Review: Atomic Backland 108W

I grew up in New Hampshire and didn’t learn to ski powder until after college. My first West Coast powder day in Utah included skinny skis, a lot of what I thought were jokes about not having friends on powder days, burning quads, and being left behind over and over again (including by my future husband).

The next season, I acquired a pair of 120mm underfoot Voile Drifters; since then, my touring ski of choice has trended narrower over time, and I’ve spent the last few years with a ~100mm underfoot quiver of one approach (though I still pull out the Drifters on really deep days). Wide enough to float on most Central Oregon days and narrow enough for comfort on sidehilly skintracks and firm alpine days. 

This year I was heading into winter looking for something a little different. Pregnant with a May due date, I wanted something more forgiving and playful than my Movement Alp Track 95s. And knowing I’d be gaining weight throughout the season, some extra float sounded good, too. I’d heard great things about the Atomic Backland series for years, so I leapt at the opportunity to try out the new Backland 108W. It would be fun—and make many ski days easier—to get some tip and tail rocker back into my life without sacrificing traditional camber underfoot. I hoped this, and the 167cm length—a bit shorter than my standard 170 cm preference—would bring greater maneuverability and ease of turning. This was not the season to get too friendly with a tree. 

The Backlands also fit my growing addiction to lightweight gear. Weighing in at 2620 grams total, I wasn’t worried they’d bog me down on the way up (certainly not any more than being pregnant) or overpower my lighter boots (Atomic Backland Carbons) on the way down. I was intrigued to try a super light ski with a wood construction and curious how the poplar and caruba “Ultra Light Woodcore” would feel compared to the carbon fiber I’ve been on recently. 

It was a rough winter in Central Oregon, but a couple of early-season storms dropped just enough to get an initial feel for these skis in decent conditions. By December and early January I had gained 15-20 pounds, which combined with the brutal physiological realities of being pregnant certainly slowed me down skinning. Relative to these effects, the Backland 108W felt like featherweights. I wasn’t sure how my changing body and balance would handle skiing downhill, let alone on a new ski. To my great joy, these skis were incredibly intuitive to handle. Within a few turns, I was barely thinking about how to ski at all and was simply enjoying the ride. 

Atomic offers a lot of technical reasons for why this is—a side edge angle of 87°, a 1.3° base edge angle, the lightweight HRZN 3D tip. I couldn’t tell you which element made which kind of difference, but the full package made for fun skiing, even on a day with a classic thin PNW freezing-fog zipper crust topping the storm snow. Perhaps the even greater gift for me, having had a rough first trimester, was a few effortless, gliding moments, feeling physically like myself and not thinking at all about being pregnant (that is, until discovering how short of breath I was at the bottom). 

Season Reflections on the Backland 108W

Over the rest of the winter, I got a chance to try out the Backland 108W in a variety of conditions. On early-morning frozen groomers, they were pretty chatty, but then again, most light touring skis would be. They were surprisingly fun on bumped-out corn, and kept me cruising and floating all the way through a couple of late-season (and third trimester!) storms. The tails slipped neatly through all kinds of grabby conditions, and I didn’t worry about catching them on a turn nearly as much as on longer and stiffer skis. 

My only issue with these skis was that it was sometimes easy to get too far forward and tough to calibrate my forward/back position, especially in denser snow. While other factors probably contributed to this—namely the combination of a growing belly and increasing play in my aging and already soft lightweight boots—I do wonder if I’d have preferred a longer version given the amount of rocker, especially as I got heavier. By my last powder days, I’d gained at least 35 pounds. Mounting the skis further back—I used the relatively progressive factory-recommended mount point—may also have helped, especially given what I’d been used to on my last skis (Editor’s note: someone told her this). 

The Bottom Line

All in all, the Backland 108W was a great pregnancy ski for me, especially on powder days. It’ll stay in my rotation post-partum for light and fluffy tree skiing too. That said, I think I’ll still gravitate towards a narrower and slightly longer ski as a daily driver—I definitely missed the more compact waist (the skis’ and my own) on the skin track, and for me the trade-off in float is worth it at my normal weight. Good thing the Backland 102 is on sale these days in a 172 length…!

Basic Specs

Dimensions (167): 132mm / 108.5 mm /121 mm

Radius: 16 m

Weight: 1310 g per ski (my two skis weighed in at 1664g and 1708g once mounted with ATK Crest 10s)

Disclaimer: Skiing while pregnant isn’t for everyone. For me, having learned to ski so young I don’t remember, and being a very confident skier coming into pregnancy, it felt OK to keep doing it.