Van Deer Freeride 98 Skis 2027

The Van Deer FREERIDE 98 is a 98 mm all-mountain freeride ski built on two full layers of Titanal. It is a flat ski: the $1,500 buys no plate and no binding. This is the part of Marcel Hirscher's catalogue that does not come from the race room.

Van Deer prints the metal thicknesses here: 0.5 mm of Titanal over the beech-poplar core and 0.4 mm under it, edge to edge, on tune-ready ABS sidewalls. The published profile is Tip Rocker, which Van Deer says gives surfy handling and flotation in powder. Van Deer publishes no camber figure and no base type, so we state neither. Weights run 1,775 g at 164 cm to 2,230 g at 188 cm, per ski and without a plate.

Buy the FREERIDE 98 if you already own something narrow, want one wider ski for the rest of the mountain, and ski fast enough to want the metal working for you. Van Deer states no ability level for it. Our read of the layup: a stiff, damp 98 asks for speed, and suits neither a beginner nor a soft intermediate. Look elsewhere if deep snow is the point of the purchase, if you want a quick, tight arc on a groomer, or if you want a light, playful ski.

The FREERIDE 108 costs the same and runs the same four lengths and radii, but Van Deer builds it differently: a Titanal centre stripe rather than full layers, which the brand calls "lighter for floating in powder, with the same maximum performance and stability". Our own read is that full sheets should hold firm snow better than a stripe. That judgment is ours, not Van Deer's; no test of either ski exists. If the groomer is still most of your day, the narrower H-POWER 89 is the better tool. PTO stocks all four lengths, 164 to 188 cm. The ski arrives bare and Van Deer names no fitting binding, so you choose one and we mount it and set the release value. DIN is an indicator, not a measured release torque and not a safety guarantee.

Technical Specifications