2020 Elan Interra 82

At 82mm underfoot, Elan’s new Interra 82 seems to occupy a no-man’s land between traditional carving skis, such as sister ski Insomnia, and the current focus of the women’s market, All-Mountain East models with a midriff between 88mm and 93mm. No doubt about it, the All-Mountain East genre, with its promise of all-terrain mastery, has charmed the market into believing that it’s the Promised Land of women-specific skis. But as I argue in “82 is the new 88”, the gradual shift to narrower footprints has inspired several suppliers, including Elan, to lay a new stepping-stone in the path back to more realistic sidecuts. The reason the Women’s All-Mountain East genre assumed a dominant position in the U.S. market was its presumed superiority in off-trail conditions. But there are several reasons why many women would be even better off on a ski like the Interra 82.