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Being a strong skier is a mandatory requirement here at Folsom. One lucky intern of ours was especially able to reap the benefits of custom skis through her experience with us…
Growing up in Colorado as a ski racer, and being a woman, I always struggled to find a good pair of boards. At 5’1″ and 100 pounds, I am clearly not in any ski company’s target market. Struggling to find a stock ski that performed well for me… well that would be an understatement. Additionally, I handled ski racing-related injuries all throughout my alpine race experience. The issue? Off the rack skis. For the most part, every racer is on the same spec of ski, from those who are my size, to those who are on the opposite end of the spectrum. This outlook on ski equipment left me in the dust, ultimately leading to injury, tears, and lots of disappointment.
I had always blamed myself for not being a good enough skier, when in reality, the equipment was what wasn’t good enough. Thus, I ended up on Folsom Custom Skis’ doorstep.
Leaving the racing life behind for the world of freeride and joining the University of Colorado Big Mountain ski team brought back my love of the sport. However, it didn’t take me long to delaminate my women’s off-the-rack skis and come to the understanding that women’s skis generally are not made for the daily pressure of competition. Upon this realization, I started my hunt for new skis, landing on some used men’s big mountain skis that were taller than me (and about half my weight). This only brought more injury and frustration to my skiing career. That was the moment I understood that the male skis aren’t made for me, but all of the skis I had tried on the women’s market just wouldn’t cut it…
My first day walking into Folsom Skis felt like coming home. I had heard about custom skis in the past, but stepping into the Folsom factory made it clear that these skis were more customizable than anything else. Every step of the process is done in house, from the graphic dye sublimation down to the 360° hand edge wrap around base, allowing for every element to be of the highest quality. Even my days on Folsom women’s demo skis had me convinced that these were truly made for the female anatomy, but also built to handle cliffs, bumps, and trees. Plus they could carve like a race ski. Finally, someone is making a ski that can handle everything, and do it well, even for a 5’0″ woman on the Freeride World Tour circuit.
My unique experience with Folsom only convinced me even more that custom skis can be made well for everyone (no matter how short or tall you might be) and actually make skiing fun again. If you’d like to experience the difference of custom fill out a Custom Fit Form and an expert designer will get in touch with you ASAP. Trust me when I say, you won’t regret it.
Stay tuned for more updates from our intern staff, and if you’re interested in an internship of your own, you can fill out an application here.