The Atomic Bent collection is now home to seven different skis. If you were unfamiliar with Atomic’s ski offerings in the past and just glanced at their catalog, you might even start to wonder what the heck “Chetler” means. After all, their catalog puts a lot more emphasis on the word “Bent,” and it feels like each year there’s less mention of the history of these skis, but it all started here. Not exactly with this ski, as it’s gone through a number of changes, but the Bent Chetler 120 and Chris Bentchetler himself is where this journey got its roots. As the widest ski in the line, this is now Chris’s actual pro model, namesake ski. We're sure he skis the other widths too, sometimes, but this 120 is special. Special in its construction, special in how it’s named, special in its proper application... just special.

Starting with construction, the Bent Chetler 120 gets one important element not found in the other Bent models, carbon. Sure, this ticks up the price a little bit, but not enough that the Bent Chetler 120 feels overpriced by any means. Quite the contrary, actually. The rest of the ski is similar to the 110, 100, and 90 construction. Light woodcore, HRZN Tech in the tips and tails, a Dura Cap sidewall, and then they add in that Carbon Backbone. The result is a ski that’s just 1800 g in the 184 cm length (that’s notably lightweight for a ski this big) and that comes along with a soft, yet snappy flex pattern. This is the biggest difference between the Bent 110 and the Bent Chetler 120. The Bent is ultra soft and doesn’t snap back as quickly or as efficiently as the 120. This gives better performance for big backcountry jumps, popping off wind lips, a little more stability for skiing fast, and in general, just an elevated skiing experience. It’s not such a huge difference that we’d completely steer folks away from the Bent 110. In fact, that ski is great, and some may actually prefer the slightly smearier, slarvier (are either of those words...?) feel, as well as the narrower waist width that’s a bit more appropriate for certain locations. There is, however, something about the 120 that’s not completely found in the 110.

Then there’s shape, which again follows closely with the Bent 110, but as might be expected, we get slightly more pronounced rocker lines along with a bigger footprint. The 120 is (well yeah...) 120 mm underfoot and has a 30/40/30 breakdown in rocker. That’s right, there’s just as much tail rocker as tip rocker, which isn’t something you find on most powder skis. That’s because the Bent Chetler 120 truly is a freestyle powder ski. It’s intended to be skied backwards in deep snow. Take off switch, land switch, spin big rotations of giant backcountry kickers, nose butter 360, and anything else you can think of that requires full 360 degree performance. It’s not your dad’s powder ski, unless, of course, your dad is Chris Bentchetler... who is a dad... in which case, wait, hold on a second... Ok. Scratch everything we just said. This is your dad’s powder ski, your dad just happens to be one of the best backcountry freestyle skiers of all time.

If you’re looking for a lightweight, bouncy, playful twin tip powder ski, the Bent Chetler 120 isn’t just one of the best, it’s one of the most iconic skis that helped create this category. Not only are you getting a perfect ski for the job, you’re helping celebrate one of the pioneers of what we consider backcountry skiing. Chris Bentchetler has given the sport so much, we practically owe it to him to buy his skis. Don’t think twice! You’re here. You want a big fat powder ski that can do tricks. Here it is. Don’t over think it. Are there others just as good? Sure. Are there others that are significantly better? Surely not many, if any.