Big news: The Ferreol Pionnier 104 has just undergone a major makeover, earning its 2.0 namesake. After five winters of alpine shreds, tree laps, and all-around good times, the talented team at Ferreol Skis has tweaked its design, making significant improvements while preserving what skiers raved about the all-mountain powder ski. It’s still quick, nimble, and ready for just about anything. But now? It’s got a little extra backbone. They redesigned the sidecut for smoother, more intuitive turn initiation, and fine-tuned the 3-point camber for some added playfulness at lower edge angles. A slightly stiffer tail adds some extra stability when you’re getting bucked off your seat, chomping through the chunder. A snappy rebound when you’re driving out of a turn adds some energy to the experience. See the detailed review for the Ferreol Pionnier 104 2.0 below.

Related: Ferreol Surfeur 112 Review (2025): A Playful Powder Shredder

Quick Specs

Construction

Ferreol also gave the construction a thoughtful update. An aluminum mounting plate adds underfoot rigidity for added strength and confidence when you’re carving at Mach 16. Replacing the full-length carbon layer is a 100-mm carbon strip, boosting durability while trimming down the ski’s carbon footprint compared to the previous version. Skiers will be relieved to see a rubber tail reinforcement with the ever-so-useful indentation onto which climbing skins clip. Needless to say, it’s a no-nonsense solution to the topsheet durability issue of the previous generation, specifically at the tail, observed by a few backcountry skiers. It seems like Ferreol is truly listening to its customer base.

Weight

At 1820 grams per ski, the Ferreol team updated an already lightweight all-mountain powder ski that can easily be hauled around in the backcountry. For how well its multi-layered construction can handle variable conditions, crud and chop, they have no doubt pulled a magic trick on us. The Pionnier 104 handles crud, chop and groomed runs as well as some heavier contenders such as the ever-popular Salomon QST 106 at 2190 grams per ski. Striking a thoughtful balance between weight and performance, the Pionnier is also a great option for slackcountry days where you’ll start your day in the backcountry and finish with a few inbound runs as the sun sets over the peaks.

In the backcountry, the Pionnier 104 2.0, mounted with the Atomic Backland Summit 12 pin bindings, made travel effortless. Sure, the Pionnier is no featherweight, but I prefer that. I’d rather have a supportive ski in the 1700-1850g than a 1500g noodle. Working as a ski guide in all sorts of conditions, I need my skis to handle everything the mountain will throw at me. The Ferreol Pionnier 104 2.0 will do just that.

Downhill Performance

While The Uptrack is mainly focused on ski touring, I’ve spent some time on the Pionnier 104 inbounds, shredding moguls and carving on groomers. One of my biggest gripes with lightweight skis is their erratic behaviour at speed when the tips start vibrating uncontrollably. The Pionnier’s updated construction solves that problem, making it quite damp on groomers. Its damp character, especially for its weight class, combined with the triple-point cambered shape, gave me that extra confidence to carve Super-G turns at supersonic speeds. Its 104mm-wide (105mm in the 188cm model) provided a rather snappy edge-to-edge transition for an all-mountain powder ski.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Olivier Denis-Larocque (@theuptrack)

In the glades and moguls, the skis, in 188cm length, were agile enough to weave through the terrain. Coming off the Ferreol Surfeur 112 (184cm), the brand’s de facto powder ski, the Pionnier offered an exhilarating, albeit very different experience. Since the ski has less tip and tail rocker, its longer effective edge and much stiffer tail offered greater stability at the expense of feeling a little more cumbersome in tight terrain features. At first, I found it considerably harder to locate the longitudinal sweet spot. I felt the tails were constantly catching in turns. After a few laps of trial and error, I figured out the correct position and had an absolute blast plowing through powder, refrozen moguls and hardpack. As much as we all dream of resort skiing in deep powder, that’s often far from reality. The Pionnier’s increased stability and control when compared to the Surfeur 112 was especially beneficial in variable conditions. This ski definitely requires an aggressive, dynamic stance where you really drive the shovels around. I suspect the shorter length models would allow for a more relaxed skiing style.

Ski Touring Performance

In deep untracked powder, the Ferreol Pionnier 104 2.0 offered a fine-tuned balance between weight, stability and float. Its 104mm-wide waist and large shovels provide plenty of floatation in boot-top to knee-deep powder. I haven’t tried it in snorkel-deep blower, but would most likely prefer the Surfeur 112 if that were the case. I’ve spent a few days on the Pionnier in untouched powder at Balu Pass (Rogers Pass) and in the RMR slackcountry. I was blown away by how well it handled the knee-deep powdery pitches followed by the icy, hardpack bobsleigh track at the valley’s exits. At the end of a tiring day of ski touring, it makes a huge difference. I’d rather avoid crashing on hardpack in the evening. In practice, backcountry skiing isn’t always all powder. Armed with the Pionnier 104 2.0, I’ve had the pleasure of effortlessly slicing through wind slabs and melt-freeze crust. The skis handled those difficult conditions brilliantly. I’ll do some more testing in Spring, but I could definitely see this ski shining on ski-mountaineering trips where conditions are often anything but powder.

On the uphill, the 188cm model is light enough to haul up the mountains. Kick-turn initiation is smooth enough, with the shovels naturally tilting up when needed. Breaking trail, the ski’s wide tip easily surfs on top of the snow, which thankfully spares your hip flexors on the uptrack.

The Brief Rundown

The talented team at Ferreol crafted a lively, confidence-inspiring ski that weaves through tight trees, charges when you ask it to, and adapts beautifully to a variety of snow conditions. Compared to the previous version, it’s got the same pioneer spirit, just sharper, stronger, and ready to chew up terrain.

You could go either way with this ski. Mount it with a downhill binding for a stable, agile tree-skiing machine or with a hybrid binding for maximum versatility on and off piste. Tooled with a lightweight pin binding, the Pionnier 104 2.0 will grant you access to any backcountry terrain with minimal compromise. If anything, I wish Ferreol would offer the ski in an intermediate length between 180 and 188cm. Personally, a 184cm model would be an absolute dream, granting a little more agility and a slightly snappier pivot.