Folsom Skis

Primary Tour Ski

Folsom made its name making custom skis, but it also offers a few standard models, of which the Primary Tour Ski is one. It's a slightly altered version of the regular Primary, with the flat tail that adds stability and edge hold for backcountry aficionados. It sports an early-rise profile, with a moderately rockered tip and camber underfoot that make it easy to smoothly initiate turns, surf through soft snow, and skip over chop without worrying about burying a tip and testing the conditions with your face. The burly UHMW sidewalls prevent the Primary from twisting when you really tip it over and rail a turn, and the tapered tip and tail give the Primary the ability to get into aggressive and smeared turns and cruise through champagne pow without that hooky feeling that can make powder skis scary instead of awesome.

Folsom built the Primary on a poplar, maple, and bamboo core, which provides a killer combination of stiffness, durability, flex, and light weight. Full-length carbon fiber stringers work with the wood to give the ski a solid amount of pop and a playful feel but don't interfere with the stable feel that makes the Primary such a fun mixed-conditions ski. Folsom topped—or bottomed, we suppose—things off with a super-speedy sintered base, so you'll be able to carry speed through the flats and down less-steep pitches, so you don't get stuck in rollers and have to re-skin just to make it across the next 100 yards.