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Gear reviews | Dynafit Sphinx

All-round freetouring skis for women

by Deike Puttnins 03/08/2017
The descent is definitely the focus of the tour for many, but more and more female freeriders are not just looking for the fluffiest and fattest deep snow slope. Lonely areas and secluded summit destinations, plus a little sweat and fitness training - freetouring is and remains the trend - even for us women.

For this winter season, Dynafit provided me with the Dynafit Sphinx touring ski as a women's model for testing. It was delivered with matching skins and the Dynafit Radical 2.0 in the rental version. The Dynafit Sphinx is more or less the "sister" of the Dynafit Meteorite, but was built a little lighter and softer especially for women.

Tester & Test conditions

At 177 cm tall, I weigh 64 kg. My ski boot is a Lange freeride boot with a walking function. I can be found on the slopes at the start of the season to warm up a little. As soon as the first snow falls, however, I like to take every conceivable option and from February onwards I can do 1-3 ski tours a week. These are usually between 800 and 1500 meters in altitude. I don't feel particularly at home in narrow, steep gullies and I would describe my skiing style as technically solid but rather defensive. What's important to me with a ski is that it's not just good for running uphill, but that it's also fun on the descent.

From piste to short off-piste runs to long day tours - I was able to test all of this on around 14 days. The snow conditions were similar. There was already the first spring snow, broken slush, rutted, bumpy slopes and many beautiful days with powder up to, say, 30 cm of fresh snow. Thanks to the season with very little snow, the Dynafit has not yet experienced the fattest powder.

First impression

With 97 mm under the binding, the ski looks narrower than it actually is. In the design (purple) you can immediately recognize the women's version. When you first touch, feel and bend the ski, it makes a solid and stable impression. For a freetourer, it seems a little heavy in my hands - but this is probably due to the rental binding fitted.

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Test

On the piste, the ski is grippy and even at higher speeds it remains stable under my feet. Changing direction is child's play. Thanks to the double Eclipse Rocker, the contact point of the edges with the ground can be varied so that, in theory, the edge length automatically adapts to the respective conditions. As a result, the ski makes the same impression off-piste as it did on the piste. Regardless of whether I've already plowed it up or whether I've been able to make my first turns, the ski is playful, easy to turn and still very stable. The rocker shape gives the Sphinx good float in powder and puts a grin on my face. In really good powder conditions, however, I would personally switch to a wider ski, but I usually don't go up and stay in the ski area.

The Dynafit particularly surprised me in an extremely difficult to ski and rarely found south-facing slope combination of alternating knee-deep slush and the finest crushed snow. It was definitely not a nice day of skiing - but here too, the Dynafit was the perfect choice. It reacts quickly and even these conditions could be mastered with minimal effort.

The skin attachment on the tip makes it possible to securely attach the skin and prevent snow from getting between the ski and the skin. This is the case with every Dynafit ski and there are skins cut to fit every model.

Conclusion

In the past, you either saw the freeriders with their fat deep-snow slats or the super athletes with their ultra-light competition skis. Today, the active uphill movement is also part of everyday skiing for women, and yet hardly anyone wants to cut back on the downhill. Here, women are on the safe side with the Dynafit Sphinx and will definitely come home from a fulfilling day with lots of fun.

The base and edges are nice and thick and even during the rocky season, there have only been a few slight imperfections so far. The ski is sturdily built, adapted to women through lightness and a little more flexibility and yet has not become an ultra-light, super-soft "girls' ski". A successful all-round freetouring construction.

Advantages & disadvantages

+Good combo of touring and freeride ski
+Fun to ride in all types of snow
+Easy and light to turn - yet very stable and smooth
+Good damping behavior
-Only available up to 177 length
-Not super light, but justifiable

Details

Length: 163 170 177
Radius: 16 17 18
Weight: 1,670g
Tip Rocker: 390 430 450
Tail Rocker: 230 250 270

Construction
- Tip- & Tail Rocker
- Carbon fabric in the shovel area
- Ash-poplar wood core

Here is the Dynafit website with further information. Here you can buy the ski from our partner store Bergzeit.de.

This product was made available to PowderGuide on loan for the duration of the test. You can find out how we test it in our test statement.

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