2027 Elan Ripstick 108

The 2027 Elan Ripstick 108 gets a fresh new look for this year but returns structurally unchanged. This 108 fits in quite well with the other Ripstick skis in terms of construction and light weight feel, though, forging its own path through the meat and potatoes sections of the ~110 mm freeride skis of the world. Mainly, the 108 separates itself much in the same manner as the other Ripsticks—light weight and high energy. These skis are very fun and eager to be mobile and playful in a variety of conditions and terrain, although we’ve found that they certainly have more of a home in softer and deeper snow. The Ripstick 108 is positioned as the most freeride oriented of the directional skis in the lineup, falling just short of the Playmaker 111 in terms of creativity and width within the Elan line.

The engineers at Elan do a great job of thinking outside of the box when it comes to building skis. One of the main construction components is the use of a full Tubelite wood core with no vapor tip inserts. This tip to tail wood gives the ski a bit beefier feel while allowing Elan to thin the core to meet the demands of lighter weight. Blending poplar and paulownia, this core is lively and energetic. They use two strips of uni-directional carbon under the core to get the ski to come alive under pressure. The carbon rods boost this energy to the nth degree by having the pop of the ski pre-loaded with the 360-degree application of carbon. On top of the core in the shovel, they use a flax layer to dampen the ski and control vibrations. All of this leads to a feathery weight of 1770 grams in the 182 cm length. This is pretty darn light for a ski this wide, and we’re here for it. That can, however, lead to a less stable platform either at higher speeds or on firmer snow. We found that it’s not that big of a deal, especially if you’re prepared for it and understand that those types of attributes are normal for skis of this weight. Tester Hans de Boer has a fun take here: “One word: stability. This is a ski for going fast... really fast. Get it on edge and it won't let go. Speed limit? Nope, it's like a car that feels like you're doing 50, but you look down and it turns out you're doing 80.” Impressive that a ski this light can elicit such speedy feedback.

The skis work well in deeper snow mainly due to the shape, profile, and asymmetric character. 108 mm underfoot is a great place to be for soft snow that isn’t bottomless. This means that the Ripstick 108 is a highly useful powder ski that is going to be the tool of choice more often than not in the soft stuff. You can use it just fine when it’s a snow day, but also when the snow settles, this thing will hold up just fine. In the 182, the turn radius of 19.8-meters keeps you engaged while allowing the ski to be drifty and surfy. The overall profile of the ski is somewhat lower than it has been in the past, enhancing the smoothness and ease of slashing. Hans continues to state that the Ripstick 108 works best in “Big lines, something with a lot of room to get it up to speed. The faster you go, the more you appreciate what this ski was made to do. That being said, slower speed in the spring bumps, it was manageable, but definitely not where the ski wants to be.” It is very helpful to have a ski that can operate on multiple speed levels in different terrain and conditions.

While the width keeps these skis in advanced and expert territory, we do think there’s room for progressing intermediates to enjoy their first powder ski here, mainly due to the weight. They’re easy to turn and supremely mobile. Due to the amphibio rocker profile and the left/right specific ski, the smoothness and intuitiveness are all there, making it simpler for advancing and learning skiers to link turns together without having to think too hard about it. That opens the ability range quite a bit, allowing more skiers to enjoy these awesomely mobile soft snow specialists. These skis are interesting due to the blend of weight and stability—it all comes back to the engineering, which Elan does better than most.