The Ark wasn't designed to fit into a comfortable category. It's a freeride twin-tip with a 103mm waist , but it doesn't ski like most skis of that width. And that's the first thing that throws off anyone who tries it.
The surprise doesn't come on soft snow. There, it delivers what any well-made freeride ski promises. It comes when you put your weight on the slopes or a hard snow run and the ski turns with an ease it shouldn't have. The reason is a design decision with many implications.
The Ark has a short radius of 14 meters . That completely changes how you feel about the ski. Where other 100-plus millimeter models demand space, speed, or a flatter ride, the Ark embraces edge grip. In fact, it seeks it out. You can load it up without it feeling clumsy or sluggish, and that's not common in this segment.
Part of that performance comes down to weight. The core combines paulownia wood and carbon fiber, reducing mass without making the ski feel thinner. It's neither soft nor twitchy. It's light where it matters and stable where it needs to be. This weight-to-response ratio makes edge changes quick and prevents the ski from sinking when you take it out of its natural environment.
The result is a freeride that doesn't force you to ski exclusively in freeride mode. You can link clean turns, play with your radius, and go off-piste without feeling like you're using a ski that's been pushed to the extreme. For many, this balance is what's most surprising. They expect slower handling and find something much more lively and responsive.
The Ark doesn't try to hide its twin-tip character. It's designed for active skiing, for moving around the mountain without having to change skis when conditions change. Fresh snow, transformed snow, hard-packed slopes early in the morning, or more creative outings. It doesn't ask you to adapt your skis to it. It adapts itself.
This same construction and design is carried over to its older siblings in the Freeriode range: Ark, Karma, Cloud and Relic share the same ski philosophy, differing only in the width of their waist.
