Willi’s Is Now an Atomic Pro Center: A Week Inside Atomic’s World Cup Race Rooms (2026)
Atomic has named Willi’s Ski and Board an Atomic Pro Center, and I traveled to Austria to make it happen. I spent a week at the Atomic factory in Altenmarkt, learning about World
Cup ski setups, boot alignment, and race prep from experienced technicians who work with top racers. I’ll explain what the Atomic Pro Center program is, share what I learned in the factory and race rooms, and talk about what it means for you when you bring your skis or boots to us in Pittsburgh.
What an Atomic Pro Center Actually Is
An Atomic Pro Center is a shop that Atomic has certified as part of its race-service network. Atomic calls Pro Centers “competence centers created exclusively for FIS members and race enthusiasts, from junior racers to World Cup competitors.” Only a small number of shops worldwide have this status, and Willi’s is now one of them.
The certification is based on three main requirements. The shop must conduct one-on-one race setup assessments, matching skis and boots to how each skier actually races rather than just following the catalog. It must offer professional boot fitting at a race-level standard. And it needs to tune skis using advanced machines, with technicians who can also fine-tune the work by hand for each racer’s needs.
There’s a real benefit for racers right away. Pro Centers get what Atomic calls “exclusive access to FIS racing equipment and the Redster collection.” This means you can now order true FIS race skis through Willi’s—gear that isn’t available in regular stores.
Racing has always been at the heart of our family business. My dad was a very successful racer in Austria and then came to the United States to join fellow racers Egon Zimmerman and Penny Pitu. Kjerstin and I met while racing for the University of Colorado ski team.. Earning this certification to serve racers at the highest level feels like we’re finally completing a journey that began 56 years ago.
Inside the Atomic Factory in Altenmarkt
Atomic makes its skis in Altenmarkt im Pongau, a small town of about 4,500 people in the Salzburg Alps. This factory is the center of the world’s largest ski company, producing Atomic, Salomon, and Armada skis all under one roof. I spent my first days there walking the production floor before heading into the race department.
What surprised me most was how much of the work is done by hand. According to Amer Sports, Atomic’s parent company, each ski goes through 30 to 40 steps, and only the CNC cutting and final grinding are automated. People handle everything else. Atomic skis can have up to 300 parts, and I watched workers hand-build skis with wood cores of ash, beech, and poplar, one pair at a time. The quality and craftsmanship is amazing.
Every ski that leaves the factory has a QR code that tracks its assembly, and quality inspectors check and pair the skis by hand at the end of the line. Seeing two skis matched by hand into a set changed the way I think about the skis that arrive at our shop each fall.
Willi’s has a long history with Atomic, from Willi sitting in Alois Rohrmoser’s kitchen talking about skis to today, with Willi’s joining the other elite shops selected as APC Centers. My dad grew up racing in Austria, and our shop carries his name. Standing in that factory felt like being part of the family business in two ways at once.
What I Learned in the Race Rooms
The race department bases its work on figures that most skiers never get to see. World Cup race skis have a base bevel of about 0.5 degrees and a side edge of 3 degrees,
whereas most recreational skis have a base bevel of 1 degree and a side edge of 1 to 2 degrees, according to evo’s bevel chart. The Redster S9 FIS model from Atomic is shipped with that precise specification. It is those half a degree that determine how the edge bites into injected snow.
whereas most recreational skis have a base bevel of 1 degree and a side edge of 1 to 2 degrees, according to evo’s bevel chart. The Redster S9 FIS model from Atomic is shipped with that precise specification. It is those half a degree that determine how the edge bites into injected snow.Preparation goes well beyond just the edges. Race rooms grind their own base structures to match snow moisture and temperature, then finish the work by hand. According to the tuning reference Tognar, which uses input from World Cup technicians, in downhill and super-G, the tune and wax make up about half of speed performance. In slalom and GS, the skier’s skill matters more, but the tune still makes a difference of tenths of a second.
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But the biggest lesson I took away wasn’t about a specific measurement. The Atomic race staff are always testing. Athletes like Mikaela Shiffrin go through about 15 prototype variations each year, and the service team keeps refining setups based on results. No one in that building makes guesses. Every decision about angles, structure, or flex is tested against the clock. I came home wanting our tuning room to work with that same mindset.
A quick word of caution before you ask for a full race tune: putting a 0.5 degree base bevel on a recreational ski that’s only used a couple of times a month isn’t a good idea, and the race room experts would agree. The real value of knowing the World Cup standard is learning how to adapt it to each skier, not just copying it onto every ski.
Boot Setups, Canting, and Angles
Boot alignment was the most in-depth part of my week. Canting is adjusting the side-to-side angle of your boot compared to the ski, so you stand in a neutral position and the edge engages evenly, not tilted in or out. Top shops make these adjustments in 0.25-degree steps, usually correcting between 0 and 1 degrees.
“Rarely has there ever been a time that anybody has run with a cant more than one degree, and never more than 1.5. The base level that we always start at is 0.5 for tech and 0 for most speed”
That kind of precision might sound like it’s just for racers, and that’s where it began. But it’s not only for them. America’s Best Bootfitters says it clearly: “Virtually every skier will benefit from some basic lateral stance fine-tuning.” If you’re struggling with an edge that catches too soon or can’t hold a carve on one side, it’s often a stance issue, not a technique problem.
At Willi’s, we’ve always started boot fitting by looking at the foot. What I learned in the race rooms at the Atomic Factory sharpened the stance part of that process. Measuring how a skier stands in the boot, then adjusting sole angles, cuff alignment, and cuff rotation before talking about new gear is the way the race world does it. We’ll use this approach for all our skiers, not just racers.
The fitters I observed regarded the boot as the main component; that's clear. The skis change from race to race, whereas the boot, its angles, and the skier's stance remain constant throughout the season, which is why so much time is spent on fitting the boot.
Sport H&N, and What the Best Shops in the World Have in Common
One part of the journey had nothing to do with obtaining certification. In fact, some of the finest ski shops in the world are small specialist shops based in Austria, and I deliberately went to one of the very best of them, Sport H&N in Reith im Alpbachtal, which is roughly ten minutes' drive from my father's hometown. On my way there, I passed by places that I have known since I was a child.
Sport H&N was founded by two locals, Hannes and Norbert, and the shop services skiers “from children to World Cup athletes.” Their tuning room offers World Cup finishes and setups, and their boot fitting is appointment-only with millimeter-level foot measurements. World Cup racers send skis to this little shop in a Tyrolean village.
The thing that impressed me when I was in their shop is true of every excellent shop I have ever visited, whether on this side of the Atlantic or that, no matter how small or large it is. The source of their excellence is not a secret; it lies in measurement, in standards, and in repetition, all of which are carried out by people who never grow tired of attending to the details from year to year and pair to pair. A shop situated in a valley in Tyrol and one in Pittsburgh can adhere to the same standards, since snow is snow and feet are feet. The discipline is transferable.
I came back to the United States with a notebook and a ton of ideas for our tuning and bootfittng processes.![]()
What This Means for You at Willi’s
The changes in certification determine what we are able to order and make our working methods more precise. Racers and the members of their families can now obtain FIS-level Atomic race equipment, including the Redster race range, directly through Willi’s. Junior racers can now be assessed, fitted, and tuned at home to the same standards that I saw in Altenmarkt, without having to send their boots across the ocean or wait for a vendor tent during race week.
For everybody else, the benefits are more subtle ones. The posture and alignment are checked during the fitting process, with the music adjusted according to the way and the place you ski, using the same measurement-based approach that is employed in the race rooms. The standards are derived from the World Cup, and the application is tailored to the individual, which has always been the purpose of the job.
If you have a racer in the family or if the skiing setup you've been using has never seemed well balanced, why not come and see us this fall and take your boots with you? Ask us to examine your stance first of all; that talk was the most valuable thing I took away from Austria.
FAQ
Here are some quick answers to the questions that race families and ordinary skiers have been asking since the announcement was made.
What constitutes an Atomic Pro Center?
An Atomic Pro Center is a store that has been certified by Atomic as part of its race-service network. Atomic refers to these shops as competence centers 'for FIS members and race enthusiasts, ranging from junior racers to World Cup competitors'. Shops that have been certified offer a race setup assessment, professional boot fitting and hand-finished race tuning, together with access to FIS racing equipment.
Can I buy FIS race skis through Willi’s now?
Yes. Pro Center status gives Willi’s access to Atomic’s FIS racing equipment and the Redster collection, gear that doesn’t flow through normal retail channels. If you or your junior racer needs race stock, talk to us about ordering ahead of the season.
Do I need to be a racer to benefit from any of this?
No. The boot alignment and stance work I studied in Austria applies to any skier, and bootfitting sources are blunt that virtually every skier benefits from lateral stance fine-tuning. Race-spec edge angles stay on race skis, but measurement-first fitting helps everyone.
Where is the Atomic factory?
Atomic builds skis in Altenmarkt im Pongau, Austria, a town of roughly 4,500 people in the Salzburg Alps. It’s the headquarters of the world’s largest ski company, and Atomic, Salomon, and Armada skis are all produced there, largely by hand.