Jean-Marc Draeyer, Man Who Picked SLABs For You ( If You Are Maja Dahlqvist That Is)

Meet Jean-Marc Draeyer, Salomon Nordic head of race ski production.

” Production” means that Jean-Marc calls Altenmark im Pongau his home ( and not Annecy where Salomon Nordic’s main unit is located) and makes sure that Maja Dahlqvist and Sjur Rothe along with other Salomon athletes get best gear to fight for the podiums.

S/LAB Carbons and Redster Carbons are made on the same production line, by the same skilled workers but are very, very different skis, developed by two different teams.

Moreover, the Carbons Sjur and Maja use and those you could buy in your nearest friendly Intersport or XXL are made exactly the same, from the same components by the same people. What’s different is that Jean-Marc and personal waxers of the stars have a first peak of the crop, selecting what they deem to be the best suited for a particular athlete.

The choosing process is a mixture of science (target weight, camber, wax pocket etc.) and very specific ” ski woodoo” where the ” selection committee” declares a particular pair to be race-ready.