2025 Elan Ripstick 94 W

The Elan Ripstick line has secured itself in the top performing all-mountain category for some time now, and we’re not seeing that change. After introducing their unique and highly successful Ripstick recipe, they haven’t found the need to make any alterations as the fan base only continues to grow. Heading into the 2025 season, Elan decided it was time to shake things up and enhance the Ripstick reputation through boosting the performance features, construction elements and shape only to achieve an even better result. With two new width options added to the women’s series, the Ripstick 94 W returns with a makeover, delivering greater responsiveness and refined power with the same great level of versatility. Incorporating new technology into the Ripsticks, the 94 in particular boasts more poise and precision for on-piste performance, with slightly narrower tips for greater edge grip and carving capabilities.

The high-performance build of the Ripstick 94 W still remains, only with new technology to heighten the construction elements and deliver substantial feedback. Implementing the same framework from the previous model, they tweak the use of carbon through what they refer to as “Carbon Deck Technology”. While the former placement of carbon utilized a central chord down the middle of the ski, the new carbon lines are designed to be thicker and more stout on the inside edge, with thinner strips along the outside edge. The uni-directional carbon strips take the overall level of dampness through the roof, while also delivering the high level of energy that we all know and love with this ski. We are still working with a tubelite wood core as the foundation here, consisting of poplar and paulownia, providing a nice density and degree of stability. The end all feel with these alterations is an incredibly intuitive level of performance, similar to before, but with even more control and power on the inside edge, thanks to both the Amphibio profile and new technology that coincides with it. We do also see a change in the tip build, moving away from vapor tip inserts and towards full wood all the way through the shovel. This procides the same level of dampness with even greater stiffness and easier turn initiation.

Onto the shape, we see less modifications than with the build but enough to deliver an improved level of performance. With the exception of two new width sizes, we are getting the same 94 mm waist width here, which is a great thing as it remains the goldilocks model for versatile all-mountain performance. The length sizes do change slightly, and with that we get a shorter turn radius and narrower tip width. The tail shape and width stays pretty much the same, which gives the skier incredible precision to engage in a turn with bountiful energy at the finish. Dropping from a 16.2-meter turn radius in the 170n cm length to a 15.8-meter turn radius in the 168 cm length, the result is noticeable and allows you to make tighter, quicker turn shapes. As for the shovel, the narrower shape creates better ski-to-snow contact and creates a faster, easier to engage turn initiation. For Tester Mar Kuhnel, she found “these Ripsticks were energetic, playful, and responsive, but they felt a bit squirrelly in all the chop and at high speeds. I suspect some of this was due to the length. I think this would be a really fun groomer and fresh snow ski, but it got a little overwhelmed by the skied out chop we had today.” This feedback is useful in that it highlights the performance features- quick, responsive and energetic. However, this would make sense why they felt slightly out of control in chop at top speed. This might be when the wider options come into play, which is great to have several different width sizes.

As one of the most rewarding skis out there, the Elan Ripstick 94 W returns better than ever, providing advanced intermediates to expert level skiers a versatile, responsive and engaging all-mountain tool. Balancing out the high degree of power and stability, the advanced technology and high-performance build counteracts the seriousness with plentiful pop and play. For anyone who wants incredible carving capabilities and edge grip without losing lightweight energy and responsiveness, this is the ski for