2014-2015 Atomic Elysian

Pow and Soft Chop

I was impressed with how well the Elysian floated through powder for being only 95mm underfoot and having only a slight amount of rocker. The flotation was comparable to the DPS Nina 99, which is just slightly wider underfoot (99mm) but a little narrower in the tips and tails.

The main difference between the Nina and the Elysian in powder, however, was that the Elysian felt stable in varying turn radii, whereas the Nina preferred small-radius turns and wanted to be making those turns at all times.

The 174cm Rossignol Sickle, which is 106mm underfoot and has a subtle, continuous rocker, floats better than the Elysian, which should be expected based on the dimensions and rocker profile. That said, while 168cm is the longest length the Elysian comes in, after going back and forth between them and the 174cm Sickle, I didn’t notice that the Elysian felt significantly shorter.

The primary difference between the Sickle and Elysian, however, was that while the Sickle can carve and smear equally well, the Elysian prefers to carve.

As a result, when the powder got tracked out, the Sickle could smear across the chop, whereas the Elysian got jostled around a lot more as it plowed into—rather than floated across the top of—the chopped-up snow. Instead of being able to use smearing to control speed, I had to complete turns so my skis were turned farther across the hill.

Compared to the DPS Nina 99 and the Armada TST, the Elysian cuts through the chop significantly easier and was more predictable. The Nina and TST have a more aggressive rocker, and the widest part of the ski is farther back. When I skied them in chopped-up snow, it was incredibly hard to predict how much of the ski was going to contact the snow as I encountered each pile of chop. Both of these skis transition through variable snow much more abruptly than the Elysian.

Hardpack

The first run I did on the Elysian was on a rough, hardpack day and I hadn’t yet detuned the tips and tails. I took them into Ballroom to Tombstone, and I had trouble releasing the edges and kept unpredictably hooking my skis on the rough snow. I found that I had to ski them very aggressively and force them into each turn.

After detuning the tips and tails, however, it was a whole different ride. With this new adjustment I found that I could turn through Fred’s Trees quickly on the hard snow and that they did not chatter excessively, as the DPS Nina had. Like I said earlier, with camber, only a slight rocker, and a large sidecut, it is easy to engage the entire length of the ski, reducing chatter and increasing stability.

So keep that in mind: if you find the Elysian to be a bit grabby initially, you’ll just need to detune the tips and tails.

As for stability on hardpack, the Elysian performed almost as well as the Sickle. The main difference when smearing over hardpack was that the Sickle was just slightly damper, making rough hardpack feel smoother than it was. On the Elysian, it was a little rougher ride.

Bottom Line

I would recommend the Elysian to women looking for a predictable and versatile ski that performs well everywhere, but especially shines on groomers, in moguls, and in trees. While the Elysian performs well in soft chop and powder, I’d prefer a larger ski for big pow days and for cutting through deep chop.

So if you ski at a place like Alta that sees a lot of snow, you might want a fatter ski for those deep days. But in anything outside of deep pow and really deep chop, this is an excellent option for intermediate, advanced, and expert skiers.

You can now read Lexi Dowdall’s 2nd Look of the Elysian.

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