Who are we?
ExoticSkis.com is a group of lifelong skiers founded by Eric
Edelstein and Tom Favro who recognize and encourage the creative independence of small and innovative ski designers and manufacturers. Many of us have come to our senses after working in other industries and realized we should put our talents and experience into something we are passionate about.
We really love what we do here at ExoticSkis.com.
We have decades of experience in the wholesale and retail sides of the ski business, database and information technology, international travel and skiing in all kinds of weather and terrain. Put it all together...and you have ExoticSkis.com !
What could be better?
What We Are:
ExoticSkis.com is regarded by the ski industry as the World's leading resource
for lists, information and news about more than 300 small, independent,
innovative ski designers and manufacturers around the globe.
ExoticSkis.com also
hosts some of the only on-snow tests of some of the World's most interesting and
impressive skis from this list of rare, unusual and creative ski builders.
Since
starting in 2005, our goal is to give ski enthusiasts a place to learn about
alternative ski makers and their interesting products, and to give ski designers
and manufacturers a place to notify the public about their efforts.
What We Are Not:
ExoticSkis.com does not sell or market skis for any manufacturers, so our
reviews remain unbiased and accurate. We don't take payments for testing skis or
writing articles and we are not hired by any ski companies in any way. We don't
sell advertising space to ski manufacturers or distributors.
What We Do:
ExoticSkis.com maintains the definitive listing and information about these
unique and unusual ski companies, sortable by country and type of ski. We
produce some of the only on-snow tests in the World of these distinctive skis.
We promote awareness of these ski designers and their products to allow ski
enthusiasts to choose skis from alternative sources rather than the
industrial-scale manufacturers.
While the major ski manufacturers such as
Atomic, Blizzard, Dynastar, Elan, Fischer, Head, K2, Kastle, Rossignol, Salomon,
and Volkl all mass-produce many fine skis, there are hundreds of alternative ski
builders making exceptional skis of countless varieties for enthusiasts around
the globe. ExoticSkis.com brings knowledge of these small manufacturers to the
public.
We often provide prototype design feedback to manufacturers looking to
bring skis to a target market. Since we test many types of skis and designs, we
are often regarded as a useful testing and feedback resource by small
manufacturers. We do it for free.
We also publish reports about ski builders or the industry when we get the time
and inspiration.
For example,
the ExoticSkis.com 2009 ISPO Report on small
and independent ski manufacturers. (28mb PDF)
Our Visitors:
Since we began tracking website visits in July of 2007, we have seen more than
106,000 visits by nearly 79,000 distinct viewers from 134 countries who have
read more than 338,000 pages of our content (as of August 2011). Visitors spend an average of 3.5
minutes per visit at the web site, and each month we host visitors from an
average of 50-55 countries. ExoticSkis.com contains an in-place translation
feature to allow viewing in nearly 50 languages, making its information
available to the widest international audience.
Our Reviews:
Our reviews are posted at ExoticSkis.com and cross-posted to appropriate Internet ski communities such as:
You can review some examples of our tests of
distinctive skis at our test forum at the links below. We pride ourselves on
providing extremely thorough, useful and detailed ski test reports far beyond
the quality normally seen in any ski publications. Dedicated ski enthusiasts
continually compliment us on our depth and insights into the personality and
handling traits of the skis we test. We are happy to provide references to the
owners and Marketing Directors of these companies if you wish to ask about their
experience having ExoticSkis.com test their products.
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