The new Atomic S9 is as close as a civilian should get to a true race slalom. Set it to a high edge once at the top of steep face and it will go off like a string of firecrackers, striking and recoiling with every pop, pop, pop. Despite the intensity of its grip, there’s nothing nervous about it; the ski remains calm, even at its fastest and most furious. Like its stable mate, the G9, the Redster S9 is considerably slimmer than the Atomic that preceded it. This helps keep its orientation in the fall line even though its 12.7m radius sidecut (165cm) can pivot on a dime.
The signature feature of the Legend X 96 is called Powerdrive, a multilayer sidewall that uses TPU, Paulownia and ABS in a vertical sandwich. The reinforced sidewall remains separate from the laminates in the central core, which can move more easily in relationship to one another. This allows the forebody to follow terrain rather than banging off of it, creating a sense of connection that is, in the words of Sturtevant’s of Sun Valley’s Peter Nestor, “predictable, comfortable and confidence inspiring.”
The Atomic Vantage 90 CTi is the perfect candidate to represent the All-Mountain East category, a genre that occupies the middle ground in a ski market segmented by width. The Vantage 90 CTi exemplifies this “does-a-bit-of-everything” personality. It can’t be quicker than a Race Slalom nor as floaty as a Big Mountain model, but it does a decent impersonation of both, which is a pretty neat trick in itself. Like a musician who can play any tune you can name, the Vantage 90 CTi will move to whatever rhythm you care to set.
What the Backland FR 102 wants to dine on is a buffet of off-trail conditions. Its double-rockered baseline fits in the twisted troughs of today’s mogul fields. The cambered midsection gives the ski extra energy between turns, inviting the skier to move to its rhythmic beat. The sense of automatic weighting and unweighting is particularly evident in powder, where the Backland FR 102 would just as soon spend 100% of its time, but then, who wouldn’t?
For the beleaguered skier on a budget, it must seem like every highly rated model has a core made from Caspian Sea caviar. Thank goodness for the Atomic Vantage 85 W. With a down-to-earth street price of $399, it’s perfect for the intermediate woman who wants to ski more of the mountain. The Vantage 85 W is so affordable because its construction sticks to the essentials and eliminates the extraneous. A light wood core encased in a slip of fiberglass provides support and energy; a thick vertical sidewall puts direct pressure on the edge, giving the Vantage 85 W the tenacity of pricier rides.
