Carbon Carving Skis Designed by Ted Ligety: DPS Pisteworks 79 Review

I’m following Ted Ligety down Deer Valley’s Stein’s Way, a steep and quiet groomer off the Bald Mountain summit. Even though aggressive groomer carving isn’t normally my jam, I’m having so much fun on DPS Pisteworks 79 that it might become my jam. It’s been a low-tide season in Utah. But the groomers are chalky with good coverage.

I try to keep up with Ted as he drops his hip to the snow with every turn. It’s impossible. I do my best to try and mimic his form before he disappears down the slope.

I am skiing uncomfortably fast, but the skis under me are so solid I relax. They hold their line through steeps and flats and don’t waver when I cross the seam in the snow between groomer passes. They’re nimble and precise.

I avoid a softball-sized ice chunk with barely a twitch of my legs. Flashing down a narrow corridor of snow to avoid other skiers, I sweep across the slope, making giant arcs just because I can. The conditions and terrain were perfect for testing these new skis from DPS.

In short: DPS diverted from its normal all-mountain and backcountry ski designs to create the Pisteworks 79 ($1,950). It’s an intuitive carving ski for groomers and hardpack laps. Whether you’re a beer league racer, an experienced all-mountain skier looking for an on-piste carving experience, or an athletic beginner who wants a carving ski that might help you improve your form, the DPS carbon Pisteworks delivers.

If you’re shopping for skis, compare the DPS Pisteworks 79 to those on GearJunkie’s guides to the Best All-Mountain Skis and the Best Backcountry Skis.

DPS Pisteworks 79 Review

First Impressions

GearJunkie covered the announcement of the Pisteworks 79 in December 2024. Designed in collaboration with Ted Ligety, it’s the Salt Lake City-based brand’s first on-piste carving ski.

As such, I expected the Pisteworks 79 to be much heavier than it is. Most frontside carving skis I’ve used have multiple sheets of metal inside and weigh more than your standard all-mountain ski. This one doesn’t. This one uses carbon fiber that’s been tuned to mimic the characteristics of metal while maintaining carbon fiber’s energetic feel and much lighter weight.

DPS recommends mounting the Pisteworks 79 with the color-matched DPS XVST binding with an X-Step Plate. But you can mount these skis with almost any binding you want.

Carbon Construction

DPS used a brick of recycled structural carbon underfoot on the Pisteworks 79 that it calls the “Power Plate.” It’s a de facto binding plate recessed into the ski, and this is the first use of recycled structural carbon. It gives the ski more binding power transfer than most setups and creates a connected feel that I haven’t experienced before in a frontside carving ski.

Within the ski, the recycled carbon fiber has been cut into gum stick-sized wafers and layered and glued into the Power Plate. The block adds unbelievable stability and power to this ski, which never wavered even when Ted Ligety and I were skiing at (relative) top speeds.

Pisteworks 79 also has two full layers of multidirectional carbon fiber built into it. According to DPS, that generates strength, stability, responsiveness, better energy transfer, and grip whether you’re on a chalky groomer, hardpack, or ice.

DPS’s Senior Vice President Thomas Laakso, a carbon engineer, explained that carbon is isotropic, meaning it has the same properties in every direction. That allows carbon skis to express a wider range of characteristics than metal skis typically have. It can also mimic the feel of skiing a metal ski, which some skiers (especially racers) favor.

Designing Pisteworks 79

DPS used data-gathering sensors to gather real-time ski vibration and flex data in different snow conditions during the development of this ski. The sensors also captured the amplitude and excitement of the carbon fiber. Then, DPS quantified those characteristics, blended them, and integrated their findings to create the final version of this ski.

That’s how the brand made it feel like metal without the metal. And unlike a metal ski, the Pisteworks 179 won’t lose performance over time or fatigue. According to Laasko, carbon fiber theoretically has infinite fatigue life. So it will never lose its energetic, lively feeling no matter how many days you put on it.

The skis use two full layers of multidirectional carbon fiber for strength, stability, responsiveness, energy transfer, and grip, whether you’re on a chalky hardpack or ice. The underfoot recycled carbon Power Plate gives the ski more binding power transfer than most setups. It creates a connected feel that I haven’t experienced before in a frontside carving ski.

Not All Carbon Fiber

While DPS calls the ski “pure carbon,” it uses a multidirectional wood core inside to spread the skier’s weight for a planted feel. The new textured polyamide top sheet reduces the chance of delamination and deflects scratches. A full-wrap integrated sidewall helps protect the skis and reduce damage.

So does the permanent wax treatment, DPS’s signature Phantom, which provides permanent base-level glide while also hardening the ski’s bases. The Pisteworks 79 uses Rockwell 48 steel edges, which DPS says is the ideal level of metal hardness to perform under all conditions. The skis are delivered with durable and fast 4000 Series World Cup race bases with a glossy Wintersteiger tune.

In the Field: On Piste With Ted Ligety

Because of its lighter weight, whatever groomer I smoked down, I was able to get the ski from edge to edge fast. This 13.5m radius ski was down for quick slashes and short turns, but it was also game for making bigger, longer arcs down the mountain.

In testing, I found a lot to love about this ski. Its speed and stability made me feel like a bird soaring down the mountain, and carving with it was intuitive.

I didn’t expect that the Pisteworks 79 might actually make me a better skier — but I felt as though it did. This ski wants to carve perfect turns. If I didn’t comply, I felt it.

It didn’t buck me or knock me off center. It was more of a gentle nudge to position me correctly on the skis and help leave more perfect lines in the fresh corduroy. I was very aware of my form the entire time I was riding the DPS Pisteworks 79.

I don’t have a true frontside carver in my quiver. I’ve always thought of a frontside-only ski as too niche for my taste (and my wallet). But I had so much fun with this one that I’m now considering adding one to my collection.

DPS Pisteworks 79: Downsides

The biggest con of the DPS Pisteworks 79 is the price — $1,950. Yes, they come with a lifetime warranty, but DPS skis are now on par with a custom ski, like Wagners. And the cost of a quiver ski like this one will surely be prohibitive to some.

The only other downside is just an inherent feature of carving skis like the Pisteworks: They aren’t very versatile. If you brought this ski into big, steep moguls, or, God forbid, on a powder day, you would surely regret it. They are designed for corduroy groomers, and that’s where they’re going to shine.

What Size Is Right?

The Pisteworks 79 comes in 160, 167, 174, and 181cm lengths. I skied the 174 in testing, which is at the shorter end of the length I normally ski, between 175 and 180 cm. But depending on what you want from this ski, you might want to get a larger size.

The DPS website explains, “Sizing shorter unleashes the explosive power of aerospace carbon and G-force acceleration across the fall line. Sizing longer will allow for stable, high-speed, larger radius turn shapes.”

DPS Pisteworks 79: Conclusion

It’s hard to imagine how a ski can shine when an Olympian skis it and also shine when an average skier clicks in. But the DPS Pisteworks 179 does. For 74 years, frontside carving skis have been fiberglass and aluminum. With this ski, DPS breaks the mold.

When these skis were announced, Ligety said, “These skis will change your life.”

I’m not sure whether the experience changed my life. But I think it may have changed my skiing. These skis forced me to focus on the fundamentals of turning and were so intuitive they almost carved on their own. They come with a hefty price tag, but all of DPS’s skis are on the higher end of that spectrum. This one just also happens to be designed with one of the most elite Olympic ski racers of all time.