Ogasaka ET-9.8 Skis 2027

The OGASAKA ET-9.8 is an all-mountain ski, 98 mm at the waist, with no metal in it. OGASAKA's own rating is Powder 4, Piste 7 — two independent ratings rather than two halves of a split, and on the E-TURN ladder this is the first model where the piste number overtakes the powder one.

The build is a sandwich over an NF wood core in OGASAKA's ultra-lightweight grade, with special F.R.P. There is no aluminum in it. OGASAKA's generic definition of the sandwich structure mentions an A7178 sheet, but that describes what the structure type may contain across the range; this ski's component field lists wood and F.R.P. Its structure row carries one mark, FLF (Front Lead Function) — no Front Float System, and no Power Platform Function, the badge for OGASAKA's aluminum-in-the-core mechanism. TOP ROCKER is printed beside the profile drawing; no camber figure, no flex index and no per-length weight are published.

Four lengths run 165 to 186 cm on one 133.0-98.0-121.0 mm body, and the radius stretches from 14.4 m to 19.5 m. OGASAKA lists the ski at 933 g/m — a per-meter figure for one ski, not a pair weight — deliberately light for this width, because there is no metal to carry.

It suits a genuinely mixed season — soft snow, trees, sidecountry laps, then the groomers home. It is the wrong ski for a powder-first skier; OGASAKA builds the ET-10.8 and the ET-11.5 for that. It is the wrong ski for someone who never leaves the piste: the same $1,085 buys the ET-8.5, built the same way and scored Piste 8. Short-radius carvers should look at the KS-CX or the TC-S; the shortest ET-9.8 turns at 14.4 m. Carrying no metal at all, it is also wrong for anyone wanting damping mass on hard, chopped snow.

One caveat: this generation was given a new cut and a new core, so most older ET-9.8 write-ups describe a different ski. PTO stocks it flat: it needs a binding and a mount, and we do both. The review below covers the evidence, the ET-8.5 decision and length.

Technical Specs