2020-2021 Atomic Vantage 90 Ti

Ski: 2020-2021 Atomic Vantage 90 Ti, 184 cm

Available Lengths: 161, 169, 176, 184 cm

Blister’s Measured Tip-to-Tail Length: 183.3 cm

Stated Weight per ski: 1800 grams

Blister’s Measured Weight per Ski: 1869 & 1894 grams

Stated Dimensions: 129-90-115.5 mm

Blister’s Measured Dimensions: 128.5-89.5-115.2

Stated Sidecut Radius: 19.5 meters

Measured Tip & Tail Splay (ski decambered): 49 mm / 7 mm

Measured Traditional Camber Underfoot: ~5 mm

Core: Ash + “Titanium Tank Mesh” + Fiberglass Laminate

Base: “World Cup Base Finish”

Factory Recommended Mount Point: -8.55 cm from center; 83.1 cm from tail

[Note: Our review was conducted on the 18/19 Vantage 90 Ti, which was not changed for 19/20 or 20/21, apart from graphics.]

Intro

For the the 18/19 season, Atomic is completely overhauling the Vantage series, their all-mountain line of skis. As part of this new lineup, they are introducing the men’s Vantage Ti and Vantage C series, and then the women’s Vantage Ti W and Vantage C W skis.

We got a chance to check out the skis at SIA, and were very curious / slightly skeptical about the unique construction used on the skis. We’ll go into more detail further down, but for now, just take a look at the core profile of the Vantage 107 Ti:

Pretty interesting, no?

Here’s what Atomic says about the new Vantage Ti series:

“We’ve revamped our Vantage series with a new construction — called Prolite. It’s a totally new way of developing skis that makes them lighter and stronger in one.

Prolite starts with the slimmest chassis possible built around a central layer of Titanium Tank Mesh (the chassis is so thin you can see through to this Titanium inside!) Then in areas where strength is required, it builds up reinforcements — like the Energy Backbone along each edge.

The result is a ski that’s genuinely more versatile than ever before: more agile, effortless and joyful to ski in any terrain. But one that also give you incredible stability and confidence when you want to push, making it a real high performance ski.”

We’ll be getting on a few of the new Vantage skis, but for now, let’s take a look at the Vantage 90 Ti.

Shape / Rocker Profile

Atomic describes the tip-to-tail rocker – camber – rocker profile of the Vantage 90 Ti as “15 / 85 / 0,” and looking at the ski, that seems pretty accurate. It has minimal tip rocker and almost no tail rocker, which isn’t very uncommon for a ski of this width. And underfoot, there’s a good amount of traditional camber. (Overall, the rocker profile of the Vantage 90 Ti looks a bit like that of the Head Monster 88.)

Based on this rocker profile, we expect that the Vantage 90 Ti will hold a strong edge on groomers, but we’re more curious about how it will handle difficult off-piste conditions.

Flex Pattern

Here’s how we’d characterize the flex pattern of the 184 cm Vantage 90 Ti:

Tips: 8
Shovels: 8.5-9
In Front of Toe Piece: 9.5
Underfoot: 10
Behind Heel Piece: 9.5-9
Tails: 8.5

The Vantage 90 Ti is a pretty stiff ski throughout, and its flex pattern reminds us again of the 17/18 HEAD Monster 88. The Vantage 90 Ti also has a fairly round flex pattern, with the tails only being a bit stiffer than the tips. We tend to like round flex patterns as they often makes skis feel balanced and intuitive, so we’ll be interested to see how the Vantage 90 Ti’s flex pattern translates to on-snow performance.

Construction

The Prolite construction used on the new Vantage series is certainly interesting. There are two areas on the ski (one in front of the bindings, and one behind) where the core is milled out, and it appears that all that is left is some fiberglass, a titanal mesh (or carbon mesh in the case of the “Vantage C” skis), and the base material. And yes, you can see light through these sections, so if the honeycombed tips of Rossignol’s “S” series of skis are any indication of the correlation between translucent ski materials and sales, then Atomic is gonna sell a ton of these new Vantage skis.

But while these cutout sections are extraordinarily thin, the sidewalls of the Vantage skis are actually quite thick, and Atomic claims that this helps the ski maintain edge power where you need it.

Atomic says that the Prolite construction makes the skis both lighter and stronger. We are famously skeptical of products that make these sort of statements, but we’re curious to see how these new Vantage skis compare to other skis in the ~90mm-wide all-mountain category.

Weight

The Vantage 90 Ti is light. But despite having such a thin profile in parts of the ski, it is not coming in at a batshit-crazy low weight for an all-mountain ski of this width, and we’re pretty happy about that, since mass can really help a ski deal with challenging snow conditions.

For reference, here are a few of our measured weights (per ski in grams) for a few notable skis — and to keep things apples-to-apples, be sure to note the length of each ski listed here:

1585 & 1586 Head Kore 93, 180 cm
1839 & 1842 Black Crows Orb, 178.3 cm
1864 & 1882 Armada ARV 89Ti, 187 cm
1869 & 1894 Atomic Vantage 90 Ti, 184 cm
1920 & 1940 Volkl Kendo, 177 cm
1931 & 1932 DPS Cassiar 94, 185 cm
1943 & 1968 Liberty VMT 92, 186 cm
1997 & 2001 Blizzard Brahma, 180 cm (18/19)
2062 & 2063 Rossignol Experience 94 Ti, 187 cm
2114 & 2133 Nordica Enforcer 93, 185 cm
2171 & 2176 HEAD Monster 88, 184 cm (18/19)
2200 & 2213 Head Monster 88, 184 cm (17/18)

Some Questions

(1) With such a thin core in some areas, will we notice any durability issues with the new Vantage skis?

(2) The Vantage 90 Ti has a good deal of camber and pretty minimal rocker lines, so will this be a ski you’ll mostly want to break out on clean groomers and soft, well-spaced moguls? How comfortable will it feel in trickier off-piste conditions?

(3) How quick & nimble vs. stable & powerful does the 184 cm Vantage 90 Ti feel?

(4) As with any light ski we test, we’re curious to see if Atomic’s claims about their Prolite construction actually hold true when it comes to the Vantage 90 Ti’s stability in difficult conditions.

Bottom Line (For Now)

There’s no denying that the Atomic Vantage 90 Ti is an interesting-looking ski. But as always, we won’t drink the koolaid of manufacturer’s claims when it comes to lowering weight without compromising performance. So we’ll be putting the Vantage 90 Ti up against several other skis in this class (including several that are significantly heavier) to see how it compares.

Stay tuned for updates, and let us know about anything you’d like us to address in our full review.

NEXT: Rocker Profile Pics