Faction Candide 2.0 2015

The Candide 2.0's are faction's version of the jibby, mid-fat all mountain ski.

My Stats:
Height: 5'10
Weight: 165 Pounds
Ski Size: 178cm (132-102-132)


Construction:
The edges aren't as beefy as the candide 1.0's (which are 2.5mm edges) coming in at 1.8mm each, but it definitely makes the skis lighter. I've hit a few rails with em and caught at least 10 times and I haven't had a problem with them yet. It's a tradeoff I'd say.

The Core is faction's classic poplar/ash core, which is a springy, medium weight, damp, and somewhat medium stiff core. It makes the ski really fun (responsive and poppy which is super awesome.

These cores are layered with fiberglass and carbon fiber to increase strength to the cores and I suspect make the pop a bit better.

The Bases of the ski are Sintered PTEX 4000 bases, which hold onto wax fantastically and are somehow always fast (I've waxed em once in the 10 days or so I've used em and they're still just as fast.)

Faction chose to go with sandwich construction for the sidewalls, which is a tried and true crowd favorite among newschoolers as it provides strength, durability, good grip and edge hold and some dampening



Flex/Shape:

A pretty Symmetrical ski, the 2.0's are 102mm underfoot and 132mm in the tip and tails. Awesome for riding and landing switch if that's your sort of thing.

The flex is a little bit stiffer than I expected, but it also makes the ski quite good when railing turns on ice/hardpack. It has mellow rocker in the tips and tail and camber underfoot and the flex is smooth throughout. The ski is really responsive and very snappy/poppy when you pop your ollie's.

Nothing extraordinarily crazy, the rocker profile is 1 mm Camber underfoot, 10 mm of Rocker in the tip over 200 mm of length, and 5 mm of Rocker over 150 mm of length at the tail and it's great in almost any condition you throw at it (maybe not the deepest of days or the iciest, but I'm sure they'd still hold their own quite well)


Ride:

That being said, it's a really natural feeling playful and comfortable ride. The rocker really allows you to get into those butters and the camber underfoot comes as a saving grace for those icy days out here in the east.

The ski not only does good on hardpack, but when I skied 6-7 inches of fresh snow the ski had no problem staying on top either. Not too sure how it would do in deep snow but i'd imagine it wouldn't be all that bad due to the super light weight construction and the 10mm's of rocker on the tip. It performs really well outside of the park and I don't believe there's really a speed limit with these (case in point, watch delorme ride)

At first I was a bit anxious about the 102 foot waist as I'd never ridden anything over a 90mm waist, but the ski just feels natural under my feet, and they offer a super cushy ride while being extremely light (I'm pretty sure they're lighter than my J skis which are 90mm underfoot)


Durability:
The durability of the ski is super good so far too. I've had quite a few days on them and there's no major signs of wear and tear even though I've run over quite a few rocks. The matte topsheets are awesome when it comes to topsheet tearing/chipping underfoot, but it's more prone to slight cracks I'd say. The topsheets also shed snow pretty easy due to the matte texture. Personally, I like the look of matte preferred to the glossy texture and I don't think topsheet durability is a giant issue and these skis don't have any major issues there anyways.


Recommendation:
All in all a pretty cool ski and I'd recommend it to those looking for a one ski quiver. If you can get yourself out to a demo test or maybe snag a pair somewhere, I'd definitely say do it as they're an awesome ski that'll rip everywhere from the park to pow.

• Terrain
  Park
  Pow
• Design
  Clean
  Busy
• Durability
  Fragile
  Durable
• Weight
  Light
  Heavy
• Style
  Uncool
  Cool
• Flex
  Soft
  Stiff
• Camber
  Cambered
  Rockered
• Pop
  No Pop
  Poppy
• Stability
  Jittery
  Stable