"I took my Phantom down to Argentina this past week and we got a nice dump of a foot of new snow and the big fat Phantom floated over the powder like no other ski. I watched the other skiers tail in several times and get stuck but not me. I have taken it cat skiing in the San Juans and into the back bowls at Crested Butte and I really can’t say enough nice things about it. This is the perfect ski to throw under your mono-ski if you like the off-piste."

-Lucian Smith, Phantom Skier

Eastern backcountry and tree skiing enthusiasts know that taking the wrong skis into the tight East Coast woods will leave you floundering and potentially set up for a painful close encounter with Mother Nature. Unfortunately for those of us here in the East, traditional ski companies force us to choose between two sets of tools, neither of which are appropriate for the terrain and conditions we encounter every day. They give us narrower skis designed for carving the hard packed on trail and they suggest as an alternative the fat skis for ripping AK-style faces with no stationary obstacles to worry about. There hasn't been any attention paid to the unique needs of Eastern rippers who have to strike a balance between float and turnability. Until now. Phantom Skis are the first skis specifically designed to accommodate the needs of Eastern tree skiers and backcountry adventurers.
Carved out of a used 10 dollar snowboard one morning following a frustrating woods skiing session, the original Phantom Ski prototype inhaled its first breath in November of 2002. Its first flight through eastern powder chutes and dense trees proved to be a breeze for this garage version of the short fattie. The ski's deep side-cut and massive surface area allowed its creator to turn quicker and float higher on top of soft powder than ever before. Even after emerging from the woods that day, it became clear that the sometimes icy and variable conditions Eastern skiers encounter were not just tolerable on these sticks, but actually entertaining. We quickly realized that if a single morning's work could produce a riding tool with this level of performance and versatility, it was time to take our vision to the next level.