2027 Faction Dancer 79 Ti

The 2027 Faction Dancer 79 Ti is a carryover ski in terms of shape and construction, but we do get a new look that aligns with the whole new Dancer line of skis. Last year, we were very impressed with the 79 and its ability to be both playful and powerful at the same time. Nothing has changed in that regard, in fact, they also seemed to like it at Faction enough to use this 79 Ti basically as the basis and benchmark for all new Dancers.

Built with a poplar wood core, the Dancer 79 Ti gets two thin sheets of titanal to keep the ski damp and boost the overall power. Faction uses their XL 2.5 mm edges in this ski, and it is a noticeable difference when it comes to edge grip—more metal on the snow does boost the sharpness of the ski, we’ve felt. In the 178, we get a stated weight of 1700 g/ski which is in the middle for a ski of this width and two sheets of metal. They’re not terribly stiff, but they do have a responsive and precise feeling that gives notes of stiffness. Tester Jonas Engle notes that “For a metal carving ski, these were not too heavy and mobile enough to get in the air. They need groomed terrain; they’re too heavy to take into ungroomed snow. This is for experts; it's playful but needs speed and confidence to go fast. If you want a ski that wants to open up without any trouble at speed, but still has a degree of playfulness, these are for you.”

We don’t see a lot of flat 79’s out there anymore, so Faction at least has a rare and unique ski on their hands here. This makes it vacillate between on-piste and all-mountain applications quite easily. With measurements of 118/79/107, the 178 generates a 17-meter turn radius. It’s interesting how it acts here, because it has so many different turns in its bag. You can do short swing skids, mid-radius carves, and let it run straight at speed with full confidence. There’s a bit of rocker and taper here, but nothing that puts it decidedly on the frontside end of the spectrum specifically. Tester Matthew McManus notes that “These were incredibly fun skis. Light, quick, and very playful. They were fairly good as carving skis but excellent at short as well as quick, pivoting turns. Easy to pivot and smear, even when skiing fairly fast. While I was only on groomers and chunky off piste with them, they feel like they would be incredibly fun in the bumps. They had decent edge hold. These were really fun, playful skis. These are very fun to ski and versatile in that they carved pretty well and really shone at short turns and playing around/smearing turns. Really nice skis for an easy, fun day.”

The uniqueness of this ski is part of its superpower in that it’s able to be a frontside specialist while also having an all-mountain feel due to its wider and more freeride-oriented counterparts. This 79 Ti set the stage, though, when it came about last year, and now the rest of the Dancer Ti series is just trying to keep up.