It’s beginning to be our favorite time of year again, when the first hints of cold weather appear, perhaps a little snow dusts the high peaks, and we’re finally starting to think about what plans we may have for the upcoming winter. Of course, it’s also time when your local ski shop walls start filling in with skis, boots, and outerwear for next season. Just a few days ago, Faction Skis announced their all-new ’26/’27 product lineup, including a complete re-design of their hardest-charging freeride skis.
For this upcoming winter, Faction is mostly keeping things the same (why fix something that isn’t broken?) across the fan-favorite Agent, Studio, Prodigy and La Machine series—but is changing things up with an all-new Dancer family. Turns out these have been some of the most polarizing skis in recent years, with skiers either absolutely loving the hard-charging performance of the directional freeride skis, or decrying them as two-by-fours with no chill. Either way, the Dancers are now a completely new ski, available in two constructions.
There’s still the hard-charging Dancer Ti build, with lots of metal and really aggresive and damp personality. There’s also a much friendlier construction available with the same shape that skips the metal entirely. Waist widths have been focused down to three options: 79mm, 89mm, and 99mm. The much-loved Dancer 3 is still available in the original construction as the Dancer 106Ti.
Prodigy and Agent remain unchanged, save for new topsheet art. This year’s Prodigy series features images of geological strata and topographic cross-sections on the new artwork from Parade Studios. There’s also a small capsule collection by Colorado-based artist Elsa Grace.
I’m also psyched to see the touring-focused La Machines remain in the lineup—the La Machine 2, 3, and 5 are still some of my favorite backcountry skis ever made. The lightweight carbon construction, paired with a progressive directional shape make them SO FUN. If you do a lot of walking to ski a lot of pow, these are truly some of the best tools for the job. The only change this year is a step away from the all-black colorway to silver topsheet with bright orange bases.
Finally, there’s still Faction’s infamous monoski, “Le Mono.” Nothing’s changed there either. Still rad, and I still want one.
