2021 Atomic Cloud 12

Atomic is well-known for their success on the World Cup circuit as a brand. The company makes amazing race skis that happen to be on the feet of some of the best skiers in the world. If you want access to a similar level of carving performance and firm snow prowess, the Cloud 12 is a great choice. This ski uses a lot of the same technology found in those World Cup skis, but designed more for resort use rather than in a race course. We get a shorter turn radius in the Cloud 12, almost slalom radius, although not quite. The 161 cm length has a 14.4 m turn radius, which is going to result in really round, responsive, fun turns. Atomic uses their Servotec system, the specially engineered Flight Woodcore, and adds in Titanal laminates for power and more vibration damping. It's all put together in sandwich construction with vertical sidewalls and a World Cup Base Finish so you're ready to go as fast as possible as soon as you peel the protective plastic off your new skis.

Kristi Brown took out the 161 cm length for her testing. She did note that it felt short in that length, but she specified that it was only a little bit short. "The Cloud 12 made me feel like a bond girl. It's like a secret weapon. Sweet, sexy, and slick. The Cloud 12 is a stealth performer. It's a reason to get out of bed in the morning. Yes! That good!" Kristi is often one with words in her feedback, and this is a pretty perfect example of her creative ski analysis. Her scores are more straight-forward, 4.5 and 5 out of 5 for every category, with flotation being the only exception. She left flotation blank, which makes sense considering the 70 mm waist width. Nifer Hoehn also skied the 161 cm length and overall had a similar reaction to the Cloud 12, although she didn't like the graphic quite as much. That's okay, graphics are pretty subjective, the actual performance matters much more. "Don't love the graphic, but otherwise a 10." We saw similarly high scores from Nifer as Kristi, 5 out of 5 for stability, quickness/maneuverability, playfulness, torsional stiffness/edge grip, and overall impression. Forgiveness and versatility did drop to 4 out of 5, but those are still pretty darn impressive scores. "Hot damn! These are awesome! Love the playfulness, easy to turn, initiate, and great edge grip. Loved the power coming out of the turn and the stiffness. So easy to ski and SO fun." Keep in mind here that both Kristi and Nifer are high level expert skiers. They find it easy to ski, which is great, but an intermediate or a less aggressive skier may not have the exact same reaction.

Katrine Wolfgang and Susan Dorn, while both excellent skiers, would fall into that not-quite-as-aggressive category, so we were psyched to get their feedback. They both skied the same 161 cm length. Katrine had almost the exact same scores as Nifer (we love consistency!). Her feedback was similar, although it did differ ever so slightly. "Wow! This ski wants to go fast and turns on a dime. It's not a ski to ski with a hangover…" We take that last comment to mean that Katrine did feel like she needed to be on it the whole time, which is slightly different than Nifer's reaction. Similar scores once again from Susan, 5 out of 5 for stability, quickness/edge grip, playfulness, torsional stiffness/edge grip, and overall impression! "Quick edge to edge, stable at high speeds, turn radius feels a little smaller than some, which is a good thing. Powerful. Good for advanced and expert skiers who want performance and fun. This could take an advanced skier to the expert level quickly and easily."

A few things remained consistent through all of our testers on the Cloud 12. It rips carving turns, it's very precise and responsive, it has superb edge grip and stability, and it's a lot of fun too. We would hold back on recommending this ski to an intermediate, however, especially taking Katrine's feedback into consideration. That's okay, because Atomic has other skis with similar performance geared more towards that ability level, like the Cloud 9. Advanced and expert level skiers looking for premiere frontside performance and topnotch carving ability will love the Cloud 12.