Salomon Depart.01 Review: A Surfy, Playful Freestyle Ski Built for Park Laps

Introduction

The Salomon Depart.01 marks the brand’s return to the freestyle department, and it does so with a fully athlete-driven design aimed at the park, urban freestyle, and competition freestyle. It sits a bit on the wider side, which makes personal preference part of the equation, but it has proven to be one of the most fun spring park lap skis around. The character is wildly surfy: loose, playful, and floaty in soft slush, while still light and twin-tipped enough that you will want to spend real time in the park.

Who This Ski Is For

This ski rewards creativity. It is the kind of platform where you hunt for side hits on the way to the park, then make the most of every feature once you arrive. Freestylers who want a centered ski with a bit more symmetry than a directional powder ski will feel right at home, especially in technical and more backcountry-adjacent terrain.

If your season revolves around park laps and spring slush, with the occasional soft-snow detour, the Depart.01 fits that brief almost perfectly.

Construction and Materials

The core combines karuba and poplar wood, mixing lightweight with a denser, stable platform to find a middle ground between soft and playful and still supportive for bigger jumps and hits. Fiberglass layers add energy and pop to the feel.

Because of its park focus, the ski also carries an extra-wide steel edge for durability, plus a titanal binding plate under the binding zone for binding retention on bigger sends. The karuba content helps bring down weight and swing weight while keeping stiffness and stability underfoot. On the scale in the 170 cm length, the ski comes in at 1,560 g, which is genuinely light for its width.

Shape and Handling

The shape leans fully twin-tip with a healthy amount of rocker in the tip and tail and a nearly flat profile underfoot, with just a small amount of camber. Despite that freestyle shape, the ski is still fun to carve and can trench turns all the way to the park from a centered stance. It rewards a more upright carving style rather than driving the tip, which suits the freestyle way of turning.

The sidecut has a wide, flotation-friendly tip that feels surfy in soft snow, powder, or slush. The tail is somewhat squared-off with a good amount of taper, keeping landings predictable while still supporting butters.

On-Snow Performance and Flex

The flex is pretty soft but very consistent from tip to tail, which makes nose and tail butters easy and repeatable. The trade-off is that the ski still feels supportive when you push it, and you can feel the pop in it when loading up for a jump.

On snow, the Depart.01 is swivelly and pivoty, easy to initiate spins and change direction quickly, and an absolute blast in spring conditions. It is a top pick for that style of riding.

Beyond the Park: Trees and Soft Snow

This is not purely a park tool. The soft-snow shape makes it genuinely fun in the trees and in softer snow, so skiers who want a park feel but find themselves in deeper or more technical terrain have a strong option here.

Tester feedback from Carl sums it up: “Love these skis. The width provides the perfect amount of float and the weight allows the ski to charge. The flex of the ski allows for playful slashes and quick turns. All around, I think Salomon knocked it out of the park with the Depart.01.”

Buying Advice

If you are a freestyle skier who values playfulness, low swing weight, and float in slush or soft snow, the Depart.01 should sit near the top of your list. Skiers who prefer a narrow, traditional carving profile or a fully directional freeride platform may want to look elsewhere, given the wider waist and centered, symmetric-leaning design.

Conclusion

The Salomon Depart.01 is a super fun, highly creative freestyle ski that blends a surfy, loose feel with enough construction to support bigger jumps. For park riders and slush-season lap skiers, Salomon has delivered a standout option in the freestyle category.