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Rippers Indeed — Elan Ripstick 96 Ski Review

by Gary Smith December 31, 2020
written by Gary Smith December 31, 2020
Freeride freedom on the Elan 96 Ripsticks.

Freeride freedom on the Elan 96 Ripsticks.

Last spring I stood on top of a 2,300 foot couloir with an unskied pair of boards underfoot — the Elan Ripstick 96. The couloir was steep but not extreme and the snow slowly graduated from barely edge-able to trench-able boot top powder throughout the descent. The Ripsticks were sturdy, predictable and versatile beyond anything I had experienced in recent memory. What was this strange sensation? The Ripsticks ripped. These are alpine skis and I had been exclusively on skis designated “touring” for years.

I’ve made a habit of testing out new setups in the controlled environment that is the ski hill. Put some G-forces into the bindings and get a feel for ski flex and rebound before pushing them into more consequential terrain. The couloir mission was a morning one-and-done, so I reversed my habit and drove straight to the local ski hill to gain more nuanced insight of the ‘Sticks.

The first few turns on the 96 Ripsticks -- a strange mix of confusion and inspired confidence.

The first few turns on the 96 Ripsticks — a strange mix of confusion and inspired confidence.

Tech/Design

When I was contacted by Elan to test a pair of skis last season, I must admit my Rocky Mountain bias pigeonholed Elans as only suited for crushing T-to-B groomers in between crushing Carlsbergs in an Austrian lodge. Alas, I should know better. These are Glenn Plake’s skis (he prefers the 105 model), free skiing icon, eternal purveyor of ski stoke, and my favorite Totally Deep Podcast guest to date.

The Ripsticks are built with Elan’s Amphibio Carbon Line construction with a primary objective of maximum power transmission to the downhill ski’s inside edge. The tip early rise is slightly asymmetrical with 4 cm more contact on the inside and a carbon fiber sheet lays over the core on the inside half only.

An extra 4-5 cm of contact on the inside edge makes for a more powerful grip and ability to really hammer the inside ski.

An extra 4-5 cm of contact on the inside edge makes for a more powerful grip and ability to really hammer the inside ski.

This being WildSnow, the right thing to do was to put them on the wrong feet. I took a few chair laps to see if I noticed a difference with my rights and lefts mixed up. I’d like to think I have a pretty refined palate for ski performance, but I could barely tell a difference. The skis were a little less smooth around the turn. Other than that, it was a wash, though I would guess an alpine boot and binding might make the differences more perceptible.

I made sure to maintain the correct placement for the remainder of the ski mountaineering season. One gripe is the very subtle Left and Right markers. I meant to put an obnoxious sticker on one tip, as several times I managed to get my skis on in some impossibly tiny and exposed spot, only to see them attached to the wrong boot.

The core is a wood laminate bored out longitudinally near the edges and reinforced with a couple of carbon tubes — adding stiffness while removing wood weight. The tip of the core is hollowed out and replaced by a synthetic material as many manufacturers are doing. Fiberglass reinforcement is used over the majority of the core for its superior downhill performance characteristics as compared to lighter yet less forgiving carbon sheets. Edges begin 10cm from the tip and end 2cm from a flat plastic tail cap, notched wide enough for any skin tail clip. The incomplete tail edges seem an unnecessary cop-out and potential durability issue, though no problems yet. Sidewalls run more or less the entire length.

A 'heavy' ski by WildSnow standards, but the Rip Sticks make up for that in performance.

A ‘heavy’ ski by WildSnow standards, but the Rip Sticks make up for that in performance.

Touring ski designers are often battling for your dollars with published grams counts. Make it light, then try to make it ski well. Any reduction in the 96’s touring weight seems to be more tangential benefit of a ski designed lighter for downhill maneuverability and reduced swing weight. The 180cm 96 weighed in at 1678 grams. The 96’s would land near the bottom of Lou’s ski weight/surface comparison chart, though my math skills do not warrant an attempt at placing a number to them. Suffice to say they are a “heavy ski” in the WildSnow world.

Elan categorizes the Ripstick line as freeride. No Tall-T enthusiasts, not spinning off everything in sight or being featured in the latest TGR flick (though I’d imagine the 116 option would charge an Alaskan spine quite well). Freeride in the more sophisticated European sense meaning off-piste — including but not limited to human powered ups. Freedom from dodging tourists on moguls and corduroy.

The 96’s shaping is as refined as its image. Classic with a few modern touches like those asymmetrical tips and sizable taper from tip to tail. I waxed on about taper last season as a powerful shaping tool for backcountry skis. A 20mm tip to tail difference was the max of any non-Pontoon that I looked at. The 96 Ripsticks utilize 26mm of taper with 136-96-110 dimensions yielding an 18m turn radius in the 180cm model. The pinner tail sinks while the wide tip planes in powder. The stiff tail and limited rear early rise retain power when it’s needed. Another win for tapered skis.

On snow

I was able to put 30-40 days on the Ripsticks last spring in the local high country. They were paired exclusively with a La Sportiva Skorpius CR boot, clamped in by the Black Diamond Helio 200, and mounted at 0 or “ride”. This is about as light as one would want to go on the boot, as the Ripsticks solid nature requires some forward input from the boot.

The 96s excelled in every ski mountaineering condition encountered — corn in all of its varieties, sastrugi, spring powder, wind board, frozen, etc. The only condition I didn’t ski them in is bottomless powder. They would handle it fine though some combination of softer, fatter, and more rocker makes skis much more fun and playful in the deep.

In marketing the 96, Elan keyed in on “smoothness”. It appears the design team did as well. The smoothness factor is fantastic in the variable conditions that come with alpine skiing. The Ripstick’s construction absorbs vibration while the dampened stiffness blasts through chunder allowing a powerful and confident stance.

Steep and exposed terrain made more palatable on Elan’s Ripticks

Steep and exposed terrain made more palatable on Elan’s Ripsticks.

The more proactive and aggressive you can be with any given equipment, the more solid your body positioning is. Many featherweight skis require some babying in variable snow so as to not get bucked around. This will inevitably put you in an upright or backseat position. With practice, light skis can be skillfully floated around a turn in less than ideal snow, but the ability to arc a turn while hammering the downhill ski and keeping the uphill inline with less effort yields confidence in consequential terrain. Then when it’s time to open it up on an apron, lay the Ripsticks over and smile as they rail GS turns with ease.

In summation

Best skis ever? Probably not if you are Mikaela Shiffrin arcing the world’s most perfect turns through World Cup gates. Sammy Carlson will not be stomping 540s in bottomless powder on these. Killian Jornet’s next FTK? Not on Ripsticks.

As a ski mountaineering tool however, the Ripstick 96 is brilliant. In fact, I could be quoted as saying that the Ripstick 96 is the best performing ski I’ve ever been on. These solid yet smooth skis have even helped me improve upon my steep skiing technique. With a full season of touring training, the weight was not an issue. The Ripsticks were underfoot for 15 plus mile missions covering over 8,000 ft of gain. The Ripsticks now sit idle in the garage, awaiting the high mountain coverage and stability of March and beyond. For now, the inferior floppy and rockered skis will have to do.

Steep, high, and shady May powder on the Ripstick 96s

Steep, high, and shady May powder on the Ripstick 96s.

SPECS
Weight – 1678g (181)
Available lengths – 167cm, 174cm, 181cm, 188cm
Dimensions – 136mm – 96mm – 133mm (181)
Radius – 18m

Shop for the Elan Ripstick 96

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10 comments

Jack December 31, 2020 - 9:44 am

I’m exploring a setup for freeride/off piste skiing with flexibility to do moderate amounts of skinning. I’m aiming at classic Chamonix lines with combined cable/skinning access. (which, I know, puts me in a state of sin). How would you compare these to the Volkl Vwerks Mantra, which seems to be in the same class? I’m considering Tecnica Zero-G boots and Fritschi Tecton bindings. The whole package is intended to ski mixed steep terrain confidently while permitting some touring. Great review. Those photos look like fantasy life to me.

Reply
Gary December 31, 2020 - 2:48 pm

Hey Jack, no judgment here! I’ve often dreamed of a USA with more ambition in mountain construction (whether huts or cables) and a few less lawyers saying its a bad idea. I haven’t skied the V werks mantra- just the BMT 122. I would imagine it skis a little more like a typical carbon ski than the ripstick- more powerful but more jerky and pingy. Metal in there too for the power, where as the Ripstick does not have any. If you are a big guy it could be a great option. Also best to have some experience with carbon fiber intensive skis to know what you’re getting in to. I loved the BMT in powder. I ski the Zero G on resort and resort accessed tours. It’s a great powerful boot for the weight super responsive. Tours well for its class. A little too stiff and upright up top for me and I’m considering going to a Cochise or Lange XT that skis even more like an alpine boot. Very little time on a Tecton but I know folks can feel an improvement over traditional heels on tech bindings. Hope that helps!

Reply
Jack December 31, 2020 - 2:59 pm

Gary, thanks for your comments. Yeah, I am a fairly big guy, 185 pounds at “fighting weight”. Not a natural climber and older at 66 y.o.. Tecnica machs are my alpine boot and they are very fine technical boots. I take your carbon comments seriously, sometimes the natural damping of wood cores just gives skis a serious, trustworthy feel. The Ripsticks are now on my list (plus they are significantly less money). Thanks for the ski clinic!

Reply
Kevin S January 13, 2021 - 7:47 am

Jack I’m late to this thread but I’ll offer a few comments as we have some parallels as the Elan sounds like a great ski but slightly beefier than my setup. First I weigh in at 195 and am a youngster at 57. For lift served I also ski the Tecnica Mach 1 130s and they drive an all mountain Kastle. My current BC setup is as follows: Kastle TX93 with Dynafit rotation 12s. I am confident with this setup to ski any terrain in the BC and would have no problem ripping GS turns inbounds as the skis are solid while offering a solid feel in deeper snow. The specs say the Kastle has a carbon fiberglass wrap around the core and so far I’d say that is a nice layup considering the BC traffic that has led to packed out runs on many of my typical tour routes, lack of meaningful Colorado snow and the crunchy conditions we are experiencing this year. My BC boots are La Sportiva Spectre 2.0 and while a few years old they drive the Kastles and their predecessor Black Crows very well. Good luck!

Reply
Al December 31, 2020 - 4:24 pm

Elan sizes the Ripstick 167/ 174/ 181/ 188, I never got a chance to ski them before getting injured but I thot there was wierd sizing/a bit of a hole in the lineup so to speak. At 165lb I usually going for a 185cm which is right in the middle so I wondered which way to go ?

Reply
Ross December 31, 2020 - 11:04 pm

Blisterreview.com verifies the claimed weight, length, and width dimensions of the skis they review. They measured a “181 cm” Ripstick 96 at 177.4 cm and two different “188 cm” Ripstick 106 models at 184.0 and 183.8 cm. I ordered some “188 cm” 19/20 Ripstick 96 Black Edition skis which will arrive next week and I expect to measure around 184 cm with a tip to tail tape pull.

Reply
rob coppolillo January 4, 2021 - 1:52 am

Informative, helpful review—having moved from Colorado to the Alps, I’m looking at 1600g-ish skis these days…this one sounds like a super quiver-of-one….haven’t tried it yet, though! Thanks for the good work!

Reply
Carl G January 4, 2021 - 4:21 pm

I agree as well that this is a great one quiver ski. I too had a hard time seeing the right or left indicator until I realized that the Elan logos near the tips are offset (right on the right ski and left on the left ski) so your gripe is now resolved.

Reply
Ross January 18, 2021 - 8:35 pm

Elan 96 Black Edition listed specs: 188cm, 134-96-113, 1550 gm (for 181cm length) per https://elanskis.com/us_en/ripstick-96-black-edition

Measured: Ski 1 184.0 cm, 136.2-94.3-110.3, 2692 gm
Ski 2 183.9 cm, 136.1-94.3-110.5, 2633 gm

Both skis have Armada branded Shift 13 bindings with 90mm brakes (865 gm each measured per Blister review) and also DPS Phantom base treatment which is assumed to add negligible weight.

Estimated weight Ski 1: 2692 – 865 = 1827 gm
Ski 2: 2633 – 865 = 1768 gm

Conclusion: Don’t trust manufacturer’s claimed specs.

Reply
Ross January 18, 2021 - 11:13 pm

Correction, 884 gm each binding with screws per https://www.wildsnow.com/25054/salomon-atomic-shift-ski-binding-review/

Estimated weight Ski 1: 2692 – 884 = 1808 gm
Ski 2: 2633 – 884 = 1749 gm

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