The 2006 Compatriot Freedom Fighter AK 162cm won the dubiously prestigious RISE Mountain Journal Editor's Choice Award. We crapped ourselves over it. The following is an excerpt from the article that appeared in the Summer/Fall issue of RISE:

"We still can't put our finger on it. What is it exactly that makes Compatriot such an impressive company? Is it the fact that they are a local snowboard company, and subsequently one of the only board companies that truly identifies with the indescribable genre of backcountry freeriding? Is it because they are about the only one that builds their snowboards by hand in the USA? Is it because they donate portions of the proceeds from board sales to charity? Maybe it's because they only offer VERY limited runs of snowboards each year? Or is it because their boards just look and ride so flippin' ridiculously radical?

Well, enough about the company. Let's spray some beta on this early release 2006 Freedom Fighter AK board (with artwork by local rider Benji Pierson- be sure to give him props when he throws you a chair at the [Jackson Hole] Village). The staff and a few other riders passed the FFAK162 around a few times over and left comments such as "Just the right stiff, just the right soft," "Had half a dozen people ask me about it" and "holy s**t, this board was fast!" scribbled on the review log. We won't list all of the features here, but let's just say that this board is lighter than anything we have hefted, tougher than anything we have abused, and faster than anything we have ever shredded. Our only gripe: They are pretty hard to come by. Finding one is somewhat of a treasure hunt in itself. MSRP $549.99. [Be sure to drop these losers an e-mail and check out their website at compatriotsnowboards.com]"

Flattering and obsequious, isn't it?