Gear Review | Atomic Maverick 115 CTI with Shift² 13 MN

First impression

After one season of sales, the Maverick 115 CTI is almost a classic with its design: plain white on tip and tail and simply dark in between with trees, mountain and snow. The base, of course, is more eye-catching with its bright orange colour and is predestined to be placed photos from side! The Atomic Shift² 13 MN is mounted, which was presented in a completely revised version last season and should also be mentioned again in this test.

Like the Atomic Backland 109 with Shift² 13 MN recently presented as gear review, the ski is equipped with the HRZN 3D Shape, which means that the tip is slightly curved at the sides and should provide more stability and smoothness, as well as more float. The so-called dynamic power wood core is designed to provide stability - at high speeds or when landing hard. The addition CTI in the name of the Maverick means nothing more than the use of carbon and titanal. The sidewalls are now rounded in the Dura Cap construction for better edge grip and more durability.

In combination with the Shift binding, the setup is not too light, but not too heavy for its downhill performance. According to the manufacturer, a 193 cm ski should weigh 2,150 g and a binding 920 g. Together with the binding, one 185 cm long ski from the test setup weighs 3,020 g for me - the other one 2,960 g.

Tester and test conditions

I'm 180 cm tall and weigh just under 78 kg and have used the skis for both ski touring and freeriding, whereby I place more attention on the descent than the ascent for the former - so from that point of view, the test setup and I are a good match. Almost without exception, a Tecnica Cochise was used as the ski boot.

In the meantime, the ski has been tested in a wide variety of snow conditions and areas. It started in wind affected powder in the Lötschental, continued with very variable conditions on our winter camping trip in the Southern Alps, visited a few - sometimes icy - couloirs in the Dolomites and culminated in quite a few ski tours, during which I dragged the setup on longer ascents to be prepared for variable downhill conditions.

Descent

Admittedly, you need a bit of finger strength or thin gloves to loosen the lever when converting and releasing the stopper block of the rear brake. In my opinion, the two levers on the right and left could be a little larger so that you can get behind them more easily. And don't get the idea of using the tip of the ski pole, as I have already observed. Switching the toe piece works without any problems, but care must be taken to push the blocking lever downwards for the descent to ensure that it functions as an alpine binding.

The overall operation of the Shift is very easy and logical, but I would like to point out that it always makes sense to check for snow in the various elements before converting and to remove it as far as possible as a preventative measure. However, this applies to (almost) every touring binding. So far, it has not happened to me that the new Shift is no longer operable, e.g. due to freezing or snow blockage, which was the case with the old one.

Once you have locked the ski boot into the binding with a resounding click, you realise that this is an actual alpine binding and therefore gives you a feeling of safety, as all release options are available on the descent. Provided that all adjustment options have been carried out by a specialist for the relevant ski boot and skier - not forgetting the height of the revised AFD plates!

But now to the actual test object, the Maverick 115 CTI: Without exception, I can confirm all the characteristics mentioned by Sebastian in his short-term gear review of the longer version of the Marverick, only the placitity in slower, flatter passages did not show up for me. This is probably due to the length of the ski and/or the fact that I naturally put significantly less weight on the centre of the ski. The stable tail on landings is particularly noticeable on the first few runs, as well as is the smoothness at high speeds in all kinds of different snow conditions. Especially in windy or hardpack snow conditions, it was surprising how well the edge worked and how the tip floats up without cutting. This could well be an effect of the HRZN 3D Shape.

In order not to repeat all the points from the short-term gear review, I would like to go into a few additional features. I was able to create the agility that you need in forest passages, for example, with the Maverick without much effort, but this required a clean central position and more pressure on the tip. It is precisely then that you realise that the ski tempts you to a backseat skiing, because the tail provides so much stability and allows 'less strenuous skiing', so to speak 'lazy skiing'. Both then and with a more athletic skiing style, I could hardly tempt the Maverick out of its comfort zone and there was rarely a feeling of insecurity or uncontrollability.

I actually wanted to use a few classic runs on the Sass Pordoi to challenge the Maverick, but here too I was surprised how well it skis in tracked or spring-frozen (skied far too early in the morning), narrow couloirs. Here I had the feeling of having a narrower ski under the binding - which may be due to the fact that it is very easy to switch from edge to drift turns and doesn't get stuck on the edge. Overall, it also worked very well here in short turns and jumpturns.

Apart from that, I found it really difficult to find any real weaknesses in the driving performance. I'm curious to see how durable the sidewall construction will really be, as it seems a bit 'fragile' to me. The binding seems very solid and durable. We will certainly write about it in long-term reviews. The gear review of the little brother, the Maverick 105, will be published soon.

Conclusion

The Maverick 115 CTI has impressed me positively on all levels so far and simply isn't thrown out of balance easily - a bit like Colt Seavers in A Fall Guy - and it has become my ski for all (snow)cases! So far, I've hardly been able to generate any (skiing) situations in which it couldn't give me the confidence and sureness I like for aggressive skiing. Even in conditions that are clearly not his cup of tea. As a result, I am currently very happy to carry a few more grams up the mountain and rely on the setup on many trips and have already had a lot of fun with it.

Advantages & disadvantages

+ very easy to control

+ smooth running at high speeds

+ very manoeuvrable, also well suited for treeruns

+ lots of stability in the tail

+ binding a true hybrid version - pins on the ascent, alpine on the descent

- skis with bindings not quite light

- strong tail tempts to backseat skiing

Information on

RRP €549.99 for the Atomic Shift² 13 MN

• Stopper widths: 90, 100, 110, 120 mm

RRP €859.99 for the Atomic Maverick 115 CTI

• Lengths: 177, 185, 193 cm

• Waist: 139.5|115.0|128.5 - 140.5|115.0|129.5 - 141.5|115.0|130.5

• Radius: 17 m, 18 m, 19 m

• HRZN 3D Shape on the shovel

• Power Woodcore

• Dura Cap Wall

• Directional Shape

• High-gloss topsheet

• Powder Rocker 30/50/20

• Side edge angle: 87°

• Edge angle facing side: 1.3°

Click here to go to the Atomic website for more information on the Maverick and the Shift. Here you can buy Atomic Maverick 115 CTI and here the Shift binding from our partner shop SportConrad.

The ski was provided to PowderGuide by the manufacturer free of charge for testing. You can find out how we test it in our test statement.