2023 Atomic Bent 110

The 2023 Atomic Bent 110 is a new model for this year, splitting the difference between the Bent Chetler 100 and 120. Bent 110 is a nice blend between the two as it splits the construction, shape, and profile of the two bookend skis. Built with a light wood core consisting of poplar stringers, the Bent 110 does not get the carbon backbone that the 120 has, making it a bit more flexible overall. In addition to the poplar wood core, Bent 110 gets HRZN tech in the tips and tails, making this ski a sublime and smooth floater in the fresh, deep, and soft snow all over the world. The fact that it’s a twin tip puts freestyle at the forefront of the ski, and allows for creative skiing as well as backcountry airs. The first thing we thought of were large 180’s off of cornices and pillows, and that idea still holds true. It is certainly flexible enough for playful wheelie-style flotation in deep and wide-open zones, allowing for more of a modern freestyle style for advanced and expert skiers. They’re pretty light, tipping the scales at 1750 grams per ski in the 180, so it’s not like touring is off the table, but it’s more of a resort ski for sure. Atomic claims it employs 50% camber underfoot with 25% rocker in the tips and tails, and it almost seems like more rocker than that. The 120, by comparison, is 30/40/30 while the 100 is 20/70/10. The 180 produces an 18-meter turn radius, but the flex of the ski allows for creative thinking in this department.

Bob St.Pierre skied both the 180 and the 188, noting that the 188 was way better, but it still skied short. Bob moved the demo bindings back about 2-3 cm from the recommended line, and likely could have gone back more. For the 188, a top score of 4 out of 5 was supplemented by 3’s for the rest of the scorecard. “On firm snow, it didn't feel as comfortable as more dense or metallic skis. Not the ski's fault--more the conditions. It does have that round turn shape that the 120 has, and the rocker and camber profile to match. In the softer snow, it's easy to feel the ski's floaty personality, but it doesn't like to be pushed all that much, especially with the binding in more of a centralized location. I'd move it to a -4 to get the best of all worlds. When we got it on a powder day earlier in the year, it was a lot of fun in the woods and in shorter turns, but I still had a hard time getting it to do what I wanted without feeling too loose. I’m on the heavy side for this ski, I’ve concluded.” Brad Schauerman is about 6 inches shorter and 60 pounds lighter than Bob, and even he found the 188 to be short. He thought it would be long but it wasn’t. Brad gave 4’s out of 5 for flotation, quickness, maneuverability, playfulness, and forgiveness. He gave 2’s for torsional stiffness and edge hold while overall impression, versatility, and stability all got 3’s. In Brad’s words: “Disclaimer: skied on very firm conditions. This skied much shorter than I would have imagined, probably because of how center mounted it is. Overall, a pretty fun playful ski that was capable of making a range of turn shapes and sizes. However, when really carving at speed the tips are definitely flapping around and not grabbing as much as I would have liked on the hard pack. I would like to ski it in better conditions.”

Chris McClelland skied the 188, noting that the “ski was just right at 188. I would recommend sizing up from where you are with how much rocker this ski has.” Chris gave the Bent 110 5’s out of 5 for overall impression, playfulness, quickness, maneuverability, and flotation. He gave 4’s for stability, forgiveness, and versatility. Chris states that “The Bent 110's were a blast! These skis were a breeze to pilot and felt like a dream in the woods. Some strengths to note were how nimble these felt, even at 110 underfoot. They just were extremely compliant and didn't require much skier input to transition from turn to turn. Taking these out onto a groomer felt a lot better than I expected as well. I was surprised with the edge hold given the rocker profile and how willing the ski was to tip into a carve. They did start to chatter and lose stability at higher speeds, but they still performed better than expected. I would say this is a ski for off trail skiing and deeper powder lines, they also felt great in the woods. I could even see this being a formidable backcountry ski for people wanting something with more of a freeride feel. This was easily one of the most fun skis I've been on this year.” Steve McKenzie should have been on the 188, but he nevertheless found the 180 to be true to size. He scored it a top mark of 5 out of 5 for stability (kind of surprising there) and a 4 for flotation. 3’s line the rest of his card, which is a pretty high average for a wide and flexible ski. “I’m not proud of giving this ski a less than stellar review. While riding in the super low tide mush that was gondolier and nosedive woods, it was as if these skis were screaming for more snow. In the right conditions these things would be KILLER. The flexibility from tip to tail was super noticeable and left me wishing there was a couple inches of fresh to really let ‘em rip. All in all, the potential for this ski to be great is easy to see, it just wasn’t the day for them.” And that’s fine, it was just great to get the disclosure, hopefulness, and the experience from Steve.

If you’re in the market for a playful and wide ski with a bunch of rocker and a flexible nature, you’re going to love the Atomic Bent 110. By splitting the difference between two existing and successful models, Atomic has made it easy on themselves moving into 2023. They didn’t have to make something new, rather just adjust what they already have, and I think that’s a smart way to go, especially given the love for the Bent Chetler family in the past.