I have mine tuned to 3 degrees of side bevel, so that helps! But, due to the short length and being "rode hard and put away wet" nature of the skiing I subject them to, they do break down by about 60 days or so. Very quick edge to edge and great grip in the turns. I get in close to 100 days a year and I'd say 40 to 50 of those are on the Atomics. I liked them so much and they were so cheap, that I bought 3 pairs! I get about a season out of each pair and unfortunately, they are now nearly impossible to find. I use these as my dedicated bump ski (out west) and have it in 164cm. I'm on Scarpa Tx Comps and Freedom bindings, mounted boot center over the recommended mounting point. I chose the CTI due to the fact that I'm skiing them so short and thought I'd need the beefiness due to that factor. I love this ski, though I am on the CTI version. I'm 67, 5'8" tall, 160 pounds and ski the Wasatch back. I'll take that trade-off and tour in something else. They are a little heavy to be touring with, which is unfortunate, but the weight is what gives it better performance when charging hard down the frontside of the ski area dealing with unexpected obstacles. I did not expect these skis to be the ones I grab everytime I walk out of the house, but it's what they have become. Once it gets crudded up though, rock solid riding through the mank. Not my go-to powder ski but here in the Northeast that's OK. The one drawback is powder, I find them a little short in the shovel at the 173cm length and combined with the lack of any kind of appreciable rocker I have to adjust my stance to keep them up and floating. I love bashing the bumps with these skis, they swing quick and transition from edge to edge on demand and the slightly shorter length makes them easy to maneuver. They eat up the crud with gusto, the have great torsional rigidity for hardpack, and when I roll them on edge and start carving parallel style they hold on and lay railroad tracks so goddamm deep you can drive the Acela on them to your morning commute. I find them a little high-energy in frozen granular, there is little in the ski to dampen vibrations but they don't chatter. There's pretty decent rise in the tails, so they release easily and don't hook, AND they are good for any radius turn your choose. They have an even round flex with a nice firming up near the end which translates to a very nice pop out of turns after you load them up. Do not confuse these with the CTI versions, these are wood core only, no carbon, no titanium. This is sold as a basic intermediate ski at an incredibly attractive price point (I bought mine for under $200). There are days though where everything comes together. I can get myself down anything in telemark gear, but sometimes it's not pretty and no one would call me graceful. I'm a 6'2" 160lb skiing machine with strong intermediate telemark skillzz coming from a very strong alpine background that I have abandoned due to injury. They are mounted at the -2 line, which is factory marked. I mounted them with Rottefella Cobra R8's one of my favorite bindings with the perfect balance of activity and power, and I ski them with my T4's. BOOM!Īll Mtn Rocker which translates to: Very little rocker. BAM! They come out of the gate, don't ask questions, kick ass, take names, accept phone numbers, and don't look back at explosions. BooYA my Atomic Vantage 85s have become my number 1, go-to, do-it-all ski for the frontside.
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