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Every year in early March, FREESKIER Magazine invites dozens of the ski industry’s top brands to enter their skis into the annual ski test dubbed FREESKIERFEST. With support from a fired-up FREESKIER Staff, a rowdy group of ski testers spends an entire week rigorously testing these brands’ skis day in and day out, on hardpack, chunder, pow, and everything in between. After every ski its category hits its quota for test runs taken and ratings submitted, testers move on to the next category of skis, eager to put them through the wringer. Mix in a substantial amount of breakfast burritos, dangerously high speed skiing, hot dogs, high fives, and extended-hours apres, you’ve got yourself a darn good program.
In March of 2018, after a two year hiatus from FREESKIERFEST, Folsom Custom Skis jumped back into the action, entering a handful of our best selling shapes into the gauntlet. After a week of balls-to-the-walls testing, we walked away with the prestigious Editors’ Pick awarded to nearly every Folsom shape tested. Earning the badge were our Trigger II, Primary, PowFish, and Gold Digger.
The Trigger II wowed testers across the board, earning it the #2 spot of all 85-99 mm Freestyle skis tested. Said FREESKIER on the Trigger II, “our testers confirmed that the Trigger II is a must-have all-mountain freestyle ski. “Yes, yes, yes! Finally a ski that rails turns and can shmear,” exclaimed Madeline Dunn. “In no way is stability sacrificed, the connection between snow and ski is soft, smooth and yummy”.’
Moving up in width, our next Editors’ Pick fell on the Primary which placed 6th in a stacked field of 100-114 mm Freeride skis. Anna Dedesco thanked us for giving her the privilege of skiing the Primary, saying, “I made the hill my b#tch on these babies, thank you very much. They were stable, responsive and oh-so-fun.”
For the powder / soft-snow skis, our PowFish scored the #4 spot in the 115 mm+ Freeride category. Tester Alex Golden claimed it was his “favorite ski” of the test and that he “didn’t want to give them back”. Well Alex, those are our skis and we needed to keep testing on them, so thank you for returning them to us.
Last but not least, our Gold Digger placed 2nd out of every women’s ski tested at FREESKIERFEST, holding its own against the industry’s heaviest hitters. Tester Bridget Boyle called the Gold Digger, “hands down, her favorite powder ski”, and in the words of FREESKIER, “you heard it here first, ladies: you’ll hit the jackpot with Folsom’s Gold Digger”.
As we make room on our wall for more accolades from this year’s ski test, enjoy some photos from the action-packed week at FREESKIERFEST 2018…
All photos courtesy of Matt Power (@mattpower).
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