When Scott Sports first launched the Mission around the turn of the century, it helped spark a revolution in freeride skis that quickly gained momentum. Today's Pure Mission is a different animal altogether, way more accessible and easier to turn, highly responsive and playful and just light enough to stick a free touring binding on if that's your bag (although go Superguide if you're looking for a more all-round ski touring option).
Dropped out of the Scott range for a few years - with no apparent reason but perhaps in respect of its original designer, Herve Maneint who was tragically killed in an avalanche in 2017 - it has now made a comeback and in our opinion, is better than ever.
Developed by freeride speed-freak, Jérémie Heitz, Scott has taken elements from its Superguide range such as the beech wood stringers that run through the full dual wood core, but added carbon stringers and a layer of titanal to reinforce the ski and give it that real freeride element that sets it aside from the softer skis in the Scott collection.
All of this goes into making a ski that feels super grippy and solid on piste - even at the 98mm under foot width, they carve a smooth arc and seem nicely balanced through the turn. Again very different to the Superguide's that for us, always feel a little under steered. But they always to hunger for something more and crave that natural terrain found away from the marked runs. Lumpy, bumpy, sloughy snow will get dismissed by any skier that can genuinely say they are a freerider. Yes they might be slightly on the narrower side for deeper powder snow but the floatation is remarkably good and most skiers would be perfectly happy with them in the bottomless stuff (for 109 Ti Pro for big powder days but beware, it's a beast of a ski and not as versatile).
So go check out some Jérémie Heitz (see movie La Liste) for inspiration (not to be tried at home folks), but at the same time don't be put off by his antics, the Scott Pure will look after you too and is nicely accessible for skiers looking to progress their freeride skiing, as well once in a generation freeriders like JH.
Buy Scott Pure Mission 98 Ti Skis: £580 at Ellis Brigham
