It is near impossible to try out the Anton Glider with an open mind. This rig loooks so unconventional and so interesting that I really didn't know what to expect. In my case that meant I was really looking forward to getting the Antons onto the snow, up to speed and layed over.
The Anton Glider did not dissapoint, these things hold an edge like few other skis. It is almost unnerving how easily turns are initiated on the Gliders. Skiing the Gliders would feel lazy except that you can lean over so far and go so fast on them. To be fair, this is not a race ski; they are too short to sustain ultra high speed on, but dial the stiffness up and there aren't many public slopes that you will want to go faster on than the Gliders are willing to go.
Anton really have achieved amazing performance on the following fronts: ease of turn initiation, torsional rigidity and adjustable stiffness. I will try to address these separately.
Ease of turn initiation: I assume that this is due to the extremely narrow waist, the effectively high boot position over the ski and the extreme torsional stiffness of the setup. The Anton doesn't require any muscle to turn in, all you need to do is subtly shift your weight and you are launched into your turn. Somehow this happens without the ski feeling twitchy.
Tortional Rigidity: I assume that the plate/spar in conjunction with the ski itself are responsible for what I can only describe as the most torsionally rigid ski i have ever layed over. The result is a trench digging powerhouse. I think that the incredible torsional rigidty of the Antons allows them to carve stably at a much higher speed than I expected given their length, even on lower stiffness settings. The effect of this torsional rigidity on the performance of the Antons cannot be overstated. Like tfavro, I would love to see what this plate/spar system could do to some of my other skis.
Adjustable Stiffness: I have tried other skis and ski/binding systems that claimed to offer adjustable stiffness. The Antons are far and away the most effective at achieving this goal. Really, you turn the dial and the ski gets stiffer. Turn it the other way and it gets softer. It still makes the same radius turn. It still holds a great edge. The only difference is in the stiffness. This really is pretty cool; you can dial in the right stiffness for the snow consistency. I had them out on their soft setting in some man made velvet and they felt great, later in the day I was rolling turns onmore crusty snow and I started to feel like they were chattering a bit so I dialed the stiffness up and the Antons dug right in; chatter gone!
The net effect of these three achievements is a truly remarkable ski. This ski is way more stable and way easier to ski than my slalom ski. I would love to ski a slightly longer, slightly wider version of the Glider and see how it stacks up against my all mountain cruiser.
If I have time to ski a few more days on these, I will post a followup review.