2027 Elan Ripstick 88 Black Edition

The 2027 Elan Ripstick 88 Black Edition is an all-new ski from Elan for this year, bringing the Black Edition build to the 88’s footprint. We’ve been excited and somewhat expecting this one for a few years now, and it was great to finally see what they could do in this realm. By adding more carbon to the 88, the Black Edition ticks up the power and the energy and brings a new level of performance to an already fantastic all-mountain shape.

Built with a Tubelite wood core, the 88 Black Edition get’s Elan’s Quadrod technology featuring four carbon rods. We get two along the sides and two through the middle. These keep the ski energetic, light, and incredibly stable for the weight. In the 182, the skis sit on the scale at a paltry stated weight of 1600 g/ski. If you wanted to use these as a dedicated touring ski, we would not have any issues with that. Tester Matty Kuhnel states that “These Ripsticks were great at making railroad track turns. The tails want to stay in a carve, taking some effort to skid out of a long radius turn. They are light on the legs, and the front of the ski is forgiving when hitting terrain inconsistency. At high speeds, the forgiveness of the front can chatter a little. Overall, a good balance of playfulness and stay-in-carve charging. These skis like a lot of pressure on the downhill ski. They would be best on groomers, and groomers with chop. They will save you when you didn’t see that death cookie coming at you in flat light.”

Looking at the shape and profile, the ski has an identical footprint to the normal 88. We get measurements of 127/88/106 that generate a 16.8-meter turn radius. It’s fun to go shorter than this arc, and I think one of the big changes is that the new Black Edition 88 can go longer with greater comfort as well. You can really stand on this ski and generate some sick power. Tester Matt Stromecki notes that it’s been a “Long time coming! Such a great addition to the catalog. Certainly, some elevated stiffness and smoothness underfoot compared to the regular with pretty much no change in weight. Better for more aggressive and/or heavier skiers. It's not the strongest 88 out there, but it certainly has the most reactivity and energy to weight ratio. Very cool blend of agility, edge grip, and light weight. It's a Ripstick 88 with a slightly higher performance ceiling, great stuff!”

This should open the Ripstick 88 up to a group of skiers who likely just wanted a bit more out of that ski. By adding more carbon and eking more performance out of a great shape, the Ripstick 88 Black Edition is going to entice and enthrall a lot of skiers. One of the cool things about the Ripsticks is that they’re appealing and amenable to skiers ranging from intermediate to expert, so there’s a large target audience here, and these skiers will likely truly enjoy the versatility and energy of the new Ripstick 88 Black Edition.