Atomic Volant 9000 + I 12 GW Skis 26/27

The Atomic Volant 9000 is the flagship of Atomic's revived, hand-built Volant collection — a stainless-steel piste carver made in Altenmarkt, Austria and sold as a system with the step-up I 12 GW binding. Everything about how it skis traces to one decision: steel. Two internal steel laminates and an edge-to-edge stainless-steel top sit over a Power Woodcore in a full sidewall, with X Fiberglass the 7000 and 5000 beneath it go without. That mass and torsional stiffness are the source of the ride the Volant name has always promised — calm, planted, hard-biting on firm snow — and the reason it is heavy: 3,358 grams a ski with its binding, which doubles to roughly 6.7 kg per pair. This is a planted tool, not a nimble one.

On snow, the honest read leans on Atomic's own claim of exceptional edge grip and stability at speed plus a single owner-and-tester forum thread. That thread — testing the same stainless-steel Volant in its first revived season — described a ski that lays clean trenches and holds hard on ice, smooth and composed rather than nervous, and accessible rather than demanding at a cruise. Read that as a prior-generation impression, not a current test: the confirmed 26/27 change is the move to the I 12 GW binding, and Atomic has not said whether the ski itself was rebuilt.

The Volant 9000's limits are not subtle. Full camber, zero rocker and a 70 mm waist make it a groomer-only ski with no float and no easy pivot the moment the snow softens or you leave the piste. Damp and smooth also means not lively — there is no race-snap or rebound pop here, so anyone after an energetic carver will find it muted. The tightest radius in the line, 12.5–16.5 m (15.5 m at 168 cm), keeps it eager through short and medium turns, but that arc is its whole range.

Then there is the price. At $3,100 as a system the Volant 9000 sits in a real luxury tier, and that money reflects hand-built heritage, stainless-steel craft and exclusivity far more than a measurable carving edge — mainstream metal piste carvers, Atomic's own Redster line among them, grip comparably for well under half. Within the collection, the wider Volant 7000 runs 74 to 78 mm and suits variable afternoon piste, while the 5000 keeps the 9000's 70–72 mm sidecut but runs the longer 14.7–17.5 m radius as the entry model. Buy it for what it is and how it feels, not the spec sheet.

Sizing runs 147 to 175 cm, and only the 168 carries a published weight, so treat the others as unlisted. The DIN 4–12 binding and a 147 cm starting length mean the system fits lighter, smaller strong skiers, not only big men. It ships complete: the I 12 GW comes mounted and adjusted to your boots in the shop, where a technician also sets release.