The 6 Best Telemark Skiing for Ladies

DPS Skis Yvette T112 Ski – Women’s

DPS’s Yvette shape, the fattest of its women-specific line, is now offered with the backcountry-specific Tour1 construction for a ski that’s incredibly efficient on the uphill, yet slays big lines and powder with absolute ease. A 112 millimeter waist easily keeps you afloat on the deepest days of the season, but the rockered tip and tail, underfoot camber, and generous sidecut keep you content on days spent skiing hardpack in the resort. DPS’s women-specific line isn’t simply a watered-down version of its hard-charging skis, either. The Yvette is built with the exact same construction, only with a slightly shifted mounting point for easier turn initiation.

The Tour1 construction keeps the Yvette lightweight enough to compete with other backcounry-specific skis on the market, but also boasts features that makes the ski perform impressively well on the descent. The carbon fiber laminate dampens vibrations for a smooth, stable ride, and maintains torsional stiffness for effective turns. A lightweight balsa wood core further dampens the ski, yet makes each turn poppy and playful for a smile-inducing ride that will have you wishing winter lasted all year long.

Dynafit Tour 88 Ski – Women’s

Slogging up a steep skintrack with a heavy set of boards attached to your legs will turn your quads to mush before you can get to the top of your line. Strap Dynafit’s Tour 88 Women’s Ski to your legs, though, and you’ll be fresh and ready to center punch your line with a lively pair of gams. Dynafit designed the Tour 88 as an efficient backountry tool that will handle long tours and variable conditions with aplomb. The skinny 88mm waist keeps the ski light for the ascent and nimble when you’re making hop turns down a narrow couloir or icy face. Dynafit surrounded the sturdy poplar and paulownia wood core with layers of fiberglass and carbon to balance weight and torsional rigidity, and even through in mini sidewalls so it won’t be game over when you eventually tag a death cookie or rock with one of the edges.

La Sportiva Super Maximo LS Ski – Women’s

There are those that prefer a lightweight skin to the top over all else, including downhill performance, and then there are those that take La Sportiva’s Super Maximo LS Ski out for a tour and don’t have to choose. Built with SKI TRAB Lightweight Technology, the Super Maximo is both extremely lightweight yet rich with anti-torsional strength. The core is built from 14 different layers in order to reduce vibration, using lightweight wood interlaced with higher-strength wood, then reinforced with a fiberglass box. This process delivers both torsional rigidity and durability to an otherwise lightweight ride.

When it comes to downhill performance, the Super Maximo LS is well adapted to a wide range of snow conditions. It features La Sportiva’s progressive Attivo shape, well tuned for adept steering, floatability, and forgiving turn initiation. This innovative shape ensures gradual entry into fresh snow, yet provides plenty of contact on sun-affected crust. Plus, the 94mm waist underfoot is wide enough to handle last night’s big dump, yet narrow enough that it deals well with any wind-buffed slopes you might encounter on your way down.

DPS Skis Yvette 112 Tour 1 Ski – Women’s

The DPS Women’s Yvette 112 Tour 1 Ski is a lightweight fatty designed to help you set the skintrack on a deep powder day, and enjoy the fluffy ride back to the car. Its wide waist keeps you afloat only when you want to, since you also prefer sinking down into snorkel-like depths about half the time on the downhill. You like sinking down on the downhill almost as much as you dislike sinking down on the uphill, which makes the Yvette’s rockered, shoveled, and wider tip all the more enjoyable. It keeps your nose above the snow so you can navigate switchbacks a little easier. This Yvette comes with DPS’s lightest construction to keep you nimble on you feet, and considering each ski weighs less than three pounds, you might end up one of the lightest skier in the backcountry.

La Sportiva Gara Aero LS Ski – Women’s

La Sportiva teamed up with Ski Trab to produce the ultralight, vert-devouring Women’s Gara Aero LS Ski. Built to the specifications of gram-counting rando racers, the Gara Aero sports an feather light weight that will fly up the mountain and progressive shape that will inspire confidence once you rips skins and point ’em down the mountain.

Ski Trab built this ski in Italy with its ultralight 14-layer technology. The technology utilizes 14 different layers, including carbon, fiberglass, wood, and Aramid, that wrap around the ultralight honeycomb core to reduce vibration and increase rigidity while tipping the scales at feathery 3lb. In the end, all these materials simply mean the Gara Aero will remain nimble on the ascent and stable on the descent. The progressive shape consists of an early rise tip to ease turn initiation in difficult conditions and plenty of camber underfoot to give the ski the ability to carve smooth turns when the terrain and conditions allow for it.

Dynafit Tour 88 Ski – Women’s

Slogging up a steep skintrack with a heavy set of boards attached to your legs will turn your quads to mush before you can get to the top of your line. Strap Dynafit’s Tour 88 Women’s Ski to your legs, though, and you’ll be fresh and ready to center punch your line with a lively pair of gams. Dynafit designed the Tour 88 as an efficient backountry tool that will handle long tours and variable conditions with aplomb. The skinny 88mm waist keeps the ski light for the ascent and nimble when you’re making hop turns down a narrow couloir or icy face. Dynafit surrounded the sturdy poplar and paulownia wood core with layers of fiberglass and carbon to balance weight and torsional rigidity, and even through in mini sidewalls so it won’t be game over when you eventually tag a death cookie or rock with one of the edges.