Ski Reviews

2025-2026 Fauna Pioneer, 184 cm

Reviewer Username: Matteo Ichino

Reviewer Height: 5’10”

Reviewer Weight: 154 lbs

Reviewer Experience Level: Advanced

DAYS USED: 7 days

TEST LOCATIONS: North Tuscany

TEST TERRAIN: Firm groomers | Softer groomers | Low-angle, off-piste terrain | Fairly steep off-piste terrain

TEST CONDITIONS: Pretty firm snow | Softer, but not deep snow | Terrible crust

PERFORMANCE RATINGS

(0 = Terrible, 5 = Okay, 10 = Outstanding)

OVERALL IMPRESSION: 8/10

FORGIVENESS: 7/10

MANEUVERABILITY (How Loose / Easy to Pivot & Smear?): 9/10

MANEUVERABILITY (How Quick / Low is the Swing Weight?): 9/10

STABILITY: 7/10

SUSPENSION: 7/10

EDGE HOLD: 6/10

PLAYFULNESS: 5/10

PLAYFULNESS (Open Ended):

Not ready to comment on this

SKI LENGTH: It felt just right (184 cm length tested)

THIS SKI’S IDEAL TERRAIN: Low-angle, off-piste terrain | Fairly steep off-piste terrain

THIS SKI’S IDEAL SNOW CONDITIONS: Softer, but not deep snow

WHAT TYPE(S) OF SKIER DO YOU IMAGINE WILL GET ALONG BEST WITH THIS SKI?

Good for progression from intermediate

ARE THERE SIMILAR PRODUCTS YOU’VE SKIED THAT YOU CLEARLY PREFER? IF SO, WHY?

PLEASE ELABORATE ON ANYTHING ELSE YOU’D LIKE TO SAY ABOUT THIS SKI. FEEL FREE TO GO INTO DETAIL!

Mounted with ATK R13 EVO and skied with La Sportiva Vega. Mounted on recommended point. I got it as my daily driver for ski touring, but I got to test it also for two days in the resort.
At the moment, just with factory tuning.
Very easy and nimble on tight turns, both on and off piste. Feels like the tails are a bit long, or as it would like to be mounted a bit further aft, or as I could cope with longer shovels. Or maybe it is just me, not used to this taper and rocker.
In general I needed quite active forward-aft change of stance throughout the turns, which is a style I like.
Likes powerfull short carvd turns, but I have not managed to lay it over properly on long carved turns, maybe because I have not found terrain consistent enough to catch proper speed yet. I just increased the edge angle from 89 to 88, to hopefully help a bit with this. I’ll report back