Regular visitors to realskiers are most likely aware that we haven’t covered Elan for a few seasons. It hasn’t been for lack of interest on the part of our membership, several of whom have voiced intense displeasure at our elision of Elan. The brand has been selling skis in this country for half a century, more than enough time to incubate a cadre of followers who want to keep current. So how come our coverage of Elan shrank out of sight?
The answer lies in our methodology. Realskiers reviews depend on input from our test shops; if we don’t have enough test cards on a given model to be comfortable making (or not making) a recommendation, we have no foundation for a review. Our network of specialty shops submitted only a handful of test cards over the last two years, a reflection of Elan’s retreating market share.
Another limitation imposed by our model is realskiers’ intention to direct our readers to specialty shops who carry the models we review. We feel it’s important to support the shops that provide the services that make high performance skiing possible, so we in turn support the brands that have a history of backing the specialty channel of independent retailers. If our only recourse is to send the consumer directly to the supplier, we feel as if we’ve only done half our job.
We are insufficiently visionary to predict how Elan’s fortunes will fare in the year that lies ahead. The Slovenian brand seems to be out of the EU’s doghouse and ready to pursue a more penetrating presence on the American market. We’re covering Elan again because our first loyalty is to our readers and members. Enough of you have asked for our impressions of current Elans that we took pains to ensure at least some coverage of key models. How much more coverage there is in the future will depend more on Elan’s efforts than ours.
2016 Addendum
What buzz there’s been about Elan centers on their carving skis and race models. The Ripstick might have the largest single bloc of Elan enthusiasts in its corner, and of the Elans we review here it was our testers’ clear favorite. All four of the Elans in our coverage are Amphibios, meaning they’re half-reptile, half-human.
Of course that’s not it, but the Amphibio feature is an oddity, with asymmetric forebodies that are rockered only on the outside edge. The intent is to provide an uncompromised carving experience while still allowing for a buffered ride in light chop. It is integrated into the design to the degree that it doesn’t detract from the business of creating a continuous, unbroken carve.
technical · frontside · all-mountain east
Technical
Ripstick Fusion
Ripstick Fusion
Power: A
Finesse: A+
Sidecut: 114/70/99
Radius: 17.8m @ 176cm
Lengths: 170,176,182,186
Weight: 2346g @ 176cm
MSRP: $1250
Most of the skis in the Technical fraternity are body-builder strong, winning the war for your allegiance with conquest, not caresses. The Elan Ripstick isn’t one of the burly bunch, but a sinuous smoothie who earns your affection with its yes-man acquiescence to your every wish.
Elan would probably tell you that the reason the Ripstick moves as naturally edge to edge as water flows downhill is their Amphibio design that rockers only the outside edge. If so, its influence is so subtle it went undetected by our test panel. What they could feel was a ski willing to make any turn shape from a high stance or a low, laid-over super-carve.
True to its carving heritage, the Ripstick Fusion likes to lay down rails, maintaining contact with the edge at all times. To keep from going off the tracks, the Ripstick releases its energy in a gentle pulse, allowing the ski to form a round-bellied arc before slinking forward. “Smooth as a Cadillac,” cooed Alive, my confrere from Bobo’s, who was “pleasantly surprised by its stability.”
We didn’t break out our Finesse Favorites for this genre, but if we had the Ripstick Fusion would have been on the podium. It’s no noodle, with a substantial platform you can trust to grip hard snow at a high edge angle, but overall its ease outshines even its considerable power properties.
Performance Scores |
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| Early to edge: | 8.50 | Low speed turning: | 8.25 | |
| Continuous accurate carve: | 9.00 | Forgiveness/ease: | 8.50 | |
| Rebound/turn finish: | 8.50 | Drift/scrub: | 8.25 | |
| Stable/accurate @ speed: | 9.25 | Finesse/power balance: | 8.50 | |
| Short radius turns: | 8.75 | |||
| Off-piste performance: | 6.75 | Overall | 84.25 |
Frontside
Amphibio 84 XTi
Sidecut: 131/84/112
Radius: 17.1m @ 176cm
Lengths: 164,170,176,182
Weight: 2300g @ 176cm
MSRP: $800
Neither as thrilling as the Ripstick nor as versatile as the Amphibio 88 XTi, the Amphibio 84 XTi occupies a compromised position in this family of carving skis. If you really want to pull g’s on hardpack, the Ripstick is the ticket. If you envision an Amphibio being your everyday ride regardless of conditions, the extra girth of the 88 is an advantage in every off-piste condition but moguls, and it’s actually no worse in bumps than the 84. If this makes the Amphibio 84 XTi sound like a lost child, it’s not. Like all 84’s of its ilk, it rides like a wide Technical ski, preferring groomed terrain where it can maintain snow contact on its sinuous edge.
Amphibio 16 Ti2 Fusion
Sidecut: 121/73/104
Radius: 14.5m @ 166cm
Lengths: 160,166,172,178
Weight: 2250g @ 166cm
MSRP: $1100
The Amphibio 16 works like it’s on the midnight shift: it’s made to check in super early and be out of the turn promptly so the next shift can start. The forebody has a voluptuous 48mm difference between the front contact point and the pinched-in, 73mm waist, giving the Amphibio 16 the innate desire to dive into a short turn the instant it’s tipped on edge. The tail, in contrast, is as skinny as a runway model’s calves, so it’s duty-bound to release the edge shortly after crossing the fall line. The sidecut in combination with the fully cambered inside edge produces a continuous, flowing edge with minimal pilot input. “Very stable, it holds well” confirmed Superior Ski’s Steve Bagley, adding what could be the first line of a ski haiku: “Smooth, good energy.”
All-mountain East
Amphibio 88 XTi
Sidecut: 135/88/116
Radius: 17.2m @ 176cm
Lengths: 170,176,184
Weight: 1970g @ 176cm
MSRP: $800
The most versatile Amphibio we tried, the 88 XTi, still can’t disguise its carving inclinations. “The perfect hardpack ski,” assessed Scott Sahr of Aspen Ski and Board. “Metal in its makeup gives the ski just enough dampening for a quiet, smooth feel, but not enough to weigh it down.” Scott’s wingman Mike Langdon was equally smitten, claiming the Amphibio 88 “took everything you threw at and could still handle more.”
A couple of our Snowbird-based testers in whose terse comments we place a lot of stock, Gary Black from Christy’s and Bags from Superior Ski, were singing from the same hymnal as our Midwestern contingent. Blackie unabashedly “loved them. Smooth, consistent edge grip, easy to transition [to next turn]. The “easy to transition” bit could be attributed to the Amphibio effect, which on the 88 is distributed across a broader beam, magnifying its influence.