DOWN LOWDOWN 88 171 REFURBED + MARKER ALPINIST 9

Name: DOWN LOWDOWN 88 171 REFURBED + MARKER ALPINIST 9
Brand: DOWN SKIS // O+ GMBH
SKU: DOWN_2026020
Price: 350.0 EUR
Availability: InStock

Price

€350

WHY THE DOPE PRICE?

DOWN REFURBED skis have some stories behind them—they’ve been out in our test fleet, dialed in by real riders. Back at the factory, we give each pair a full refresh: tuned, restored, and tested until they’re ready to charge again.

Still capable of decent shredding, only now you get them at a price that leaves more in your pocket for road trips, passes, and après. Same DOWN performance, more value per dollar.

LET'S TALK SPECIFICS

This pair was part of our test fleet. It has a bit of topsheet damage and comes with MARKER ALPINIST 9 bindings.

ABOUT THE SKI

The Lowdown 88 is brand new for DOWN. This is your freerando ski that can handle steep to corn to firm. In the days of super light skis that only perform on the up the LD combines the RIGHT weight with the RIGHT shape. This ski is torsionally more stable than all of his lighter friends on the market. With triaxial carbon and triaxial glassfiber and a titanal binding plate, you have a stable and reliable platform. The best way to describe the feeling of skiing the LOWDOWN 88 is "point & shoot" - which is a rarity for this type of ski. DOWN is a company that defines itself about - well - the way down, and that also goes for our alpine touring skis.

FREERIDE ROCKER

The ultimate in versatility and smoothness, our freeride rocker profile combines camber underfoot with a low rise, elliptical tip and a nearly flat tail. The underfoot camber gives instant edge grip in tricky conditions and the smooth transition into the tip and tail rocker lets you engage the full effective edge on demand for smooth carving. The low rise, elliptical tip provides full snow contact, punches through uneven snow with minimal deflection and keeps you on top of even the deepest, fluffiest powder.

ABOUT THE CONSTRUCTION OF AT SKIS

There is a lot of creative marketing in the ski industry, but when it comes to the weight of touring skis, some take the creative BS to the next level. So, here a few facts about building light skis: At the end of the day, building a light ski is all about mechanics and physics. Which is also to say: There's no magic in it. Lighter, as most companies do it, means simply lighter materials, but most importantly less material. Two simple examples, and also how we engineer differently.

Edge and base dimensions: A huge part of a skis weight is in the steel edges and bases. Trim that down, means lighter. But does that really make sense for a ski you primarily ski backcountry, and the eventual rock, grass or root contact WILL happen? We believe -> NOT. Standard alpine and freeride skis feature 1,3 - 1,5mm thick bases; and 1,7 - 1,9 wide edges. Most light AT skis go down to 1,0mm bases, and 1,6mm wide edges. Our LD skis have 1,5mm thick bases, and 1,85mm wide edges. That upper end of the spectrum gives you more beef underfoot, and more longevity of your ski.
Core height vs. fiber content: Make a wood core thick, and your ski will be stiffer. Put in a the right amount of fiber, and your ski will behave well. The thing though is: wood is a lot lighter, and A HOLE LOT cheaper than fibers. So, to have a somewhat stable superlight ski, you make a fairly thick wood core, and reduce the amount of fibers. Most light AT skis on the market have a a fiber content of around 800-1200 gramm per square meter. The thing though - you reduce the skiability to what we just described: stiff, but not a lot of any desired behaviour. Our LOWDOWN skis are thinner in profile, but have an extraordinary amount of carbon and glassfiber: 2010 gramm of fiber per square meter, to be precise (or double of what the market standard is); 1240 of which is triaxial glassfiber, and 770 of which is triaxial carbon. This is serious stuff, for serious skiers.