I've Been HOLDING BACK - Curated Atomic Maverick Reaction

[@H0lyH0g]

I see too many people on the East coast skiing around the 100mm waist mark or greater on our typical hard pack conditions with this misguided understanding that they need this "do-it-all" waist width for that once in a blue moon powder day. Because ski marketing in North America revolves around photos/clips of pro athletes skiing the most amazing powder run you've ever seen (all shot in big mountains in the West...) many skiers have this dream session on top of mind and forget about what conditions they will ski most and end up compromising big. I think you spend so much time talking about this 88ti because you want to get the message across that something like this ski at this "narrower" width will provide a great experience in fresh/soft snow, but will be a blast to ski in the less sexy, mundane, every day conditions of groomed runs and hardpack snow. East coast pow days do happen but infrequently and rarely line up on weekends for most skiers to enjoy lol.

[@RicketySkiReviews]

Totally and even on the west coast! People are so fixated on the highlights from last season, that they forget the conditions for the other 80% of the winter. Great Comment you totally hit the nail on the head!

[@magmagius]

Have a pair of 88TI 188cm. Absolutely love them. Started skiing again 4 years ago after 35 years pause. Was renting skis until I tried these skis last year. So I bought a pair, I’m an intermediate skier 195 tall. These skis were the first time I really felt confident on the slopes. The only drawback is the long turning circle on narrow paths, but that’s more about my ability and length of skis. The main issue I have, is these skis made me overconfident and so now I’m nursing a broken leg after coming second best in a jump, hardly the fault of the skis. Can’t wait to get back on them

[@RicketySkiReviews]

Oh dang, well wishing you a speedy recovery! I love these skis as well.

[@c6moneypit8]

This was massively entertaining 😅

[@RicketySkiReviews]

Thanks so much!

[@Francois_WN]

Elliott I think this is the funniest video you made and furthermore on one of the best ski. Just keep doing it.

[@BillyandSamRide]

Love your content Elliot! Loved your story of your incident at the school!! Makes you real and speaks to your heart! I am super stoked for this season ! I am in Southern California with big bear and mammoth as my home mountains. My wife surprised me with Ikon passes this year. My background is I was a ski and snowboard instructor in the early 90’s at Big Sky Montana. I grew up in Michigan and cut my teeth at Mt Brighton. I have not skied consistently since 95 and come from the days of straight skis. Last set up were Salomon f9 with Lange xr9 140 boots. Obviously I am 53 now and just want to cruise around and make decent med to GS turns with a little tree skiing. I am 5”10 190 lbs and athletic still surf and ride a onewheel like a boss. Looking at Salomon qst, head Kore 93, or Atomic mavericks. Let me know your opinion or maybe do a video about folks like me that come from the world of straight skis and are getting back out here. Keep up the great work and we will keep watching!! Billy in San Diego…

[@RicketySkiReviews]

Hey Billy, This is a great question I would say the Maverick is a ski I prefer more from the groomers and really charging down the mountain with loading the ski while the Qst carves well but is better for flotation for Off-Piste Skiing: Here's what I would do, get a piece of paper, and write down the characteristics that matter most to you in this second pair of skis: (Powder Flotation, weight, carving, ease of turning) and then watch both of my reviews of the skis here: Atomic Maverick 95ti: kzbin.info/www/bejne/gJvXhH-qo850mKMsi=qCrdrsHWqlodeQ-R Salomon Qst 98 (Sorry this video was one of my early videos): kzbin.info/www/bejne/e4LJf5d3fNlkgbcsi=7Whru9X08GRRPhKG This video I made is also more in depth about the QST 98: kzbin.info/www/bejne/qorSlKGAbrKJmMUsi=Biq-GFjMAjyTfhGc I hope this helps, thanks so much for your great question!

[@keith2076]

Billy....I have a very similar story to yours. I grew up skiing the East and have a race team background...but when I went to college, I couldn't lug all the equipment around or afford the sport...i then moved to a city far from decent skiing...after 31 years I decided to try it again. And now I'm absolutely HOOKED. I'm a ski nut. Long story short. It's like riding a bike. You don't lose it. BUT...I stepped back into the saddle slowly and eased back into it. Started back with 110 flex boots and Head V10 skis...didn't want to jump into the deep end....I think you may want to avoid the Head Kore 93s...Jeff (of Jeff and Bob) is of similar height and weight as we are and he didn't take to them. But we both love the Head 105s...see the 2024 "mid 90s" SkiEssentials vid.

[@markweber4678]

Your rant is hilarious! 😂 No doubt the Mavericks are underrated skis!… I can understand why they may not be for everyone though. It makes sense to me that you have a racing background and love them. I’ve been on the 88s and the 95s and feel like they both reward stronger skiing. IMO they are both great skis that prefer to be skied hard, not just pointed or smeared around. The 88s may be my next purchase as a ‘front side ripper’…. But I haven’t had the chance to try them in softer conditions or deeper snow here in Colorado. I’ll have to check out your other videos on them.

[@RicketySkiReviews]

I ski in soft snow in idaho and they definitely float better than you would expect given the 88's width. But definitely if you're able to try them, they rule.

[@cngrl21]

This is my favorite ski as well, super light, and like a knife through butter. I'm on the west coast in Tahoe, and taken taken the skis to 60mph and it's super smooth. Sometimes there is chatter, but you just need to add in a bit of pressure. Works great in ice, excellent on groomers, and works kinda okay on powder (but was a struggle in super fluffy deep powder). Hope to see more of your reviews.

[@RicketySkiReviews]

agree 100%! Thanks for watching!

[@johntavenner1379]

"Even a broken clock is right twice a day." As they say in Maine... "That's a keepah bub." 😛Love the wry, incisive wit Elliott. Spot on. If you're too sensitive to handle the truth, plenty of fluffer nutter channels out there. Don't come here lol. Imagine Thomas and Brandon as cartoon characters? So Rob found more rebound and energy out of the turn than he was expecting for a "narrow" ski? Shocker lol. As you said, a) it's not narrow and b) yeah-- a less wide ski will almost always be quicker edge to edge than a wider ski. It's basic geometry and physics. Do you see slalom racers or FIS bump skiers on even 80mm? No way. You see Mike Wiegle heli guides on skis under 95mm? Doubtful. "Like driving a sportscar at 30mph" BINGO. If that ski could talk it'd say "drive me". Thomas is a moron. His mouth should be sponsored by Pepto Bismol, not the ski industry. Bomb down the hill? And what, take out Rob or a kid? Great advice from someone who couldn't buy a clean, powerful turn. Smoke another one bruh. Experts know how to turn and are in control. Thomas ain't on of 'em. Watch that BP Elliott. Me too! 😂

[@RicketySkiReviews]

Haha thanks so much!

[@Ab_outsomethingwitty8]

This was funny. You should do a video on how people who grew up racing on straight skis should think about adjusting their skiing for modern skis. In other news, I needed a carver and just picked up a pair of used ‘23 Maverick 88s. Looking forward to loading them up soon!

[@RicketySkiReviews]

Nice, hope you love them!

[@JJRodpro]

Nice one Elliot!!! will have to demo these and see how they fit my skiing. I am looking to replace a pair of Nordica enforcer 88's. As you already commented on the enforcers, I agree with you that they lack on the rebound at the end of the turn. I also own a pair of Enforcer 104's, which enjoy on crud, and powder up to a about a foot , or even in the conditions that Tom was skiing with a dusting over hard pack/crusty/icy subsurface, and don't need that rebound as much as in groomers, hard pack or ice, and for sure you need to drive the Enforcers much like what you said about the Maverick's, hard and at a decent speed. I don't drive my Porsche at 30 miles per hour! 😂................. if I had one!!!!🤣

[@RicketySkiReviews]

Lol Thanks, yes same my porsche has been at the shop for 30 years or so! haha

[@Sokolva]

Now I want to know the story about the bad pair of Dynastars… In all seriousness, that is content I’d love to see and can almost never find: a discussion on ski design fails and quality fails over the years that you have seen and experienced or that your friend’s experienced. So many people talk about what works well with skis and how old skis were legendary but we almost never hear about the crap designs and skis that didn’t work, and these stories are usually really fun and illuminating to learn about. Failure is just as important to study, if not more so, than success.

[@RicketySkiReviews]

Great Idea! yes those skis typically get kind of swept under the rug

[@Hawkeye0517]

so I haven't bought a pair of skis in years. I went ahead and bought the Maveric 88ti at 176. I have been looking for over a year

[@RicketySkiReviews]

Right on! Hope you were able to find yourself a sweet deal. Thanks for commenting, and I hope you'll let me know how you like them.

[@NickGlazener]

I can relate to so many of your observations and I am definitely not an expert. For myself, I believe my carving skills are the foundation for everything else. I was told early on by old school skiers that a good male skier shouldn't have any leg hair on their shins from the forward pressure on the boots. I am tempted to get these skis even though I don't really need a true carving ski since my go to skis are Vokyl M6s. But it would be cool to have these skis for Sun Valley especially on the Warm Springs side of the mountain. Funny story regarding ski sales: A few years ago I bought a pair of demo skis. I think you could call them the Mantra M4. For a couple years they were fine. I mostly skied in crud not much hard pack. Then the last year, I skied a lot of really hard pack groomers and those skis absolutely would not hold an edge. I thought I must be tuning them wrong. So I took them into our local ski shop to ask questions about edge tuning angles. I had to talk to 3 people before the last guy told me the truth. All 3 of them started with the question, "Where did you buy these skis?" It was obvious they all had been trained to cover their asses, so to speak. I thought it was funny. Bottom line was that Mantra model was crap and notorious for exactly what I was experiencing. Btw, Berg's is a credible shop with really awesome long term employees. We are really fortunate to have them in Eugene, OR.

[@RicketySkiReviews]

Oh awesome, great story. I had a similar thing happen when I bought a pair of Stockli Stormriders that were demo skis and years later the shop asked me who mounted the bindings, I was like: "well that's your sticker on the left ski" lol. What an awful feeling.

[@peterhaigh904]

Was that the year that the mantra was fully rockered? I think if so then that will be your reason for lack of edge hold.

[@NickGlazener]

@@peterhaigh904 Yes. But there was no camber.

[@flapjackson6077]

Lol. Dude, you definitely know those skis! I saw another vid of yours about them. Regarding your criticisms of the review, you’re looking at it purely from your own perspective as an aggressive precision skier. And that’s legit. However, I liked their review. I learned skiing on longer straight skis. I was happy to see that the 88ti performs well for less aggressive skiing. Recreational or old school skiers like me, on a budget should appreciate having a ski which performs well on groomers without having to heavily load the skis every turn. But at the same time, the skis are great at carving for those of us who want to get aggressive from time to time, and/or do the powder, although you felt they underrated it. Lol. That’s you being a perfectionist I suspect. And the Atomics are very reasonably priced! The only skis I could afford in 1979(?) were 175cm Dynaglas skis. They were stiff! But they lasted for several years until one cracked at Snowshoe one year. The ungroomed Lower Cupp Run was the culprit. I rented 190s from there on. Just my two cents. I love your vids!

[@RicketySkiReviews]

totally

[@alexlimkin7397]

Interesting! I am also parent to an autistic child. Once I became more knowledgeable regarding their autism, I recognized many autistic traits in myself. It turns out autistic children don't "outgrow" autism; they become autistic adults. 🤔 One of the things that attracted me to your channel was your interest in challenging dubious ski reviews. As it turns out, an abiding interest in truth and justice (believe it or not!) is an autistic trait. Many whistleblowers are autistic. If you look beyond the childhood presentation of autism, you may recognize your connection to your child is profound indeed. When you drew attention to the annoying creaking sounds of the chairlift in one of the videos you reviewed, I was like, Yep! 😅 (Sensory issues with noises, smells, textures, bright light, etc. are an autistics bread and butter!) Anyway, keep it up! I believe skiing is a great activity for autistics, with its repetitive movements, feelings of flight, and capacity to experience intense joy and liberation. (Freeheel skiing, of course, being the most autistically joyful of all! 😂)

[@RicketySkiReviews]

Awesome thank you for sharing! Yes, I also noticed my child loves skiing so it has been cool to share with them.

[@danielbuchanan2224]

I would watch reviews on Curated, but watching you watch them is way funnier!! Do more! 😂

[@deltasr5443]

Nice Elliott. Your evangelism of Maverick 88s finally compelled me to buy a set .... for 400 bucks. A good deal I think. I also bought adjustable demo bindings to mount on them. Here is the issue, I think. I am an intermediate skier. Do you think it's feasible to progress on these to an advanced level?

[@RicketySkiReviews]

Yes. I think you'll want to prioritize mastering downhill pressure as they can be on the stiffer side, but I think they offer alot of diversity and a good turn shape as you learn. If I was going to make an "intermediate ski" recommendation I would probably say it's worth trying a Fischer Ranger since the turn initiation takes very little pressure, but overall they're both very nice skis.

[@bm5799]

Get the Atomic Maverick 86C. Exact same foorprint as the 88ti. dont know why they named it 86? anyway, its C Carbon - much friendlier than the metal version for an Intermediate. But all the same great ski, but not so demanding as the metal. Everyone overlooks the 86C. If you werent lucky enough to grow up skiing ad a racer and are learning as an adult (like me) you dont need a TI ski. The Maverick 86C is fucking awesome.

[@jaychu3850]

Omg you’re killing me… hysterical!!!! 😂

[@RicketySkiReviews]

Thanks!

[@lazslostpierre9951]

Totally feeling what you said at 4:15. It's what some people call park and ride. CRANK THEM! PS I'm old enough to be your dad and don't ski like that.

[@RicketySkiReviews]

Fair enough!

[@drewsykes8152]

Hi. You sold me on these skis. I’m 172cm tall, 170 pounds. Advanced but by no means expert skier. Spend 80% of my time on groomers. Would you lean to the 161 or 169cm length? Really I’m in between those.

[@RicketySkiReviews]

Either should be fine, depending on what you like, I would probably lean towards the 169 though. If you want to support the channel, this link helps and doesn't cost anything. Here's that affiliate link: www.avantlink.com/click.php?tt=pl&ti=132&pw=372417&mi=10270&pt=3&pri=791937

[@McBurnside6380]

I bought my skis from Curated. However, I demoed the skis first and Curated had the best available price. Additionally, I grabbed some bindings, but those were Tyrolia attack 11's and also at a very good discount. I think whatever ski you buy you must demo them first. FYI, they do ask for a tip at the end. Sorry, no. That's just dumb - the Curated experts get commission on the sale and a paycheck for their job.

[@keith2076]

I'm still telling people you got into a bar fight. :-))

[@RicketySkiReviews]

haha!

[@markphan5835]

They needed steeper trails 😂

[@RicketySkiReviews]

You're not wrong

[@JuddSilvia]

Can you talk about other skis?do you only talk about the atomic mavericks?

[@RicketySkiReviews]

Click through the page a bit

[@scottpratico1315]

Did you call the Redster a "cheater ski"? Blasphemous. You are so right that Curated is a total head scratcher. Who buys skis through them? They're clearly targeting low information skiers.

[@RicketySkiReviews]

You're right, I meant to say the "Atomic Redster Q9.8 Revo S" Skis but it's such a goofy name I have a hard time remembering it on the spot. Lol. Who named these!? Yeah I think there must be a large market of intermediate and below skiers thinking they're getting white glove treatment. Thanks for the nice comment!

[@jons7e]

Right out of the gates 🤣 What could you learn from any of that skiing? Not sponsored... really? Shocker. I guess it's cool to show a ski can perform at different speeds

[@RicketySkiReviews]

Totally, Thomas had so much less screen time yet still managed to pop several gems in there.

[@aaronmueller1560]

Just stumbled across this, and was so ready for someone to throw some shade in the ski review community. I have not been impressed with some of Curated’s reviews in the past, I’ve found them to be vague and unhelpful, and they will sometimes really miss the mark when you look at what other reviewers said. But I must say, I was not impressed with this takedown of their video here. Now, I want to start by saying that they made some inaccurate or unhelpful assessments that you rightfully pointed out. Like “this ski is for bombing down runs but doesn’t do well in powder.” Totally misses that it’s great for carving turns and will do well in powder comparatively for its width, which is important to know. But you also pick on them for very unfair things. The major one is discrediting their reviews based on a couple clips of them skiing. Not only are you quick to judge and seemingly don’t understand that the clips may not be fully representative of the whole (despite pointing out that the clips have been edited and some unflattering clips were chosen), but you discredit and sometimes refuse to address their points if you haven’t seen them skiing in the style you think best fits that application. It is perfectly possible for a skier to try out a ski as well as look at its construction and make a reasonable assessment of its performance at a very high speed even if they didn’t reach that speed themself. Pointing out they weren’t skiing fast and aggressively only works AFTER you’ve shown that their point is incorrect as an EXPLANATION for why they got it wrong. You need to do the explanation if you want people to realize what’s actually gone wrong here. The second major thing you do is forget that almost all ski reviews are comparative. You can get most skis to do any application, but some will be much better than others and so it is worth talking about. They talk about how skis will perform relative to other skis on the market. This is only natural when people are choosing between skis and basing things off of other skis they may have tried. So when they say things like “it won’t get you that too end speed as easily” or “it can get chattery in adverse conditions,” that would be relative to skis that will give you that top end easily or will just go through adverse conditions without effort. You even point this out, that the Maverick can be smooth through crud with very good technique but otherwise will get choppy, while skis like the Mantra will always plow through crud and don’t require a very solid technique. This is essentially their assessment, that compared to other skis out there the Maverick has a tendency to get choppy in bad conditions. You are almost proving their point, just adding an extra detail that technique makes an impact on how stable it is (again, a place where Curated falls short, but you are taking the wrong approach to combatting that). Thirdly, you seem to expect that either every skier is at your level, or that ski reviews are made specifically for people at your level. You talk a lot about how if this main competent skier was able to improve on his technique he would get a lot more out of the ski. But what percentage of the ski-purchasing market would you estimate has that technique you recommend? I would guess somewhere around 3-5% myself. Thus, wouldn’t it be super useful to know that for the average or above average skier the ski behaves in the ways they describe? It would be more useful to know the full spectrum (what a beginner, intermediate, advanced, and expert can get from it, perhaps what different skiing backgrounds will find easy or difficult), but you act as if these reviewers have nothing to offer if they aren’t top of the line expert skiers with excellent form. There is so much you can criticize Curated’s reviews for, but I found this critique to be unfair and heavily misguided in its goals as well as its understanding of the purpose of ski reviews. Ski reviews have to be useful to a wide variety and ability of skiers, and this video (cutting out blatantly incorrect information) is only useful to a portion of those, but you are demanding that the reviews be useful only to your narrow group of skier types and abilities instead of pointing out where they fall short for different groups.

[@RicketySkiReviews]

This is a really insightful comment! I've done a lot of reviews with Curated, and I kind of forget that each video also acts as a standalone piece. So when I go off on Thomas for his 10th misguided comment, it comes off as just picking on him. So thank you for the reminder to explain properly with each unique video. When it comes to skiing skill, I see your point, but I also think that carving and loading a ski is kind of what the majority of people on this kind of ski are working towards, so it can be helpful. But my main argument is just that if you're not loading the ski up, how will you really feel the subtleties of the ski? I also talked a bit in the video how Rob could have some really good insight, but he was picking weird things to talk about. I'm also not trying to call out the skiers for not having anything to offer "high tier" skiers, I'm trying to call them out for passing themselves off as "experts" to intermediate/ beginner skiers, because I think it's misleading, and the confidence in which people like Thomas speak, while giving misinformation is really destructive to people making purchases. I've now gotten over a dozen comments with people sharing their negative experience with either Curated or a Ski Shop selling them or their friends 100+Width Atomic Bents, when they were just beginners on the groomers. I'm here to not only talk about skis good aspects but also their bad, and try to help out consumers before they get duped by this kind of content. Because like you said the Maverick is not for "bombing down the hill" and people should know that before they spend their hard earned money on them. I do think you made a really good point about keeping my content relatable for all skill levels, and I am going to take that feedback to heart going forward with making future reviews. Thanks for your insight and for taking the time to give me feedback! It helps me a ton and I really appreciate it.

[@aaronmueller1560]

@@RicketySkiReviews thanks for your long response! You are certainly right that with context a lot of your comments and feelings may have made more sense, I didn’t have that context so a lot of it felt a bit out of nowhere lol. I appreciate that you’ve taken some of my advice into account, and honestly look forward to more takedowns of Curated. You are absolutely correct that they don’t offer much to higher tier skiers and don’t often telegraph the skier level they are talking about. I have noted that recently there has been a rise in different styles of skiing, a lot of younger people (including high level athletes) leaning toward more slashy and surfy skiing, sometimes even bombing for a section and then throwing the skis sideways as a style. Then there are more quick maneuvering style skiers and some with a more traditional carving, laying down carve after carve. Would you say that all of these skiing styles require the techniques you mentioned? Because I’m not confident that they all use those same techniques, and yet all are legitimate styles that have been used by various top-level skiers

[@aaronmueller1560]

@@RicketySkiReviews also, I should mention, one of the primary review channels I watch is Ski Essentials, and I find them excellent in their descriptions and breakdowns of skis. They cover it from as many angles as they can and break down performance for different applications, often talking about what different skill levels will get out of them or what techniques may be required for them. Might be worth checking out (or just keeping in mind for my replies, as that’s where a lot of my ski knowledge comes from lmao)

[@RicketySkiReviews]

Yeah totally! Actually I've been emailing back and forth with Ski Essentials and they let me know that they watch the channel! I do think they do a good job with their reviews. My only real critique is that they tend to avoid talking badly about skis (I would guess because they also sell them). But overall I love their content and am a fan.

[@RicketySkiReviews]

Thanks for the nice reply! I do think that although there seems to be a surge in interest with powder and Park skiing, all trails travel down hill and I think that with skiing being a lifetime sport, carving is here to stay. Just my opinion, but I think that carving and just knowing how to load and turn a ski is going to become more and more important as the, people who started out on shapes skis as kids, grow older (adults born after 2000). Also just in general, loading a ski and getting it to change shape is really important to it's build and structure. Maybe I'm fighting a losing battle, but I think anyone can learn to carve, and once people learn this skill it's a really satisfying way to ski. This has been a great conversation! thanks so much for taking the time to participate.

[@paulhomsy2751]

You have too much time on your hands...? Let them be "experts" or not.

[@calleX]

How chattery can they really be with two sheets of titanal?

[@RicketySkiReviews]

Totally! They're definitely a lighter ski, which imo is what makes them stand out a bit above some of the other heavier skis, but as long as you keep them loaded with some pressure, they just sail!

[@mcleanirish]

Being a lighter ski, with the Mavericks have you ever found that your legs get a bit more tired at the end of the day moreso than other skis? Notice that I do have to drive the Mavericks with my legs to carve moreso than let's say a heavier Kendo 88 (which you use a more even distribution of bodyweight/pressure to carve). Still developing skills as intermediate but curious if you've had same experience with the Mavs. Thanks! @RicketySkiReviews