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Conditions: soft groomers, piles of loose “sugar”/granular snow, small/medium table to jump (with sketchy landing)
Resort: just another of our little local hills (with decent-enough pitch to get a couple of turns in…enough for some ski test observations)
Reviewer refer to the beginning of Salomon 1080 CR Lab ski review for info
Atomic Atlas 192 cm
Measurements: 150mm – 125mm – 132mm,”Power Rocker” a.k.a rockered and tapered tips, normal camber, flat tail. 28m turn radius.
My first impression of the Atomic Atlas was: medium-stiff, traditional feel, easier “old Big Daddy”. I remember someone saying that the new wood-cored Atomic freeride skis are heavier than the old ones with the foam core but I am not sure; the Atlas didn’t feel that heavy, considering the huge size (and demo bindings, which are heavy by nature in any case).
One thing was easy to observe from the first few groomer rides: the tips are so tapered that if you lean forward enough you can cause the skis to “split” a bit, and (slightly) shoot in separate directions (because of the heavily tapered, “reverse sidecut” tips). This was the first time I’ve experienced this and I can only imagine how this kind of “split” feels on a so-called reverse-reverse ski, like Praxis Powder. However, on Atomic Atlas if you skied a bit more centered the skis carved very well and offered a stable yet pretty relaxed ride.
In my opinion the Atlas has quite a “traditional” feel but not in a bad sense. This is probably a great ski for those that “just” want to turn..and I guess cliff drops and air are not bad either (if you are not into spins and flips and backcountry kickers). The shovel is really long, so I guess landing on the front seat wouldn’t be a problem on Atomic Atlas.
Due to the width and tip rocker the skis also offered some fun sideways “slides”…anyway, after trying the new Atomic Bent Chetler I realize that Atlas is still quite traditional and doesn’t offer as much fun than the Bent Chetlers did (read more here: Atomic Bent Chetler 183cm 09/10 Ski Review).
Atlas was also clearly a long turning ski that didn’t quite get into its element on our little groomed slope. But I am sure that for soft snow and wide open runs the ski would be great.
Atlas handles a groomed slope okay but I have to admit that forcing the 125mm middle ski into edge and trying to bend into shorter turns was pretty damn hard on my old mogul skier knees. So, to summarize: don’t buy this ski for “all-mountain”/piste use, it is clearly a soft snow ski made for steep and deep!
Atomic Snoop Daddy 184cm
129mm-94mm-118mm, 22m turn radius, contruction unchanged from the 08-09 line-up.
Frankly, I didn’t get that excited about this ski. This was probably because of the conditions though. While the dimension of this ski are not that huge on paper I felt like it skied much “bigger”, meaning long turns, very stable (almost too stiff for my taste, especially in the tail), damp and calm. The sidecut also felt straighter than the 22m turn radius would make you anticipate.
For small hill use Atomic Snoop Daddy felt a bit dull. But I guess this would rule in chopped-up crud or soft, not too tight moguls.
I also did a couple of jumps from the table top. And compared to the twin-tips the mounting point felt way rearward, and required you to be very careful on the take off. Well, this is no freestyle ski anyway…but if you like to huck a lot and mix a bit freestyle and big mountain, this probably isn’t your ski.
Atomic states that the Snoop Daddy would serve as a nice telemark and AT ski, and I believe that. Corn snow, couloirs and variable condition probably suits the Atomic Snoop Daddy best.
Atomic Patent 184cm
95 mm middle (didn’t get the tip and tail measurement), full twin-tip
This is said to be a bit wider twin for soft(er) snow and soft bc and spring kickers. However, it didn’t feel wide at all.
I really dug this ski. It was not as much fun as the Bent Chetler but very predictable and easy to ski. Atomic Patent carved nice round turns, even with bindings mounted quite centered. Jumping was easy and somehow the Patent felt also very forgiving on landings (especially fakie) even without the rocker and with slightly stiffer flex than the Bent Chetlers.
On piste Atomic Patent wasn’t “noodley” at all, the ski felt torsionally stiff, no chattering at all on the hard surface.
I could buy this ski. I really like my current park skis, Salomon 1080 CR Labs, but I see no reason to go a bit wider when buying the next ones. I guess I am used to the wider skis but in my case they seem to add some (necessary) stability to landings and take-offs, and I am not spinning 900’s anyway…so the added weight doesn’t matter that much either.
Atomic Coax 183 cm
105mm in the middle (didn’t get the other easurements), twin-tip
Atomic Coax felt like a wider and slightly heavier version of the Patent. Carved nicely and felt really solid. I only skied these for two runs and didn’t jump at all.The flex is rounder than e.g. on Völkl Gotamas (current version, which hasn’t changed that much from 06/07).
Atomic Coax has a quite centered mounting point for a ski this big. But hard to say anything about the soft snow performance with this limited test…I guess some might mount the bindings a few cm’s back from the recommended mark.
Atomic Blog
I would have liked to test the Atomic Blog too. The Blog is a 110mm twin-tip with less rocker (tail rocker only minimal) than the Bent Chetler. I just couldn’t get to ski this one – it seemed like people really wanted to keep going on it – and if the Blog is even half the fun of the Bent Chetler, no wonder!
2 Responses
Cool review guys. Will you be doing one for Salomon skis too?
Yeah, we have planned to test also Salomon skis during next season. Hope we can get many pairs