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BLISTER and Folsom Have been working together since the tail end of 2016. The relationship really started with Folsom CEO Mike McCabe sitting down to do the notorious Blister Podcast with Pete Wagner of Wagner Skis and Mark Wallace of Parlor Skis (listen below).
This was a round table discussion with 3 of the nations top custom ski manufacturers. The questions that were asked, combined with the overall comprehensive nature of Jonathan Ellsworth certainly stuck out and thus sparked a few deeper conversations between Jonathan and Mike. After several visits to Folsom’s headquarters in Denver,CO it was clear that Jonathan and Mike had similar views on skiing and could nerd out for hours about ski design.
After these initial conversations, Blister and Folsom decided to take Jonathan through Folsom’s fit process and build his dream ski. Mike was eager for the challenge as he had never worked with a client that had such a deep background and understanding of ski design and had literally tested thousands of skis of all different shapes and construction types.
“I knew this was going to be a challenge right away”, said McCabe on the project, “yet I encouraged it to test our process and and ski building techniques. Right from the start in 2008 Folsom has always relied on an experiential fit process where we really get to know the end user, their background and targets. Once we have all that figured out we take our ingredient list and build a custom ski truly tailored for them.”
The end result of the first Blister Primary was a highly versatile 110mm waisted ski that was powerful yet forgiving enough to allow it to work well in a lot of different conditions. While this build was close, it was not exactly what Jonathan was looking for. He wanted a very targeted ski that was built to absolutely crush mixed and variable conditions. The second build we did was spot on… Enter: The Hammer. While this ski was certainly less versatile in the eyes of the general public, it was right on target for what Jonathan was looking for.
Fast forward to the tail end of the 18/19 season and yet again Jonathan and Mike were scheming up a new ski. “I knew that the original BLISTER Pro from Moment Skis was quite successful and had a lot of demand so it seemed natural to open up a conversation with Jonathan about rounding out the BLISTER Pro line”, said Mike. This was a truly unique opportunity to work with BLISTER to build a ski entirely from the ground up based off their targets. This was not just an old model that got brought back to life, this was an entirely new mold and design suite from tip to tail. Folsom and BLISTER started working on this new shape by simply talking about what this ski was purposed for and where it would land in the crowded market of 100-105mm waisted skis. There are a lot of good skis out there in this category and it was established early on in this process that unless we did something exceptional with this shape it would not be worth doing at all.
So after multiple iterations, we’re excited to introduce the all new the BLISTER Pro 104. You can listen to the full shape rundown with BLISTER Founder Jonathan Ellsworth and Folsom CEO Mike McCabe as they discuss the creation of this ski on the GEAR 30 Podcast below.
As we define our custom build specs here at Folsom, the BLISTER Pro comes stock as follows:
Length: 186 cm
Camber Profile: Directional Rocker
Composite: 90 /10 Glass Carbon
Core Material: Poplar, Maple, & Bamboo
Flex Index: Stiff
Tail Shape: Round
Graphic: Blister Pro 104 (as shown)
A limited quantity of these skis is available for purchase immediately with a price point of $849. Of course if you’re interested in a custom build on this same geometry, we can do so under the Primary 104 product which uses the same pressing mold.
Once the BLISTER Pro stock is sold out they will not be reproduced until next season, so don’t dawdle and make your season better driving a pair of these bad boys at you home mountain!