2027 Atomic Backland 101 W

The 2027 Atomic Backland 101 W is a fantastic choice for skiers looking for adventure, versatility, and efficiency. These skis are here to help you on your next adventure as they combine a lighter weight with a good sense of downhill performance. Built with climbing and longer tours in mind, the Backland 101 W is crisp, energetic, and easy to use. They try to eliminate any type of guesswork here with these skis, providing a nice balance between performance and accessibility.

Built with a poplar and caruba Ultra-Light Wood core, the Backland 101 W gets a feather-like start. By using lighter fiberglass laminates, Atomic keeps the performance and energy at a maximum while keeping the weight down. We also see their use of HRZN 3D Backland as the ski's shovel is shaped appropriately for increased flotation without adding width. By removing material from the tip, they're able to keep the swing weight down and assist with kick turns and other technical maneuvers. In the 164 cm length, these skis sit on the scale at a paltry stated weight of 1260 g/ski. That's well below our normal threshold of 1500 grams being light enough for a dedicated touring ski.

At 101 mm underfoot, there's some nice flotation here, but they're not cumbersome in the least. We get measurements of 127/101/118 in the 164 cm length to generate a 17-meter turn radius. This is long enough to be fall-line oriented and not hooky which allows you to enjoy the downhills more and provides a surfy and smeary character to the mix. The Backland 101 W features tip and tail rocker with camber underfoot, but the ski is more directional in nature to keep up with the freetour intention and related applications. There's not much of a resort-based use case for these skis, at least other than an early morning skin mission—these skis are built and shaped more for a dedicated backcountry adventure.

Feel free to put the lightest bindings you can find on these skis as they do fall more into a touring-specific model. You can certainly go hybrid if you want, but the skis are so light we feel it's best to take advantage of their intended use. Due to the specificity of the ski, it's a bit more of an advanced model, although skiers looking for light and agile will also find them easy to use.