The JJ On Steroids...
eri3374524: 
...is how my very knowledgeable and trusty ski tech buddy describes the Bent Chetlers.He has skied pretty much every comparable ski offered by Volkl, Armada, K2, Rossignol, Line, other Atomic models, etc (he specifically made comparisons to the JJ, Hellbent, and Chopstick). According to him, the BC's are hands down- by far, the best ski out of the bunch. To avoid redundancy, his comments echo all the strong positives that have already been posted.After a long conversation and some research, I took the plunge on faith alone. I opted to set up my BC's with Jesters, mounted 2.5 back from factory recommendation. I'll post my experience once I have had the chance to ski them.
Demo, then Love
Kurt:
I was at Alta this past week with all kinds of conditions, and Demo-ed the Bent Chetler (and 5 other skis) over 5 days.In summary I loved them.DEEP:I'm a big guy 6'5" and 240# yet they gave me lots of float and we're a joy in the deep. The more I skied them them more confident and capable I grew, especially in the trees. Even with a small gap I knew I could rely on turning exactly where i wanted to and thread the trees.GROOMERS:They were surprisingly good in hard pack groomers. I could make turns quite easily, unlike some others ( See below). They initiated well and without a lot of effort. It took me about 2 runs to figure out the balance point. Rather than carve with lots of forward pressure, they seemed to turn easiest by pushing my weight through the mid-point of my foot and flexing the ski a bit. I would have no hesitancy in skiing them on a day with only groomers, although I did not try them on any icy patches.OTHERS:I went looking to demo a Rossignol S7, but they were not available. The other similar powder boards I demo-ed were Volkl Katana -- good in pow, but hard to turn and unexciting on anything groomed.Atomic Thug -- Good float in the pow, but they were hard to turn even in deep stuff. I didn't feel confident that I could make the turn before the tree. On groomers, they were so hard to turn that my legs got exhausted.
get a pair
Frank:
I own a pair of Chetlers. Got 'em at Jibij in Boulder, haven't seen em anywhere else. The prior review is right on; these are fantastic tree skis. Super quick, super precise. You can ski the trees longer 'cause you can get into smaller spaces and ski next to lines that have already been skied. Know those 4 ft wide swaths cut by snowboarders through the trees? The BCs just carve across and back into the pow. I've skied everything from 4 inches of carpet to 12 inches of mush, to 20 inches of perfect pow. They were fantastic in all. The surprising thing is the performance on hardpack. I've skied hard snow pretty fast (40?) on them and they grip really well. The make long arcs, maybe like a 26 radius, and are surprisingly stable. Guess it's that Atomic racing pedigree. They were even fun in the bumps (rounded powder bumps so I suppose that's not much of a test). They'd probably be too nervous for long, fast, powder lines, e.g. AK but for tree skiing they can't be beat. For getting around the mountain to the trees they're surprisingly fun.
seem sick
Andre Lovett:
these skis seem really sick skied with a guy who demoed them said they were dope i would get them for backcountry booters and pow and treelines but i would get a longer ski for ak lines
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