Faction Studio 3

The Studio 3 is Faction's 112 mm-underfoot freeride ski for skiers who want real float on storm days without giving up the option to ride switch. It's a directional twin – wider in the tip than the tail, but with matching tip and tail heights – on a profile that's generous rocker with a hint of camber, so it planes up in deep snow and still has some edge hold when the groomers firm up.

Inside is a lightweight poplar core sandwiched between fibreglass, with 8 to 12 unidirectional carbon stringers on each side woven into the laminate, plus a carbon and rubber stomp pad underfoot. Faction calls the flex pattern "boat flex": softer underfoot, stiffer in the tips and tails, matched to an elliptical sidecut that runs longer underfoot and tighter at the ends. Full sidewalls, XL edges and a sintered base round it out, and it's built in Austria. For Revelstoke tree skiing and big alpine days, it suits intermediate through expert skiers.