Karl Fostvedt has been making quite the name for himself in recent years; from multiple film appearances, to contest wins and the construction of his very own pro model ski with ON3P. We decided to pick the Ketchum, Idaho native’s brain going into this season, one in which he has big plans for. In addition, be on the lookout for a full feature profile on “Crazy Karl” in FREESKIER Volume 17.6, set to hit newsstands later this month.

What are you up to right now? Have you done much skiing yet this year?

I’m in Idaho working on a project with Jasper Newton for ON3P. I’ve always wanted to film a project up here because I’ve spent my whole life dreaming up crazy new ways to approach the terrain out here. ON3P just bought us a Heine winch for the project and we’re definitely putting her to good use. The first feature we filmed was an oververt pocket in the Ketchum skatepark. Now we’ve progressed into the mountains where we spent the last three days building two giant mounds of snow on the edge of Trail Creek Pass, near Sun Valley. We’re actually sending some guinea pig hits on that today. Hopefully, it goes well.

Tell me about this edit you just dropped.

I was having an awesome summer up at Mt. Hood. ON3P wanted me to get some shots to promote my new ski, the Kartel, so we got Jasper on the phone, and the next thing we knew we had all these shots edited to the Requiem for a Dream song. It started as a satire, but once we saw how well the footage matched we figured, “what the hell, the ski is called the Kartel, why not?”

How was your summer at Mt. Hood?

Thanks to Jeff Curry, I was able to ride Windells all summer long. At the beginning of the summer I was posted up at the ON3P factory [in Portland] because I wanted to learn more about the production of our skis. Around mid-June, I moved from Portland to Government Camp so I could wake up closer to the glacier. Magnus [Granér] and B-Mack from The Bunch were already posted up in the woods right above Govy, so I joined up with them for some good ol’ fashioned summertime living on the volcano. We were skiing all five days of every Windells session, and then a bunch of us would go to the Oregon coast to surf for three days in between. Then we would repeat… Those eight day weeks are epic. What’s a Monday?

What’s the best part about working with ON3P?

The best part is being a part of a movement that skiing needs. There are so many ski racing brands out there that are stuck in the past. ON3P was founded around freeriding, and every one of our skis is made specifically for skiing in new, unconventional ways. Strap a pair of ON3P’s on just about anyone, and their style of navigating down the mountain is going to evolve. We have twelve skis in our lineup, and only one of them, the Prester, has regular camber underfoot. Every other ski in our line is pressed with reverse-camber, reverse elliptical side-cut, rocker, etc…

How has your relationship with ON3P changed over the last three years?

Three years ago they were helping me establish myself through brands like Poor Boyz. Now, they’re giving me the means to produce my own projects, which has always been my end goal.

Take me through the design process of the Kartel, from inception to today? What was your goal with the ski?

John Ware and I were sitting around chit-chatting about skiing when the idea to design a new all-mountain/park ski came up. John looked at me and said something along the lines of, “Now that we’re riding for ON3P, we should design our own ski.”

I think my response was something along the lines of, “OK.”

Shortly after we got on the phone with ON3P owner, Scott Andrus, and told him how we wanted to design a wider park ski with regular camber and tons of rocker for nose-butterin’, tail-bluntin’ and tranny-findin’. About five days after, I got the first prototype Kartel. I won 15 Gs riding them at the War of Rails. After that, I went on a Kartel binge, and hardly skied any other ski for the next 6 months.

What are your plans for the upcoming season?

I’m trying to find the balance between accomplishing all the crazy things I want to do on skis and staying alive.

Also Watch: Karl Fostvedt and company go H.A.M. at Windells session 5