These Skis Won the 2026 FWT: Check Out What The Pros Are Riding

Featured Image: Courtesy of the Freeride World Tour

If you keep up with the Freeride World Tour (FWT) you’ve likely seen the faces and know a bit about the 2026 FWT athletes and champions. But what about the two planks of wood that helped these athletes reach their goals? Here is a breakdown of some of the skis used by athletes in the 2026 FWT. 

Armada had a big year at the 2026 FWT, with the top two finishers, Ben Richards and Toby Rafford, both securing a podium spot on Armada skis. 

Ben Richards took the title of champion while ripping on the new Armada Antimatter 114. These skis are taking Armada back to their freeride roots. The ski is a freestyle rocker-camber-rocker design with a poplar wood core layered with tapered titanal to help dampen noise and boost torsional rigidity. This prevents the ski from chattering in the tip and tail, which helps the ski feel stable and energetic. Armada partnered with FWT winner Max Palm to create the ultimate ski for his powerful, fluid style. But Richards proved the ski was a podium winner in this year's tour. 

Secondplace overall for the men's FWT 2026, Toby Rafford, put down stylish lines with the Armada Whitewalker 116 and the ARV 112. The Whitewalker is a specialized, lightweight powder twin-tip ski designed with Sammy Carlson for backcountry freestyle. The ski has a caruba wood core, making it lightweight with carbon stringers for energy and pop. This ski also features specialized swivel technology with custom 3D tip and tail shaping, which creates a bevel zone for a smooth ride in deep snow. Armada’s classic ARV ski has proven its place in the ski world by combining playfulness with durability. The ski’s shape is pretty close to a fully cambered park ski, but it has a soft tip and tail rocker, which allows for its playfulness. The w3Dgewall improves edge hold and energy transfer, enhancing stability. Rafford showed us that both of these skis are competitive and aggressive ski choices. 

Women's FWT 2026 champion Lou Barin was riding the one and only K2 Mindbender 116C women's ski. The K2 Mindbender is a classic in the freeride world, combining flexibility and lightness with a stable platform for intense freeride terrain. Barin was riding on the carbon-powered model of the mindbender, which is designed to be lighter and softer, making it more maneuverable than metal-laminate skis. This also makes the ski more playful, perfectly fitting Barin’s style and letting her lay down those clean 360s. 

The Atomic Maven 115 CTI also proved this season to be a podium-winning ski in the women's FWT 2026; Justine Dufour-Lapointe won second overall on them. This all-mountain ski proves that you can have an aggressive, stiff ski with some playfulness. The CTI-powered core blends carbon and titanal to create a ski with a more consistent flex pattern and added torsional stiffness for greater stability. The 115 waist with HRZN 3D tip adds surface area for better float. Lapointe proved this all to be true during her 2026 FWT.