2023 Elan Ripstick Tour 104

As a new model for 2023, and with Glen Plake’s literal signature on it, we were excited to see the capabilities and possibilities of the Elan Ripstick Tour 104 for sure. With the growing segment of 50/50 or hybrid touring/resort skis, we were interested to see where the Tour 104 would land on the spectrum. Would it fall more into tour-specific, resort-capable, or somewhere else entirely? From a construction perspective, we’re seeing Elan’s tubelite wood core and three different applications of carbon. The first, and most Elan-esque of them is the carbon tube that, for this ski, runs the central chord of the core, rather than Ripstick’s two along the sides. Next, a full sheet of carbon reinforcement sturdies the entire ski from tip to tail, and the third, their Carbon Bridge Technology is focused on the mid-foot zone of the ski and gives it great grip and responsiveness. With the wood core and carbon laminates, these Ripstick Tour 104’s hit 1540 grams per ski in the 180. That puts them just slightly above the 1500-gram mark that we loosely use as a good benchmark weight for a touring ski. With darn-near symmetry in the sidecut, these skis have Plake’s signature playfulness all over them, and with a slightly twin-tipped shape, there’s not a whole lot that’s off the table from a downhill perspective on these skis.

Chris McClelland was on the 180, and found it to be a bit short, but true to size. He scored the ski 5’s out of 5 for overall impression, playfulness, quickness, and maneuverability. 4’s went for versatility, forgiveness, stability, and flotation, with 3’s for torsional stiffness and edge hold. “This was hands down my favorite ski of the ski test. They were quick and maneuverable and felt great going through pretty much all terrain. I had a blast slashing turns and jumping through bumps and was honestly quite sad when I had to hand them in to test my next pair. Any backcountry enthusiast will find a ton to love about these skis and I would love to see someone slap some tele bindings on these. Advanced and expert skiers looking for their next backcountry set of sticks beware: you might just fall in love with this one.” That’s some pretty high praise from a downhill perspective for sure, and great to see from an active skier like Chris.

Jeff Neagle was on the 180, and found it to be correct. He scored it 5’s out of 5 for overall impression, playfulness, quickness, and maneuverability. Flotation and forgiveness got 4’s while versatility, torsional stiffness, edge hold, and stability were all in the 3-range. Jeff notes that “This is a super fun, super playful touring ski. It makes 100% perfect sense that it has Glen Plake's name on it and was developed with him as it's just such a fantastic ski for how he likes to ski. Feels really light on your feet, maybe lighter than the actual weight indicates. It doesn't have the most stability at speed or vibration damping, but that's not really the intention either. Long turn radius too, so carving performance isn't the best. On the other hand, the flick-ability and how quick and playful it is feels like it's off the charts. Super easy edge release and the wiggle factor is incredible, even in deeper snow. Amphibio shape definitely helps in that scenario. Enough tail rocker to ski switch too, which is awesome. Not too many skis in this category can achieve that. I don't think many skiers will want to do that, but it is a capability. Perfect choice for the touring enthusiast who loves soft snow, loves playful skiing, and is a pretty dedicated backcountry skier. It doesn't feel like a 50/50 ski to me, although I do think you could take it to the resort once in a while if you want to ski soft snow trees at relatively moderate speeds.”

While the downhill qualities are there, it seems like the touring capabilities and backcountry prowess are where this ski lies. While you can use a Hustle or an Enforcer Unlimited in the resort any day, the Ripstick Tour 104 is more at home in the backcountry and off-piste. That’s fine, because Elan makes a lot of really good lift-served skis as well.