1 / 4DPS Koala 111
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PTO Verdict
“The wide Koala, on a long arc — and DPS shows its work on one comparison and withholds it on the other.”
Best for: Soft snow, and DPS is specific about which kind: powder days, pillow lines, big landings in deeper conditions, and choppy powder and crud carried at speed. It suits a skier who already wants the Koala shape and wants the wider of the two, since DPS describes this one as surfier and more buoyant than the Koala 103 on the same 18m arc, the same 40%/60% split and the same price. It also suits a buyer who wants DPS carbon without paying up the range — at $1,195 the two Koalas sit at the lowest MSRP on our 26/27 DPS order form. Above them the sheet runs $1,695 for the Pagoda Tour CFLs, $1,795 for the Lotuses, the two Powderworks and the standard-colorway Kaizens, and $1,995 for the standard-colorway Pisteworks; the Carbon Reveal versions of those last two families add $100.
Not for: Skinning. This is a lift-served weight, and DPS's own Powderworks Koala Tour 111 takes the identical published geometry into a touring build — at $600 more, with no published weight to prove the gain. Skip it if you want documented hard-snow performance before you commit: DPS makes a firm-snow claim on the Koala 103's page and makes nothing of the sort for this one, and with no flex or camber figure published there is nothing official to test either way. Skip it if your turns are short and your terrain is tight, because 18m is a long sidecut and DPS's own sentence about that radius is about fast, strong skiing rather than quickness. And skip it if you need a spec sheet to answer your questions, because four of the numbers you would want are not published.
At a Glance
Terrain
Ability Level
Pair It With
Compatible Ski Bindings
Browse our recommended binding brands for this ski.
Description
The DPS Koala 111 is the wider, softer-snow-focused member of DPS's Koala freestyle-freeride family — a flat ski, so pair it with your own binding. It's built on a poplar wood core with DPS's carbon construction, which keeps the weight reasonable for a 111mm ski and gives it a lively, energetic feel rather than a heavy, plowing one. The rocker/camber/rocker profile runs roughly 40% rocker in the tip and tail with about 60% effective edge through the camber zone underfoot — that mix is what gives you real float and easy, quick pivoting in soft snow while still leaving enough edge engaged to drive through variable crud or stomp a pillow and hold your line. The sidecut is 139-111-127mm at 184cm, with a stated 18m turn radius across all lengths, so this ski wants to make longer, surfier turns in open terrain more than tight, short-radius work. The pop and rebound you feel come from that carbon-and-camber combination.
This is a ski for advanced to expert skiers building a quiver, slotting the Koala 111 in specifically for deep, soft days — pillow lines, open powder faces, and big-mountain freestyle where width and float matter more than all-condition versatility. Like any ski this wide, it's happiest in soft snow: on scraped-off, firm, high-traffic groomers it skids more than it grips, and it's at its best on firm snow only when the surface has softened. If powder days are rare where you ski, or if this is going to be your only pair, it's the wrong call. Look at the Koala 103 instead — 8mm narrower, much more at home on mixed and firmed-up snow, and a genuinely more useful everyday ski while keeping the Koala family's playful character.
| Waist Width | 111mm |
|---|---|
| Turn Radius | 18m |
| Weight | ~2,200g per ski (189cm) |
| Core | Poplar wood core |
| Construction | Carbon construction over a poplar wood core; Rockwell 48 steel edges |
| Profile | Rocker / Camber / Rocker — twin-tip, 40% rocker / 60% edge |
| Best For | Powder twin-tip — playful deep snow with switch capability |
Specs
- Waist: 111mm
- Turn radius: 18m
- Profile: 40% tip & tail rocker / 60% effective edge
- Shape: Powder freeride, twin tip, tapered
- Core: Bamboo + poplar bi-phase core, carbon stringers
- Construction: Sandwich, urethane sidewalls, sintered race base
- Weight: ~2,055g per ski (176cm)
- Lengths: 176 / 184 / 189
Details
- Type
- SKI
- Vendor
- DPS
- SKU
- S-K111-176EB-PH
- UPC / GTIN
- 810182500157
176
DPS Koala 111
By PTO Team, Based on the official 26/27 DPS Workbook and dpsskis.com product data, cross-checked field by field
Spec and construction analysis against the DPS 26/27 Workbook and dpsskis.com · Analysis dated
These 10-point scores express PTO's editorial assessment of suitability for each use. They are not customer ratings or instrumented measurements; the analysis below explains the trade-offs.
The take
“The wide Koala, on a long arc — and DPS shows its work on one comparison and withholds it on the other.”
Two forks decide this ski, and DPS hands you the numbers for one of them and withholds them on the other.
The first is which Koala. DPS makes that comparison itself, and the wrinkle is that its two official weight columns answer it differently. On the site's column the 111 is 150 grams a ski heavier than the 103 at 176 and 125 heavier at 184; on the workbook's lower column they are level at 176 and the 111 is the lighter ski at 184. We quote the site throughout, so read those grams as the site's answer. There is a second difference DPS never spells out. The 103's page claims firm snow in so many words, and this page does not, which we established with a list of synonyms rather than one search term. Read that as where the brand is aiming each ski, not as a ruling on hardpack.
The second fork is the Powderworks version, and it is the one we cannot close for you. Workbook page 25 prints a Koala Tour 111 whose size table matches this ski cell for cell — three identical lengths, identical tips and tails, identical arc — and puts it on what DPS calls the Pagoda Tour construction, for $600 more. Then it prints a dash in all three weight columns, and DPS gives that model no product page at all. So the trade a climber actually wants to weigh, the grams a touring build would save, is the figure DPS declines to give.
On mass the site's column is concrete: 2,050 to 2,300 grams a ski is a lift-served number. DPS's Lotus 112 is a millimeter wider and still lighter at both lengths they share: 1,974 grams against 2,200 at 184, and 2,103 against 2,300 at 189. Anyone buying this expecting a light 111 should read the table first.
A good deal of this season's paperwork simply will not answer you. DPS does not publish a flex figure, a camber height, a rocker length or a mount distance, and we read this page end to end, six sibling pages and the printed workbook before saying so. Sizing, at least, is easy: the arc stays at 18 meters across 176, 184 and 189, so length buys float and swing weight, and we would rather settle the number with you in the shop. We ordered none for this season.
Bindings we'd pair with it
Mount point: Flat ski — sold without bindings. DPS offers a recommended mount point in its own order flow but does not publish the distance from center or tail, so no figure is quoted here. Our pick: Look PIVOT 2.0 15 GW B115 Ski Binding.
- Look PIVOT 2.0 15 GW B115 Ski BindingFreeride skiing on a wide platform
Our shop pick for a ski this wide. Brake match and release settings are set by a technician at fitting.
- MARKER Griffon X 13 Bindings 26/27All-mountain everyday
A shop all-mountain option. Our techs match the brake to the ski at mounting.
- Pivot 15 GW B115 Forza 3.0Hard-charging skiers
Another shop option for this width. The release setting is determined by a technician at fitting.
These three are shop stock, not an official pairing. DPS does flag one binding as recommended inside its own order flow, and it is one of its own rather than any of these. Mounting, brake-width match and release settings are handled by a technician at fitting. None of this is a compatibility ruling.
Common Questions
- What is the difference between the DPS Koala 111 and the Koala 103?
- Width, the size run and weight — and DPS makes the comparison itself. Its wording is that the 111 rides surfier and is more buoyant, on a platform it calls wider, with the shape and the rocker profile shared between them. The published numbers back the shared half: both run an 18m radius and a 40% rocker / 60% effective edge split, both come off the same construction page, and both are $1,195. The 103 is 103mm across three lengths of 168, 176 and 184 at 1,800 to 2,075g per ski; the 111 is 111mm across 176, 184 and 189 at 2,050 to 2,300g — both weight runs come from DPS's site, and only the wider ski's is contradicted by the printed workbook. One thing DPS does not spell out: its 103 page claims firm snow, and its 111 page makes no firm-snow claim at all.
- Is the DPS Koala 111 good on groomers?
- DPS makes no groomer, hardpack or edge-hold claim for this ski. We checked its page end to end using a list of synonyms rather than a single term, and every match turned out to be site navigation or a slider label. That is notable because DPS does make a firm-snow claim for the Koala 103 on the same 18m radius. Treat it as a difference in what the brand is willing to claim, not as proof the ski is poor on hardpack — with no flex or camber figure published, there is nothing official to settle it either way.
- How much does the DPS Koala 111 weigh?
- DPS's two official sources disagree, so here are both. The site's spec table gives 2,050g at 176cm, 2,200g at 184cm and 2,300g at 189cm per ski. The printed 26/27 workbook gives 1,900g, 2,050g and 2,200g against the same three lengths — the whole column one step lower, which reads like a shifted row in the printed table. We use the site figures throughout, because that source is maintained more recently and is the one you can open and check yourself. We would rather show you the conflict than quietly pick one.
- Is there a touring version of the DPS Koala 111?
- DPS prints one in the 26/27 workbook: the Powderworks Koala Tour 111, whose size table matches this ski cell for cell across all three lengths and the same 18m radius, built on what DPS's text calls the Pagoda Tour construction, at $1,795 against $1,195. Two catches. DPS publishes no weight for it — all three columns are a dash — so the one number that would justify the premium for a climber is missing. And it has no product page on DPS's site, so nothing about it can be cross-checked there. We repeat DPS's own phrase for the build and stop, because DPS never spells out the laminate for this model itself.
- What length DPS Koala 111 should I get?
- Radius is 18m in all three sizes, so a longer ski buys surface area and swing weight rather than a different turn shape. There is an official chart organized by skier height and ability; it puts every one of the three lengths to work, and its bands overlap a lot — someone at 178cm falls inside every one of them, so the chart narrows the decision without closing it. Weight climbs 250g per ski from 176 to 189. We help settle it at the shop.
- What is inside the DPS Koala 111?
- Five items, on DPS's own construction page for the Koala family: a topsheet the brand calls textured; carbon construction; one poplar core; steel edges hardened to Rockwell 48; and a race base from the World Cup range, treated with Phantom Glide at the factory. It is a shorter list than DPS prints for its Kaizen and Pisteworks families, and it is shorter by two specific things — no Carbon Power Plate under the boot, and one wood species rather than two. A site-wide technology block on the page also mentions an aluminum tail bar, but that block runs identically on the sibling DPS pages we checked rather than being specific to this model, so we will not tell you the ski has no metal in it. DPS never says that either.
