Faction Mana 4

A detailed ski review.

Summary

Reasonably versatile to snow type and use-case.
More snappy than damp.
More short than long.
Strong and linear flex overall.
Simple and consistent handling. Easy to get to know.
Ideal at -5 to -6cm mounting.
Surprisingly precise and capable at 2D resort skiing.
Very surfy in lightweight 3D snow.
Exceptional floatation for the size. Does not take a lot of speed to start planing nicely.
Powerful and competent in heavy or crusty snow.
Works ok at low speeds, though better suited to more aggressive use at medium+ speeds.
Not as forgiving to ski as the flat-rocker (or reverse-camber) profile might suggest. More on the demanding end of the spectrum.

Measurements

Length is 187.5cm (straight tape pull on top)
1. - - 187.9cm (with tape depressed at center, as used for measuring mount point)
    - 190.2cm (curved tape pull along bottom)
The "newschool" mount line is -4.75cm from center
The "progressive" mount line is -6.30cm from center
The "classic" mount line is -7.85cm from center
Weight is 2195 and 2230 grams.
1. - - Note that 2050g was advertised.
Tip and tail splay measured at 6.7cm and 7.0cm, respectively
The profile has a relative long flat section, roughly 44cm from tail and 47cm from tip. (52% of length)
The sidecut is very gradual with minimal tip or tail tapering.
The rocker lines run deep, starting subtle, and progressively curved toward the twin tips.

Flex

The flex is stiff, no doubt, but the linear profile over its length combined with the long rocker makes it relatively un-intimidating. The font half of the ski feels almost identical to the rear half, and overall the flexing character seems quite "linear" to me, in that it doesn't hit a sudden wall. It is stiff off the top but lets you deflect it more and more with what feels like a linear increase in effort.

Here is how I would compare the effective/perceived flex to some of the other skis I own/owned:

This is simply a relative scale for comparison. 5 is not average and 10 is not a maximum.

Mount Point

The recommended lines as printed on the topsheet lie between -4.9 and -7.8cm. After much deliberation, I decided to mount at -7cm. This was based on my experience with others skis, interpretation of the Faction design, and intended application (soft snow). In first use, which happened to be deep snow: it was immediately clear I would need to pressure the shovels more than I’m used to. Not necessarily a bad thing I thought; I can adapt. The benefit is tremendous tip-up power. The shovels were floating and planing perfectly. But the more I used it in various snow types, the more it became apparent that the mount was awkwardly behind the sidecut of the ski, and detrimentally far from the shovel rocker, resulting in a belated turn initiation and a somewhat wondering effect of the tips. So I remounted at -6cm and WOW, what a difference. These flat/reverse camber ski types are ultra sensitive to mount point unfortunately. At -6 I immediately felt aligned with the Mana4, not just because it more suited my existing posture, but also because the ski design (rocker/sidecut/flex) clearly just wanted me there. Ultimately, I don’t believe the Mana4 is accommodating to a rearward mount point like -7 or -8cm even if you are used to those positions in other skis, this particular ski doesn’t offer enough tail support or shovel pressure to function well at a rearward balance point. And the less 3D the snow, the more apparent that becomes. I’m perfectly happy with -6cm as a touring ski for the PNW (read: usually variable but aways 3D snow). But if mounting for the resort, I would personally go just a smidgen further at -5.5cm. But the "newschool" mount point (as Faction calls it) of -4.9cm would likely not be crazy either, especially on the 184 length and for a shorter boot than mine. (Size 30) For reference, I I'm personally a bit sensitive to having too much tail. I don't enjoy near-center-mounted skis or any skis with tails which are hard to get out of the way during dynamic skiing (read: often imbalanced). The deep tail rocker and high tail splay simply make the Mana4 tail disappear quite easily despite being stiff. In powder, I still find the tails present enough at -6cm.

Length

I have only tried the 190cm, but can say that as a person who is usually looking for the longest ski possible, I have never once wished for more of the Mana4 beneath me. I'm inclined to recommend users under 190lbs to consider the 184 length, even if that sounds a bit short, especially for a "pow" ski. It floats exceptionally well for its size and the strong tip/shovel could burden lighter riders on longer sizes. For comparison, I have found most double-metal skis and similarly strong flat-tailed skis to be more of a handfull than the Mana4. The Mana4 actually doesn't feel punishing when unengaged (likely due to the deep and splayed rocker lines), but rather just more of an empty and somewhat skittish experience when not taken seriously.

Turning the Thing

The seemingly lack of any preference to make big or small turns is a major selling point of the Mana4. The combination of an especially long effective edge but somewhat narrow sidecut (144 shovel to 119 midsection is 25mm delta - below average for any ski) makes for a tool with a very long effective turning radius at low edge angles, but this changes progressively as it gets tipped over on edge and the rocker profile morphs into the side profile. The flat camber underfoot allows easy rotation from the hips, making emergency or off-balance maneuvers easy. But they are surprisingly not limited to slarvy turns. Rolling them on high edge angles will quickly engage a medium-radius carv with surprising precision. On hardpack I found them predictable and consistent. Being accustomed to wide skis already, I found the Mana4 easy (albeit committing) to put on edge and delightfully strong in a carve. I believe them to be exceptionally torsionally rigid which is partly what yields this powerful and "precise" feeling on edge. It is however, this same quality which makes them notably unforgiving at times. Despite requiring this piloting attention, I can't say I've found them to be hooky at all. Its more that they just feel wondering and a bit chattery when driven with a relaxed body posture.

Resort Chops

The stiff tips do wonders to stabilize soft chop such as late morning of a busy pow-day at the ski resort. Combined with its easy mobility and rotate-ability, the Mana4 resists getting bogged down in even the deepest chop. But you do have to hold form. It's not a ski you bring to "chill" on. The stiff tips and tails will rotate you involuntarily if you let them.

In firm chop; including wet/heavy conditions, refrozen, or just abused pistes; it can feel harsh. You can get away with either a “heavy foot” (powering through) or “light on the feet” (dancing around) approach, but either way, more than average energy will be required to make fun with the Mana4 in rough conditions. This shouldn’t be a surprise really - given the stiff shovel, snappy flex, and flat camber which does little to buffer the incoming vibrations to your boot. Its not a damming quality - just this ski’s least strong performance aspect.

Powder

In proper 3D snow they are incredible. Its a winning combination of stability from the stiffness and maneuverability from the flat-rocker profile. They can hold a line through deep, grabby snow, and next moment rotate on a dime. The floatation is better than I have experienced elsewhere, including Nocta and Bent120s. The wide tails are supportive in soft snow and allow the ski to get fully sideways when asked to. The stiffer shovel planes easily and offers a lot of anti-dive (aka tip-up ability) while keeping your weight centred, also minimizing any ploughing effect. A softer ski will still perform better at slow speeds or really low angle terrain, but the Mana4 doesn't take a lot of speed to get up and going nicely. Excellent platforms for landing big drops.

Trees and Bumps

The reverse camber provides easy pivot through mogul lines and a certain slithering quality to tree runs. You'll be able to dump speed if there is any space to do so and its generally easy to get the tails slashing high on banked turns. Typically spaced tree runs work great, though its still long and stiff enough to find limitations in deeply trenched situations. This is not saying anything unique to the Mana4, only that short and soft is your fiend when jumping from bathtub to bathtub in a super well-established tree line.

Slush

I love a ski like this is proper slush. In warm corn snow you may still prefer a more flat tool to best ski "normally". But in proper slurpy conditions where mounds of skier-pushed snow become the norm, I find a stiff and rockered ski to be the only way to keep skiing really hard. The slightly narrower sibling Mana3 (112mm waist) may be even better suited but you don't want anything too narrow for your weight.

Conclusion

I have found the Mana4 to be predictable and uncomplicated; highly versatile to snow and terrain types; light enough for full day tours; and capable to meet my every need on the decent. Its not for the faint of heart, but for the drivers willing to show up engaged, the Mana4 appears to offer great performance and consistency. And while it wont be anybody's 1-ski quiver, it's also one of few skis I'd be happy to personally mount either with a tech-touring binding or an alpine-resort binding. I expect a lot of strong skiers would find a ton of fun on a ski like this with very manageable downsides. If in doubt, err on the side of shorter length and forward mount.

Comparisons

While its a relative departure from mainstream ski design - its by no means a new concept. There are several notable examples of wide and reverse-cambered skis paired with stiff flex profiles including (but not limited to):

Icelandic Saba Pro - tapered tip/tail with less effective edge; also more pronounced full-rocker profile.
Moment Chipotle Banana - a touch wider but similar stiffness; also with tip/tail tapering and less sidecut.
4FRNT Renegade - a touch wider but softer shovel and tapering tail design.
prior versions of Faction CT5.0 - the predecessor for Faction's revised Mana4 model.
Moment Meridian - different width category (107mm) but worth mentioning as sharing of similar design ethos.

I have not had the pleasure of trying any of the above skis but there is reason to suspect they all offer a slightly differing experience. Opening the comparisons to similarly wide and rockered but not deliberately stiff skis would include a whole lot more models from many brands.

Compared to my 2022 Black Crows Anima, which has 32mm delta from tip width to midsection with a strong 5mm camber underfoot - and is my longstanding favourite resort tool, the Mana4 has less automated turn initiation, a different movement of the inside leg, and far better floatation. The Anima is also heavier and feels much heavier with its high swing weight. The camber of the Anima gives direction when bases are flat to the snow, and the sidecut allows a wider range of practical edge angles. Despite also mounted (as recommended) at -6cm, the Mana4 in comparison wants distinctively more forward pressure to engage on hardpack. Both skis perform exceptionally in soft chop, though the suspension of the Anima wins on firm or rugged terrain.

Compared to the 2018-2022 Nocta, the piste/resort/2D turning performance is... well, not comparable. The Mana4 is dramatically more capable at the resort than a ski like the Nocta, though also dramatically more efforting to ski. The Nocta in comparison is very soft, more rockered, and with minimal effective edge. This version of the Nocta, oft dubbed the v2, is far less versatile to challenging snow conditions and far less supportive in speed or bigger features, but also delightfully more rewarding at slow speed and loser on low angles.

B Corporation

Not sure how many people care about this - but Faction (Swiss) became a certified B Corp in 2021. This effectively provides corporate executives the internal direction and external allowance to make decisions which prioritize societal-good over sheer profits, whilst legally protected from shareholder lawsuit. That includes employee care (wages, benefits, opportunity) as well as environmental sustainability and community support (local procurement and donation/sponsorship). Its an onerous and demanding certification and thus very telling of the company moral. I won’t let that bias the ski review, but generally speaking I hold B Corps in admiration, choosing those products where possible in categories like food, household goods, clothing, and others. FYI Wonder Alpine and Icelandic Skis (USA) are also B Corps.

https://www.outsideonline.com/business-journal/brands/faction-skis-b-corp-certification/

https://freeskier.com/stories/b-corp-certified-ski-brands

Last updated or reviewed 2024-02-14

2025 Update

Touring:

Again this year, the Mana 4's have accompanied my absolute best touring excursions. In early Jan we had AAA powder snow and some hut trips provided access to a ton of steep and feature-rich terrain. The Mana4 combo of drifty and powerful was ideal. I could noodle, rapidly pivot, slash high, but also go fast and jump wide. For me it continues to be the ultimate pow touring ski and is year-on-year the tool for many of my favourite ski experiences. In the deep and dry they feel light as a feather. I can ski them very "normally" down the fall-line in symmetrical turns, even high speed, but can also drift, slash, and pivot like nothing else. Fast or slow speed, long arching shapes or tight divots, both work. The stiffness in the shovel keeps them planing efficiently like a more flexible ski simple cannot. They mob soft-chop and train through a heavy/wet snowpack. Just easy, forgiving, and super capable. They are not ideal everyday however: in very crusty conditions they can be predictable but I'd much rather be on my (softer, similarly wide and rockered) Nocta skis. Icy runouts can also be a real chore especially in sweaty touring boots. Every once in a while the Mana4 can be a total burden to manage and requiring lots of energy to control. But with some thoughtful choice of when/where to bring them, its only a couple times per season this detriment occurs for part of the day.

At the Resort, with Alpine bindings:

Early in the '25 season I couldn't help but stumble across a lightly used pair of Mana 4's with pivot bindings for a great price. So now I have the same ski with tech bindings and alpine bindings. Lucky me ;) I mounted them -6cm same as my touring setup.

I've had a few great days on them when the chop was deep and soft. Especially with alpine bindings and a heavy fixed-cuff boot, they can be driven really hard while balancing either centered or forward-leant. I've had enormous fun weaselling my way through tight trees and deep bumps with the Mana4s. They can really change direction in/under lots of snow like few other skis can. There seems to be a critical threshold of soft vs hard snow, however, after which, the stiff and precise ski-feel becomes a disadvantage instead of an advantage. In some ways they are forgiving, like fore-aft balance and hip rotations when required. Turning from the backseat is medium-forgiving. But in most ways I'd call them quite unforgiving, even with detuned tip/tails. If you're not committing substantial weight to the shovels they can really grab and jerk you around. Because the outer tips and tails are so (unusually) stiff, the characteristic of "precise" can often feel more like "nervous". They are very stiff of course but its the crazy torsionally stiffness that gets you. (torsionally stiffness is also the reason these 119mm waisted skis can carve powerful clean shapes at high edge angles in good snow.) They are also heavy but not damp. They have great pop and solid feeling, but also transfer a lot of vibration. Finally, my feet get tired. I can really feel the muscles of my feet and lower legs working overtime to control and keep balanced on hardpack. Long story short, its a capable and valid big-ski for the resort, but I would not generally recommend it. Its very niche. You have to really appreciate the things it does well to put up with the demands it makes. And you have to ski its way. If in doubt about length, I'd say go shorter.

"CT" becomes "Mana" becomes "Studio"

The Mana name came about in 2022 after Candide left Faction. Now, for 2025, the series is again renamed as Studio. But notably, the 119mm Mana 4 was never in the original CT lineup nor continues as a Studio version. The 2026 Studio4 (122mm) resembles the previous CT5.0, at least in shape and dimension. So the Mana4 has been a 2 season ski model, come and gone, probably forever.

Last updated or reviewed 2025-02-27

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