Faction Prodigy 2011

Overall

Factions all mountain ski gets my nod as a great overall tool, and very close to a one ski quiver ski. At 98mm underfoot for the 185cm model, it offers more than enough float for all but the bottomless days, while still not being a pig when you hit the groomers. The early rise tip does a great job lifting the ski ontop of the snow and preventing tip dive when this are fresh. This does result in a fairly soft tip, meaning you do get the front 12” or so of the ski flopping on hardpack. Underfoot is significantly stiffer, and holds a solid edge on groomers when you lay it on its side. They use what they call STP technology, which basically is a fancy way to say these are extremely torsionally stiff for a ski this wide. Arcs are long and fluid, and can be done at reasonably high speeds. Do keep in mind though that there is a speed limit to these and once you go over that you’ll feel the skis start to flop and chatter and beg you to back off a little. These have done me well in a full range of conditions, hard packed groomer, heavy chopped up snow and up to 10” of fresh but dense snow. While these will hold their own when you get into scraped or icy patches, you don’t want to go looking for them with these skis, then again who really wants to look for that.

Construction seems to be top notch, decent amount of edge, tough sidewall and durable base material. After one run finding a rock in the trees I came out expecting a core shot for sure, and was pleasantly surprised to only find a good sized drag mark on the surface. The glossy top sheet does a good job shedding snow, and doesn’t seem to scratch or chip too much. Graphics are bright and flashy and do a great job attracting attention to themselves.
Overall I would highly recommend these to anyone looking for a versatile ski to really take just about anywhere.

• Terrain
  Park
  Pow
• Design
  Clean
  Busy
• Durability
  Fragile
  Durable
• Weight
  Light
  Heavy
• Style
  Uncool
  Cool
• Flex
  Soft
  Stiff
• Camber
  Cambered
  Rockered
• Pop
  No Pop
  Poppy
• Stability
  Jittery
  Stable