Ogasaka ET-9.8 Skis 2027

OGASAKA prints a two-number use rating on every model in the E-TURN line, and reading the ladder is the fastest way to place this ski. The ET-11.5, at 115 mm, is scored Powder 9 and Piste 1. The ET-10.8 is Powder 7 and Piste 3. The ET-9.8, at 98 mm, is Powder 4 and Piste 7 — the rung where the groomed number goes past the deep-snow one. They are two separate ratings, not two halves of a percentage, so 4 and 7 should not be read as a split.

What makes the ski unusual is what has been left out of it. The component field reads an NF wood core in the ultra-lightweight grade, plus OGASAKA's special F.R.P. No aluminum appears anywhere in the E-TURN line. A7178 does appear in OGASAKA's generic account of what a Sandwich build can contain, but that describes the structure type, not this ski's component field. That is a design decision with a bill attached, and the bill is paid in mass: this ski was built to be quick rather than damp. On hard, fast, cut-up snow there is less material to soak up the hits, and that follows from the structure rather than from anyone's test.

The number that shows the intent is 933 g/m — grams for each meter of one ski, not a pair and not a finished mass. Set against two of OGASAKA's own models it is striking: the 81 mm U-PE is 958 g/m and the 77 mm U-XX is 1,023, so the ET-9.8 is wider than both and lighter per meter than either. Do not stretch that further than it goes, though: the ET-8.5 is narrower than this ski and lighter still, at 851.

The published record on the ski PTO actually sells is one tester, one ride, at 172 cm, and no English-language review of it exists. He found it light and easy to handle, with a soft edge feel, and enjoyed the way it fluttered across chopped-up snow. He noted the radius is drawn on the large side and still found short turns came willingly. On speed he was careful rather than enthusiastic: as the pace came up, it held together to a reasonable degree. Reasonable — his word, and it should not be inflated into stability. He also calls the E-TURN a phantom model, one that rarely reaches demo events despite running for over twenty years, which is why so few independent eyes have been on it.

The real competition is a sibling. The ET-8.5 shares the construction, the mark, the profile label and the price — $1,085 — at 85 mm against 98, and 851 g/m against 933, and OGASAKA scores it Piste 8. The question is not which ski is better; it is how much of the season happens off the groomed run. On length, one body runs from 14.4 m of radius at 165 cm out to 19.5 m at 186, so the size you take is a turn-shape decision.