We started developing the Kom ski early on at Altai Skis, originally as a one size (162 cm) all purpose backcountry ski. It’s a dedicated backcountry ski without many of the usual compromises.

There are a lot of great skis that are labeled backcountry skis, but they tend to fall into several distinct categories. Either they are full on downhill skis to be used with skins and big boot/binding systems, or they are more from the nordic end of the spectrum, often nowax with a wider platform than true xc skis but still with a lot of nordic DNA in their dimensions, flex, and overall design. At Karhu, Francois and I have worked on many of the nordic XCD style skis Karhu was known for. The XCD skis were light and excellent for touring in moderate terrain, but tended to fall short when the downhills get more challenging, and the snow got deeper. We wanted the Kōm to be free of these constraints, so rather than start from a nordic or alpine perspective we would start from a purely backcountry point of view. The ski needed to tour as well as it turned, and we have incorporated a lot of features into the Kōm that are very specific to skiing in the backcountry. Many of these stray from the norm and make the Kōm a very unique ski.