The Coolest Pieces of Gear We Tested This Week

Spring skiing is the best. And there’s still plenty of time across the country to get your turns in before the hills dry up for the season. And whether you’re touring in the backcountry or taking laps at your local resort, there’s never a bad time to upgrade your gear—particularly your skis and bindings. This year, we highly recommend the Ripstick Tour 104 skis with the Elan RAIDER 12 DEMO bindings.

These skis are legendary style icon and freeskiing pioneer Glen Plake’s signature model, so you know they’re built for the real deal. Right out of the box, these skis are so damn-good looking, that if we were judging based on aesthetics alone, we haven’t seen a pair of skis in years that could hold a candle to these. While they’re designed for the advanced/expert skier, we’d vouch that they’d also serve most intermediate skiers well. (But we certainly wouldn’t recommend these to a beginner or first-timer.)

Built specifically to handle variable and powder conditions the Ripstick Tour 104 are the ultimate touring ski, in our opinion. The fine folks at Elan and Plake did an impeccable job at fine-tuning these skis with both capability and versatility in mind. Mounted with the RAIDER 12 DEMO touring bindings (weighing in at an impressive 450g per piece) these skis are designed for optimal performance—on your way down, as well as up the hill. Paired with the Elan Ripstick Skins—made from 65-percent Mohair and 35-percent nylon to achieve optimal glide-to-grip ratio—there really isn’t anywhere in the backcountry you won’t be able to climb (pending your athletic endurance and backcountry safety experience, of course).

The Ripstick 104s are constructed from a revolutionary carbon construction that produces the optimal blend of touring maneuverability, with straight-up badass freeride performance. They’re ultra-lightweight for your uphill ascents, and their integrated Carbon Bridge Technology will literally blow your hair back with every turn on your descent. These are the skis you need to tackle all those epic backcountry tours with your buddies that you’ll be reminiscing about for decades.

Not to mention that these skis still turn heads inbounds, as well. While they truly shine in the deep stuff, they’re still unbelievably fun straight off the lift—similar to driving a Ferrari down a crowded city street. And did we mention how rad they look? Enough said.—Jon Perino, senior editor

[Skis $799 ; elanskis.com][Bindings $649; elanskis.com] [Skins $199; elanskis.com]

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