Van Deer Freeride 108 Skis 2027

The Van Deer FREERIDE 108 is a 108 mm freeride ski with a rockered tip and a Titanal centre stripe — metal down the middle of the ski, not two full sheets out to the edges. It is a flat ski: $1,500, no plate and no binding.

The construction. Van Deer prints both metal thicknesses — 0.5 mm above the beech-paulownia core, 0.4 mm below it — and gives the stripe its purpose in its own words: "lighter for floating in powder, with the same maximum performance and stability." The narrower FREERIDE 98 gets those same two thicknesses as full layers, wall to wall. Sidewalls are ABS, ready to tune; every pair ships factory-tuned by Marcel Hirscher.

Who it is for. Skiers buying for soft snow. A 108 mm waist under a rockered tip climbs onto soft snow early and steers off the front of the ski, not off its edge. Buy it if float is what you want next, and you already own something narrower for firm days.

Who should look elsewhere. Anyone whose days are mostly hard snow. The FREERIDE 98 costs the same $1,500, runs the same four lengths and the same four radii, and carries full Titanal layers under 10 mm less waist. Van Deer says the stripe gives up nothing to those layers; we read it the other way — less metal out by the steel edge, less bite on firm snow — and no measurement we could find settles it. On firm and mixed resort snow our pick is the 98. This ski does not carve: 148-108-130 at 16 to 19 m is not that turn. It does not tour. Beginners and soft intermediates should skip it: bending 108 mm of metal-reinforced ski takes strength and speed. Van Deer publishes no ability level; advanced is our read too.

What we do. Van Deer lists no fitting binding for the FREERIDE skis. Choose the binding with us; our technician mounts it and sets your release value. DIN is an indicator, not a safety guarantee. PTO stocks all four lengths, and length picks your radius.

Technical Specifications