If you ever had the chance to ski it you would see why. It is still a hand built ski and not to mention that it is one of the best powder skis I have ever skied, not to mention it still rips when you get on piste. I love wood core skis don't get me wrong, but you have to remember that foam has come a long way in the past few years. I am not saying it is not expensive, but when only 50 are being brought in the country you can imagine that hand producing that few of a ski is expensive. If they produced 20000 than the ski would cost much less to build.