1 / 2DPS Pagoda Tour CFL 100
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PTO Verdict
“Buy it for the climb. The heavier twin is the better ski once you stop climbing.”
Best for: Skiers who do their own climbing on a mid-width ski. This is a touring platform first: wide enough to be pleasant when the surface goes soft, narrow enough to stay quick between trees and in a couloir, and light enough that the width is not what you notice on the climb. It answers one other question cleanly. If you already know you like how a 100mm all-mountain ski turns and your objection is the mass, DPS has drawn you the identical shape with the mass taken out.
Not for: Refrozen debris at speed. A paulownia core with no metal in the laminate does not have the mass to settle down when the surface gets ugly, and no amount of flax fixes that at 1,523 g in the 171. Skip it if your deep days are genuinely deep — 100mm with a 15m radius is the narrow, quick end of the touring range, and DPS builds a 112mm and a 117mm for that snow. Skip it if you want a long, fast arc: a short radius carried with 45% rocker leaves little edge on the snow, and DPS's own 18m answer sits one model over.
At a Glance
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Description
DPS builds the Pagoda Tour CFL 100 as a 26/27 touring ski: 100mm underfoot, a 15m radius at every length, and 1,302 to 1,601 grams per ski across five sizes. DPS files it under Touring and aims it at backcountry skiers who chase vertical and want soft snow, from low-angle meadows to couloirs. Its own summary calls the shape predictable and intuitive in a lightweight design.
The layup is DPS's Pagoda Tour CFL stack: a high-modulus carbon-and-flax laminate over a paulownia core, Rockwell 48 steel edges, a World Cup race base carrying the Phantom Glide treatment. DPS credits the flax in that laminate with natural damping, set against what the carbon contributes in energy and strength. Five items on the list, and no metal layer among them; paulownia is the core DPS specifies for its touring layup, which is how a 100mm ski reaches 1,302g in the 153.
DPS draws this outline twice for 26/27. The all-mountain Kaizen 100 prints the same tip, waist and tail at each of the five lengths the two skis share, the same 15m radius, and the same 45% rocker with 55% effective edge. Underneath, the Kaizen runs a carbon power plate over a poplar-and-ash core. DPS files that one under All-Mountain and this one under Touring.
DPS's own claim is that the width floats without costing edge grip, and that a progressive rocker profile keeps turns predictable when conditions vary. Five lengths — 153, 163, 171, 179 and 184cm — at $1,695, sold flat. DPS also sells a climbing skin pre-trimmed for this model, so that question is answered before you ask it. Bindings are a separate purchase, and we handle the mounting and the length decision in the shop.
Specs
- Waist: 100mm
- Turn radius: 15m
- Profile: Tip/tail rocker 45% / effective edge 55%
- Shape: Lightweight touring, all-mountain capable
- Core: Paulownia wood core
- Construction: High-modulus full carbon + flax laminate; Rockwell 48 steel edges; World Cup race base with Phantom Glide
- Weight: ~1,523g per ski (171cm)
- Lengths: 153 / 163 / 171 / 179 / 184
Details
- Type
- SKI
- Vendor
- DPS
- SKU
- S-PT100-153PK-PH
- UPC / GTIN
- 853557004430
153
DPS Pagoda Tour CFL 100
By PTO Team, Based on official 26/27 DPS specs and construction data, plus a published independent on-snow review of an earlier season of this model · Spec and construction analysis against the DPS 26/27 Workbook and dpsskis.com
The take
“Buy it for the climb. The heavier twin is the better ski once you stop climbing.”
The independent review excerpted by DPS on its own product page is a season behind the current book. Everything here is read off published numbers, published construction, and the arithmetic between two skis that happen to share a drawing.
Start with the weight column, because that is where the argument lives. At 1,302 g in the 153 this is the lowest per-ski figure DPS prints for any 26/27 model it publishes a weight for, and the top of the run still sits at 1,601 g. Set that against the all-mountain sibling and the gap opens from 131 g a ski at the shortest size to 379 g at the longest — over 750 g a pair at 184 — and none of it comes out of the shape.
That gap is the trade, running both directions. Poplar and ash under a carbon power plate is a heavier, more planted platform than paulownia under a carbon-flax laminate. DPS does credit the flax with damping, and that is the manufacturer's own statement, but it attaches no number to it, and neither does the review excerpted by DPS. On a chopped-up afternoon, expect the heavier ski to be the calmer one.
DPS's own dials say something too. Of the sixteen 26/27 models it gives product pages, this is the only one set at the exact midpoint of both the cruise-to-charge and the tight-to-large sliders, and it sits just off center toward soft snow. The CFL 94 is pushed toward firm and toward charging; the CFL 112 is pushed hard toward soft. Marketing dials, not measurements — but as a statement of intent they place this ski in the middle of its own family.
That review gets somewhere similar from the snow: strong camber, real edge bite, and carving that survives once the surface transforms. The figures it quotes for the 179 match this year's table to the gram.
Read the size chart before you guess. DPS's chart tops out at 184 for a 175-188cm skier, and puts a 163-175cm beginner on the 163 with everyone else in that band on the 171. Advanced never sits more than one size above beginner. Since neither the radius nor the rocker share changes with length, the extra length buys edge and surface area; the turn shape stays put.
One published number to know before ordering. DPS prints 1,523 g for the 171 and 1,531 g for the 179: eight grams for eight centimeters, where the other steps in the run are 70 g, 90 g and 131 g. Both official sources print it that way, so we print it as published and flag it.
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: A touring binding — we do not stock one, so this is a judgment about intended use rather than a shop pick.
- A touring binding (not stocked by PTO)The intended use — skinning up
This is a touring ski between 1,302 and 1,601 grams a ski, so a touring binding is the point of buying it — that is a judgment about intended use, not a compatibility ruling. PTO currently stocks resort bindings only, and a resort binding would spend the weight advantage the ski is built around. DPS names a recommended pairing on its own product page and sells it there, along with a skin cut for this model. Talk to us before ordering so the ski and the binding decision get made together.
DPS does name a recommended pairing for this ski on its own product page — one of its own touring bindings, offered there alongside four alternatives. PTO stocks resort bindings only, so we are not offering an in-store pairing for a touring ski. Mounting, brake or boot-compatibility checks and release settings are handled by a technician at fitting.
Common Questions
- What is the difference between the DPS Pagoda Tour CFL 100 and the Kaizen 100?
- Nothing in the published geometry. Across the five lengths they both offer, shovel, waist and tail match, the radius is 15m on both, and the rocker-to-edge split is identical. What changes is the build. The Kaizen stacks a carbon power plate on a dual-layer poplar and ash core and weighs 1,433 to 1,980 grams a ski across those five; this one uses carbon and flax over paulownia at 1,302 to 1,601; the Kaizen also offers a sixth length, 189cm, at 2,080g.
- Is the DPS Pagoda Tour CFL 100 good on firm snow?
- DPS says the 100mm waist floats without giving up edge hold, and the independent review excerpted by DPS describes strong edge bite and responsive carving once the surface transforms. Neither official source publishes a hardpack figure, and the geometry is honest about its limits: a 15m radius with 45% rocker leaves a short effective edge for the ski's length.
- What bindings fit the DPS Pagoda Tour CFL 100?
- It is sold flat, so bindings are a separate purchase. As a touring ski it is meant to be paired with a touring binding, and DPS names a recommended pairing on its own product page. PTO stocks resort bindings only, so talk to us before ordering — a resort binding would cancel the weight advantage you are paying for. Release settings and boot checks are a technician job at fitting.
- What length DPS Pagoda Tour CFL 100 should I get?
- The radius is 15m at all five lengths and the rocker split does not change either, so length buys edge and surface area rather than a different turn shape. DPS's own chart puts a 168-183cm skier on the 171 as a beginner and the 179 otherwise. Bring your boots and your usual terrain to the shop and we will settle it there.
- Does the DPS Pagoda Tour CFL 100 have metal in it?
- Not in the laminate. The Pagoda Tour CFL construction list has five entries: a textured topsheet, the carbon-and-flax laminate, the paulownia core, Rockwell 48 edges, and a race base treated with Phantom Glide. Stiffness comes from carbon and flax instead of a metal sheet. Separately, DPS describes an aluminum tail bar as a durability part across its whole range — a different thing from a metal layer in the layup.
- What does the flax do in a DPS Carbon Flax laminate?
- DPS says on this ski's own page that the laminate combines the energy and strength of carbon with the natural dampening qualities of flax. That is the manufacturer's claim and it is worth knowing, but no figure goes with it: DPS does not publish how much damping the flax recovers, and the review excerpted by DPS does not measure it. A build this light still gives some away in cut-up snow.
