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Elan Ripstick 96 and Ripstick 106 ski test and review

snow action team 07.09.2019

The Elan Ripstick series have been a great addition to their lineup the past few years. The latest 96 and 106 are great examples. And excellent one ski quiver buying. Steve ‘Crazy’ Leeder rocked the Elan Ripstick Black Edition 96 & Owain Price took the Ripstick 106 for a spin around the Southern Hemisphere’s biggest resort (yep, it is!), Perisher.

Steve Leeder popping off the Olympic ridgeline at Perisher on a pair of Elan Ripstik 96 skis
Steve had plenty of fun on the Ripstik 96 © Owain Price

Elan Ripstick 96 Black Edition

The Ripstick 96 was one of my favourite skis on the day. I loved how solid it was landing middle to big size cliffs on the wind blown chalk. As soon as my feet hit the snow I was into a carve and railing turns.

Go anywhere on these.

The Black Edition Ripsticks are the Glenn Plake models in the series, featuring carbon fibre for lightweight performance to suit upping the ante as much as you want to.

Elan Ripstick 106 in profile
The Elan Ripstick 106 will get you from here to anywhere .. © Owain Price

Elan Ripstick 106

I have yet to ski a Ripstick I didn’t like since first testing them back in 2016 at Copper Mountain during the American Ski Industry Assocation ski tests there. Elan’s resident guru Glenn Plake had given us the wrap on them a couple of days before at the Denver Ski Trade show. Plakey was on point as usual.

“Definitely the surprise of the ski test was Elan’s amazing completely new Ripstick series. The 96 and the Womens 94 were our pick for skiing Australia and also being a versatile traveller ski” was the verdict of our Aussie ski shop testers then, David and Debbie Emmerton from Snowbound in Sydney.

The latest incarnation of the 106 is just such an easy to sweetspot on ski – hop on and you’re in the zone – that it is fun from the first run. Chasing Steve Crazy around is not for the faint hearted, or slow. At least I got a breather getting shots of him popping off stuff.

You can ski all day on Ripsticks. If you want to ease off they won’t run away, and if you want to crank hard they will. Or jump off stuff.

Ripstick 96 or 106 is the question to answer?

Aussie skiers staying at home or heading to North America or Europe for northern winters will find the 96 more than capable multi mission boards. If you are more of a Japow fan the 106 will slay that easier for you. They are light and manoeuvrable, perfect for tree sessions.

Flat skis costs Elan Ripstick 96 $AUD 999, Elan Ripstick 106 $1099

Glen Plake gives Snow Action the lowdown on the Ripstick series
If Glenn Plake says it rocks, it rocks – he favours the 106 as his go anywhere do it all ski and we agree © Owain Price