The 2019 Atomic Vantage 90 Ti is a mix between an all-mountain crusher and a frontside carver. At 90 mm underfoot, with an 18.4 meter turn radius at 176 cm, and two sheets of metal, the Vantage 90 Ti has all the ingredients necessary to cook up some serious fun. Atomic has played around with the construction of the Vantage line for 2019, with the main takeaway being a channel carved through the length of the ski. The theory here is that the reduced weight in the center places more pressure on the edges, giving the ski better edge hold and a more chatter-free ride.
Jeff Siegel took some runs on the 176 cm Vantage and had his initial expectations shattered. After a mediocre first impression, the ski lit a fire under Jeff: “when I got done testing, I had to admit, it does everything it’s supposed to do and does it well. The ski feels very light, and yet it feels planky at the same time—a very unusual combination.” He continued on his diatribe, noting that “the combo makes it easy and quick to initiate turns and yet it has excellent edge hold and stability.” Jeff loved the stability and torsional stiffness, but wasn’t wild about the playfulness or versatility. He’d probably use the ski as more of a front side carver than an all mountain ski.
Another tester, Jason Krupsky, was caught off guard by the stability of the Vantage 90 Ti. He too skied the 176, and found it to be “surprisingly stable for a 176.” Additionally, he remarked about the liveliness of the ski by saying that it had “good edge hold and snappy energy from the ski when driven hard.” Jason likes to ski fast and hard on smooth surfaces, so it’s great to hear of these positive aspects. He commented on the versatility, but focused more on the turns the ski can make instead of the terrain: “Great ski for groomers and hard snow. Versatile ski that can be skied in long or short radius turns.” We glean from this information that Jason also sees this ski as more of a front-side carving ski that can make different shaped turns with ease, but maybe not necessarily over variable terrain due to its stiffness.
David Raybould, another skier of the 176 cm size, noted that he found the skis felt a bit short for the length. That didn’t deter him from giving the skis high marks in flotation, stability, and quickness/maneuverability. He remarked that the skis were “happy making short, medium, and long turns. It was easy to slide and pivot this ski.” We get the sense that David liked the ski on the groomers, but also found it to perform well in other conditions, too.
Similar to David, Troy Dehm thought that the 176 cm felt short, but that didn’t stop him from saying that “it was quite stable at high speeds and easy to slam on the brakes.” When a short-feeling ski is capable of performing stably, we think that’s a good sign of a versatile, all-mountain ski. Off-piste, Troy thought the skis were “maneuverable in the trees with a fun radius. Best for advanced skiers that like to charge.” Troy seemed to like the ski, especially in short, quick turns. His high mark for quickness and maneuverability certainly seem to echo that sentiment.
The line between all-mountain and front side skis is quite blurry sometimes. We don’t think there’s a singular solution to that “issue,” but finding and skiing a ski that assists in clearing that line is imperative to your skiing joy. The testers generally thought that this leaned more towards front side, mostly in part to the stability and dampness.
