own. The M5’s unique construction restores the cambered baseline and tighter waistline of earlier Mantras, but how its various components are assembled that set the fifth generation Mantra apart from its antecedents. Among all the things the new Mantra does better than the model it replaces – tighter turn entry, better edge grip on hard snow, a higher speed range – perhaps the most exciting is rebound, an end-of-turn kick in the pants that launches the skier out of the old turn and across the fall line. It’s a quality a lot of modern all-mountain skis are lacking and one the M5 Mantra glorifies.
When Völkl added 3.D Glass to the 90 Eight (and several other models) last season, it was a game changer. What had been a fairly docile off-trail specialist turned into a peppy all-terrain model that could handle its business on hardpack. The reason 3D.Glass made such a resounding impact lies in the way this bottom layer of fiberglass runs up and over the sidewall in the ski’s midsection, creating in essence the bottom half of a torsion box that marries up with the 3D.Ridge glass on top. By converting a laminate construction to a de facto torsion box, the 90 Eight became a firecracker off the edge, with better grip in all conditions.
