The Faction Prodigy line of freestyle skis have a bad reputation of being about as durable as a piece of construction paper. Despite this unfortunate reputation, the skis are  actually incredibly fun skis, just depending on your use 

I’ve been skiing for about four years now; two of those years were in the park. The prodigy 1.0 was my second pair of “park” skis. They have wider noses and tails and a rocker profile that makes them soft when you want them to be and snappy any other time. 

The first year on these skis was incredible; my personal pair were 181’s which is the longest ski I’ve ever ridden but I’d highly recommend going longer because of the rocker flex profile. The rocker of the ski gives you pop when you want it but also a nice carving edge. In Wisconsin we don’t have powder, we have slush and ice. These conditions would normally be hard on a ski designed for being out west in powder and nicely groomed trails. However the prodigys tear through the ice and slush no problem.

Over the first year, the skis were ridden rough, I had them paired with a set of look pivot 14s which in my opinion pair perfectly with the ski in every way. All the rough riding did result in some delaminating to the top sheet, however, the skis poplar core did an outstanding job not becoming bloated or weak. Going into the second season on them all my edges were intact and I was still very pleased with the ski—but the thought of the company’s reputation did stay in the back of my mind while riding. 

Towards the end of this season, I was starting to learn corks and more flips in general, and the skis held through my learning progress that consisted of constantly landing back seat or off foot. Unfortunately, this is where my experience takes a turn for the worse. 

Doing warm ups before a competition I was practicing cork 720 which is normally a smooth landing trick. However, when coming down to land I leaned back a little too much and felt the tail of my right ski bend way further than I imagined possible. After getting to the bottom and taking them off I realized what had happened. My ski split under the heel piece of my binding leaving the binding unconnected to the core of the ski. I was in all honesty horrified, had this happened and I kept skiing on it I could’ve gotten seriously injured. 

So, The ski did live up to its reputation… it snapped. Doing park skiing, the one thing you want most is consistency. You want a trick to feel the same way every time you do it and you want skis that allow that consistency. unfortunately, Faction may not be the brand if you're looking for that consistency during competition. 

On the other hand, if you are willing to spend the money the ski is incredibly fun in and out of the park. It may not be a ski I would want to compete on but it is definitely a ski that I want in my collection and I’m definitely looking forward to riding the new Faction Prodigy 2.0 this coming season.