In its prior life as the Century 102, the Backland FR 102 W offered the best cost/value relationship in the genre; last season, Atomic sweetened the deal. The addition of the Carbon Backbone adds more muscle and pop without any negative side effects. The Backland with a Backbone is still a superior choice for the lighter weight woman, such as a teenager getting her first off-trail ski.
To bring out its best qualities, the Vantage X 83 CTi needs to run at a respectable speed. To help encourage acceleration, the ski cuts a relatively shallow arc when riding a low edge. To cut a tidier corner requires the skier to commit to a higher edge angle, which brings out the ski’s best behavior. If this sounds like the Vantage X 83 CTi is geared for the experienced skier who likes to have some wind in his sails, well, it is. With only a dab of tip rocker, its baseline is made to connect with hard snow and its Carbon Tank Mesh and Titanium Backbone ensures the integrity of this connection throughout the recreational speed range.
The speeds this ski is ready to assume demand precision; events come at you quickly once you exceed 50mph. The relationship between ski and skier was like that between maestro and musician; when we work together, the music we make would make angels lay down their lyres to listen. Which of us was in charge didn’t seem to matter in the moment, as long as the notes we strung together formed a lilting melody. If you’re a former racer, you won’t need any introduction to the Redster G9. It will feel like what you used to race on, only smoother, less perturbed by rutted terrain and quicker on and off the edge when faster reactions are called for. If you’ve always loved the feel of a GS race ski, you’ll be head-over-heels over the G9.
Unlike most made-for-women skis, the Vantage 90 CTi W pulls practically no punches compared to its men’s counterpart. Its all-wood core is a little lighter, that’s it. The women’s ski still sports a cutout Titanal sheet called Titanium Backbone 2.0 that’s a principal contributor to the ski’s success in cruddy conditions.
The other special sauce that elevates this Vantage’s versatility is the Carbon Tank Mesh. Covering the length of the ski, the carbon component pumps up the performance in every criterion.
At Realskiers, we contend that one definition of a great ski is how well it performs in conditions for which it was not intended. The Vantage 95 C is ostensibly an off-trail ski with plenty of flotation for forays into two feet of fluff. Yet it’s scorecard suggests a ski with a high hard-snow IQ, able to stay connected to the snow at any edge angle. It can make slow, short turns or long, fast ones, take your pick.