1 / 2DPS Pisteworks 89
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PTO Verdict
“DPS lets this ski off the groomer in its own words, and still never once calls it a powder ski.”
Best for: Resort skiers whose week is mostly firm snow but not only groomed snow. This is the frontside ski whose own maker names chopped-up groomers and terrain that pulls you off the fall line, and 89 mm on 27% rocker is the shape that buys that. It also suits a buyer who wants the length question kept separate from the turn-shape question, because the 16 m figure is printed against every tabled size rather than climbing with it. And it suits anyone who specifically wants the carbon build, since only two of the five 26/27 DPS construction lists carry a Carbon Power Plate and this is one of them.
Not for: Deep snow. The page reaches for words like slash and slarve, but it never once claims float, powder or soft snow, and 89 mm on a 73% effective edge is a firm-snow shape whatever the vocabulary suggests. It is also the wrong buy if you want the sharpest turn DPS draws, because five of its 26/27 models publish a shorter radius and the Pisteworks 79 does it at 13.5 m for identical money. Skip it if you need the maker's numbers to be complete, because one official source publishes four weights and the other leaves the row empty, and a 158 cm sits in the size selector with nothing published about it at all. And skip the US$2,095 Satin Carbon Red if you expect it to ride differently, because DPS only ever describes a topsheet.
At a Glance
Terrain
Ability Level
Pair It With
Compatible ski bindings.
Browse our recommended binding brands for this ski.
Description
The DPS Pisteworks 89 is the middle ski of the three 26/27 frontside carvers DPS builds, at 89mm underfoot with 27% rocker against 73% effective edge and a 16m turn radius printed against all four of its tabled lengths. The 26/27 workbook opens this model's page by positioning it between the Pisteworks 79 and the Pisteworks 94.
The shape moves in single millimeters. Tip and tail each grow 1mm per size step while the waist holds: 123/89/111mm at 165cm, then 124/89/112mm, 125/89/113mm, and 126/89/114mm at 184cm. The radius column does not follow them — 16m is printed four times. Weight runs 1,480g per ski at 165cm to 1,790g per ski at 184cm.
Underneath is the seven-item Pisteworks build, shared with both siblings: a textured topsheet, a Carbon Power Plate, a high-modulus full carbon laminate, a patented dual-layer wood core of poplar and red oak, Rockwell 48 steel edges, and a World Cup race base carrying Phantom Glide from the factory. DPS calls the plate an added layer of carbon that acts as its version of power steering, and it sits underfoot rather than through the tip and tail. Red oak appears on one construction page in the whole 26/27 book, and this is that page. Made in the USA, with a lifetime warranty from DPS.
What DPS asks of the ski is a whole resort day rather than a shortlist of groomed runs: it describes all-day resort skiers who want to carve hard and adapt to changing terrain, at medium-to-high speeds and short-to-mid radius turns. US$1,995 in White / Papaya, or US$2,095 for the Satin Carbon Red clear topsheet, which DPS presents as a finish and claims nothing more for. DPS sells it flat, so bindings are a separate purchase and a technician handles the mount at fitting.
Specs
- Waist: 89mm
- Turn radius: 16m
- Profile: 27% tip rocker / 73% effective edge
- Shape: Performance carver, all-mountain capable
- Core: Patented dual layer wood core — poplar and red oak
- Construction: Carbon Power Plate; high-modulus full carbon laminate; Rockwell 48 steel edges; World Cup race base with Phantom Glide
- Weight: ~1,695g per ski (178cm)
- Lengths: 165 / 171 / 178 / 184
Details
- Type
- SKI
- Vendor
- DPS
- SKU
- S-PX89-165WH-PH
- UPC / GTIN
- 850061409805
165
DPS Pisteworks 89
By PTO Team, Based on the official DPS 26/27 workbook and dpsskis.com specifications, construction lists and size chart, cross-checked against our own order sheet and against the Pisteworks 79 and 94 product pages read the same day. PTO did not order this model for 26/27. · Spec and construction analysis against the DPS 26/27 workbook and dpsskis.com
The take
“DPS lets this ski off the groomer in its own words, and still never once calls it a powder ski.”
Read the radius column before anything else. DPS prints 16 m four times here, once against each tabled length, and that is a different instrument from the Pisteworks 94, whose column climbs from 18 m to 20 m as the ski gets longer. On the 94, picking a size also picks an arc. Here the quoted figure stays put, so the size conversation can be about contact and mass instead. What DPS does not do is explain why it draws one model each way.
The 94 is the real rival anyway: same construction list, same money, the same published 27% and 73% split, and four lengths in common. The difference worth knowing sits behind the boot. At 165, 171, 178 and 184 cm this ski's tail stands 22, 23, 24 and 25 mm proud of its waist, while the 94's stands 15, 16, 17 and 18 mm proud of its — a flat 7 mm more, at every shared length. That is arithmetic on two published tables, not a ride report; how a tail actually lets go also depends on rocker distribution, taper and torsional stiffness, and DPS publishes none of those.
DPS is also unusually willing to send you off the corduroy on this one. Its own head of product performance, Ted Ligety, is quoted on the page: "While the 79 is a ton of fun on pure carving days, if you want a bit more freeride orientation and a more open radius, the 89 is your friend." That is the brand narrowing one ski and widening another, which is useful — but he works there, and the word powder appears on the page only in the site's own navigation menu, never in a sentence about this ski.
Then the part that should make a buyer slower rather than faster. The printed workbook leaves this model's entire weight row blank while the website fills all four in, and DPS sells a 158 cm that neither of its own sources gives a single dimension, radius or weight for. Neither is a flaw in the ski. Both mean the published record here is thinner than a US$1,995 price implies, and we would rather say so than tidy it away.
No superlative belongs to this ski, and we checked before assuming one did. Five other 26/27 DPS models turn tighter on paper, the 79 carries less rocker, and DPS's own site lists the Lotus 138 above 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: Settled in the shop with your boots on the counter, not from a spec sheet.
- SPX 13 GW Ski BindingsResort carvers on a mid-width ski
Our shop pick for a frontside ski in this width. Brake-width match and release settings are handled by a technician at fitting.
- Salomon Strive 14 MultinormStronger skiers who want more range
A shop option for heavier or harder-driving skiers. Our techs match the brake width to the ski at mounting.
- MARKER Squire 11 Bindings 26/27Lighter skiers and value builds
A shop option for lighter or less aggressive skiers. The release setting is determined by a technician at fitting.
DPS badges one binding Recommended on this ski's own product page and sells it there, and it is not the same one it badges on the Pisteworks 79. The three above are our shop stock rather than official pairings — that is a judgment about intended use, not a compatibility ruling. DPS's own order flow also asks buyers to acknowledge taking the skis to a service center for final adjustment before skiing, which is the right instinct. Mounting, brake-width match and release settings are handled by a technician at fitting.
Common Questions
- Is the DPS Pisteworks 89 a powder ski?
- No, and DPS never says it is. The page does send you off the groomer — it names chopped-up groomers, terrain that pulls you off the fall line, and a bit more freeride orientation than the 79 — but float and deep snow appear nowhere on it, and powder only in the navigation menu. Read the language as permission to leave the corduroy on a firm-snow day, not as a claim about soft snow.
- Should I buy the DPS Pisteworks 89 or the Pisteworks 94?
- They cost the same, share a construction list and the same 27% rocker figure, and overlap on four lengths. Their radius columns behave differently, and so do their tails. The 94's radius climbs from 18 m to 20 m as it gets longer, so on that ski the size decision is also a turn-shape decision, while the 89 prints 16 m against every tabled size. And the 89's tail stands 7 mm more proud of its waist than the 94's does at each shared length. DPS itself says the 89's smaller radius makes it more playful and easier to bend.
- Does the DPS Pisteworks 89 have metal in it?
- Yes, though not where people usually mean. What DPS names in the layup is carbon, and the plate underfoot is carbon rather than metal — DPS calls it an added layer of carbon. But the same seven-item construction list names Rockwell 48 steel edges, and DPS's brand-wide technology section, which runs on every product page including this one, names an aluminum tail bar. No metal reinforcement layer is named anywhere in the laminate, but 'this ski has no metal' would be wrong.
- Why does DPS sell a 158 cm Pisteworks 89 that is not in the spec table?
- It does not explain it, and we would rather flag that than smooth it over. The size selector offers a 158 cm in both colorways at the normal price, while the spec table, the printed workbook and the published size chart all stop at 165 cm. That means no tip, waist, tail, radius, rocker figure or weight is published for the size at all. If you are considering it, talk to us first.
- How much does the DPS Pisteworks 89 weigh?
- The website publishes 1,480 g at 165 cm, 1,570 g at 171, 1,695 g at 178 and 1,790 g at 184, all per ski rather than per pair. Worth knowing that the printed 26/27 workbook leaves this model's weight row blank, while filling it in for both the 79 and the 94. We use the manufacturer's website figures and mention the gap rather than hide it.
- What length DPS Pisteworks 89 should I get?
- The quoted radius is 16 m whichever tabled length you pick, so the published turn-radius figure will not decide it for you. What a size step does move is how much edge sits on the snow, how much the ski weighs and how deep the sidecut is cut. DPS publishes a chart by height and ability on the product page as a starting point, though its tallest band recommends 184 cm for every ability. Bring your boots in and we will size it with you.
