2023 DPS Pagoda Tour 112

This is probably the widest ski with the shortest turning radius out there on the hill today. The 2023 DPS Pagoda 112 with the RP shaping is a totally unique, and distinctly DPS ski that floats and turns insanely well. The Pagoda build features a wood core that blends aspen, ash, and paulownia, allowing for an innovative feel and performance for a multitude of conditions and terrain. The dense and solid ash serves well as a strong spine, while the lighter paulownia sits under it in order to add springiness and light weight. The aspen on the sides provides a nice mix of the two, allowing for energy and stability at the same time. DPS then uses their dual-carbon laminate to sandwich it all together, creating a responsive, agile, and precise feel to it that is not replicated anywhere else in the ski industry. The RP shaping is quite unique for a ski of this shape, installing a 15-meter turn radius to the mix, and making it an incredibly quick turner for the shape. The rocker and taper must adapt to this radius, making the profile shape look kind of strange. There’s more taper to the tip of this ski than pretty much anything else out there, making them some of the smoother and better floaters on the planet. It stays on top of pretty much anything, and while there are wider skis to be skied and seen, none of them look or turn like these. You really have to get into the more exaggerated sidecuts in order to have the ski produce this much taper, and that’s a stand out part for DPS.

Our testers were enthralled with the ski in general, although they didn’t exactly get to test it in the desired conditions, but we’ve learned that it’s very hard to just call in a powder day for testing fat skis. If we could corner that market, then we’d really be in business. As a result, the feedback isn’t quite accurate for deep and soft snow. Danielle Nichols skied the 178, noting that it performed true to size. Both her comments and her scorecard are very intermediary, with all scores of 3’s out of 5, including flotation, edge grip, and versatility. Danielle notes that the Pagoda 112 RP was “Pretty middle of the road. The tip flopped around a bit much and was a little unstable. Probably best in the woods or smaller turns.” I do think that with that amount of taper, having the ski in non-powder conditions does alter the feel of the ski, making that slender shape kind of flap in the breeze since it doesn’t “hook up” like a less-tapered ski shape. But yes, that same shape is certainly going to make the 112 feel more at home in shorter turns like are found in the woods and other tight spots.

David Carter is usually more at home on a carving ski, so it’s always nice to get someone slightly out of their comfort zone to see how they feel about a wider, lighter ski that still has that shorter turn radius. He, too, was on the 178 and noted that it was a good size. Other than a high score of 4 out of 5 for flotation, David gave this ski 3’s for all other categories, much like Danielle. “This is the widest ski I've ever skied, and I just couldn't feel a lot of love for it. The tips seem to get deflected around by the spring slop, and it didn't provide me with the smoothness and stability that I felt with other wider skis, such as the K2 Mindbender 108. Perhaps well suited to a true back country experience, but hard for me to justify the price tag, given other skis offer a lot more for me at a lower price point.” If the ski doesn’t quite talk to you, then I agree it’s hard to go along with the higher price tag that DPS has. It does sound like the skis are better suited to the fresh powder versus more spring-like conditions.

From “widest ski ever” to “best in woods or smaller turns” we see a lot of interesting aspects to this ski, and we love every bit of it.  If you’re in the market for a quick and agile fat ski with a very high-end build and shape, the DPS Pagoda 112 should be at the top of the list.  It’s a crazy blend of strength, maneuverability, and precision, and should not be overlooked by any powder-skiing enthusiast.