So if you’re landing on firm snow, keep that in mind. In short, great pop because it's a relatively soft ski, but support on firm landing leaves a little to be desired, again due to that same softness. So if that’s your jam, or you’re a parent with a young kid that you want to be in front of, this could be an awesome option for ya. Well I don't ski a ton of switch, but I found the almost center mounted BCIII, plus the heavy taper on the tails to be quite manageable, and easy ski to get along with in this regard. So expect skis like the BO118, or Moment Bibby Pro/Wildcat to outperform the BCIII in conditions like these. Of course this tends to happen when you least want it to, resulting in a bit of a bull ride. As stated in the “Chopped Pow” section - what tends to happen is the tips folding over when driving through firm/uneven snow. In the case of the BCIII we’ve got two of the three here, but critically, the vertical stiffness is lacking. In these types of conditions, you want two things: Mass (which we’ve got), and stiffness (both laterally and vertically).

With that said, when it is not consistent or soft, that’s where the BCIII get’s in a bit of trouble. Groomers/FirmĪs stated in the “Speed” section, when conditions are relatively consistent or soft, like on a groomer, the BCIII is a super fun ski, and quite frankly really hard to beat even with skis 20mm narrower. However, rather than putting in hard turn or carve in, I found weighting the tips and initiating a slight slarve instead, provided more consistency to burn off speed. Well, that’s a hair more tricky on this ski when compared to its contemporaries. The tip and tail taper positions mean your edges break away clean when exciting a carve. It’s got enough mass/dampness to stay composed at speed. While the BO118 is a hair stiffer, a tad heavier, has an extreme amount of camber underfoot, and a larger sidecut radius - the BCIII holds it own, and here’s why I think that’s the case: Again, in a similar fashion to what I have experienced with the BO118, I have yet to find a top speed with the BCIII. When conditions are mostly consistent, or relatively soft, the BCIII is extraordinarily stable while at speed. While I may have been dialing it back a tad, I would say the speed at which I was able to carry was only rivaled by the slightly heavier, and slightly stiffer BlackOps 118 (BO118). To counteract this, I found myself dialing back my speed a hair more than I would in more ideal conditions. Let’s see what Atomic said back in the day about the Bent Chetlerīut… once the snow does start to firm up a tad, or you’ve got Cascade Concrete/Sierra Cement that’s been chopped, the relatively soft tips will begin to fold over when trying to come into these same sections with the same level of speed.

oh right SPB to provide a wee bit more pop and stiffness on the ski. …quick aside here: who the hell comes up with these marketing names?!?! In addition to the weight reduction, the Atomic team also added carbon stringers to the Bent Chetler III (BCIII), which they called: “Sprocket Power Boosters (SPB)” I use lightening in quotes here, as for today’s standard, its still pretty hefty, which we think for a resort ski is a good thing. There’s not a ton of historical background on this version (III) of the Bent Chetler, but at this point Chris Bentchetler’s pro model had been around for about three seasonsįirst with a fully rockered version, next with a rocker camber rocker profile, and then this one.įrom what we can gather, the main goals of number three were to keep the general shape and profile from the previous version, while “lightening” up the ski. Well, it's about bloody time that we tested out a freaking Bent Chetler model from Atomic, since they’ve been making them since the dawn of the stone age, and as of late have been making them in just about every width you could think of.īut how about them older, more “vintage”, models hold up?

Atomic bent chetler 100 review