OGASAKA KS-XX
By PTO Ski & Snowboard, Based on OGASAKA's 26/27 catalog, spec book and product page, plus the Japanese on-snow record; PTO has not skied the KS-XX · Spec analysis on this ski
The take
“The only KEO'S whose shortest length still turns at 14.7 m — and PTO's is a 177 with no published test behind it.”
No English-language review of the KS-XX exists. The whole on-snow record is Japanese: five independent testers, plus several staff at one retailer. And not one of them rode the ski PTO is selling. The build PTO stocks is the 177 on the SRED plate, at $1,860 — and SRED is new for 26/27, replacing the SR585 that one tester used. There is no published test at 177 cm, and none on SRED at all. Nearly every impression on record was formed at 167.
On turn shape, three of the five put the ski's ground at medium-to-long: one called the shape long-turn-biased, one had it centered on a middle arc and pulling out into a long one, and the tester who scored his rides marked long turns clearly above short. A fourth ran the other way — at 167 on an FM plate he found rhythmical short turns landed well — and the fifth never raises turn shape. Grip is the trait the reports keep coming back to. At one demo event, a tester rated the KS-XX's edge feel the best of the OGASAKAs he rode there: firm, clearly defined, and without a harsh bite. Another described the same oddity from the other side: a light ride, and the grip still holds.
Then it splits, twice, and we will not fuse it for you. Short turns: two testers found them hard work, two found them fine. Difficulty: three independent bloggers say it asks a high level, and two of them, writing separately, reached for the same phrase — the sweet spot is narrow — and both admitted they never drew the ski out. Staff on a retailer's own page run the other way, one saying an intermediate could handle it; those are short blurbs by people selling it. One tester also warns that the KS-XX will not come around across the hill, and that it drops fast. Speed control is your job.
Inside OGASAKA, this is the expensive, difficult answer. The KS-UP is $1,250 flat and turns from 12.1 m, and the tester who rode both called the KS-XX overwhelmingly the harder and more technical ski. If the turn you want is short, the TC-S — TC series, not KEO'S — is drawn for exactly that, 11.1-13.5 m at $1,300 flat. And the U-XX — a UNITY, not a KEO'S — which shares the XX Collection page at the same $1,670 flat, is the easier ski: the tester who rode both in one day found more bite and more run in the KS-XX, and said that for an easy day you take the U-XX.
Sizing divides the two testers who raised it. The only one who rode two lengths preferred the 167 for everyday use, and said so on short-turn grounds. The one who rode a 167 on the FM plate suggested that a man skiing it all-round would be better on the 172 or 177 with an SR-type plate — the length and plate family PTO bought.
Bindings we'd pair with it
Mount point: SRED plate build — the plate is fitted to the ski and the binding mounts to the plate. Our pick: Not named — OGASAKA sells the SRED build without a binding, and we fit one in the shop.
PTO's KS-XX is the SRED plate build: no binding in the box. We choose a binding with you, mount it to the plate and set it to your sole length. OGASAKA's own binding package for this ski is a different build — the Marker COMP14 FDT on the FDT RACE PLATE PRO, at $2,050 — and PTO did not order it.
Common Questions
- Does the A7178 aluminum sheet stiffen the KS-XX underfoot?
- No, and this is the one thing worth getting right about this ski. Raising rigidity underfoot so that the tip and tail feel relatively more flexible is Power Platform Function, a separately marked OGASAKA technology. The KS-XX does not carry that mark: its structure row shows FFS and FLF, and the product page badges are FFS, FLF and CROSS. The A7178 is a laminate sheet in the sandwich. If anything the metal story here runs the other way — the riders who describe SLIT TECH put the slits in the metal at the ends of the ski, not under the boot.
- Is the 26/27 KS-XX different from last season's?
- Not on the published numbers. Lengths, radii, sidecut, core, laminate, structure marks, base structure, edge and weight are identical to the 25-26 ski. Three cells did move: the colorway, from red to a wood-core-inspired brown carrying the 30th-anniversary engraving; the price; and the base material, printed graphite last season and graphite & natural this one, with OGASAKA saying nothing about what that changes. A tester who rode it this season called it a carryover outright. One caveat: OGASAKA never writes 'unchanged' and publishes no flex figures, so a spec table on its own cannot rule out an internal change it did not document.
- KS-XX or U-XX?
- Waist and core. The KS-XX is 68 mm on bamboo and beech; the U-XX is 77 mm on cherry, and it is a UNITY rather than a KEO'S — the two only share the XX Collection page. Flat, they cost the same $1,670. The tester who rode both in one day found more bite and more run in the KS-XX, and pointed anyone wanting an easy day at the U-XX. Neither is the soft-snow answer: OGASAKA makes its wider-waist-helps-on-unpacked-snow claim for the 81 mm U-PE, and makes it for neither of these.
- Can you carve short turns on it?
- The testers split two against two. The one who scored his rides wrote that carving a short turn here is difficult, and that from a middle turn upward it comes easily instead; a second said short turns are hard unless you commit. But a third found short turns driven from under the boot surprisingly right, and a fourth reported rhythmical short turns landing well. The geometry is not in dispute: 14.7 m at the shortest length is a medium-to-long shape, and if short radius is the point, OGASAKA draws the TC-S and the KS-CX for it.
- What exactly does PTO have, and does a binding come with it?
- The 177 cm on the SRED plate, $1,860. The flat ski lists at $1,670. The plate arrives on the ski; a binding does not, so that is a separate purchase — we pick one with you, mount it and set it to your sole length. Worth knowing before you commit: OGASAKA introduced SRED for 26/27 to replace the SR585, so no published test exists on this plate, and none at 177 cm.
