THE PEOPLE'S SKI TEST - ELAN WINGMAN 86 CTi

ELAN WINGMAN 86 CTi
Category: All Mountain
Lengths: 161, 166, 172, 178, 184
Dimensions: 130/86/112
Radius: 16.5m @ 178
MSRP: $999 (with bindings)
More info: elanskis.com

“Since rockered fat skis first arrived on the scene, I’ll admit that I’ve shied away from skinnier offerings. Whether it was mind over matter, I felt unstable and unconfident on anything narrower than 95 millimetres underfoot, and preferred utilizing a wider plank to bash my way to the bottom. But now that my love of cruising corduroy has blossomed with age, the Elan Wingman 86 CTi made me realize what I’ve been missing. With a 16.5-metre turn radius, it seamlessly linked medium-sized, diamond-cutting turns on hardpack, and slightly shorter ones while elegantly gliding through the trees— although in longer arcs across the fall line I found it had a tendency to be a tad resistant to rolling over. Thanks to titanium construction and Elan’s asymmetrical Amphibio technology, the Wingman without question packs a punch, but both surprisingly and refreshingly, it never felt like it was skiing five feet in front of me, even if I rested on my laurels. I’ve seen the light." –Jeff Schmuck

Reviewer’s Rating: On Piste: 10/10 • Off Piste: 6/10
Average Rating: On Piste: 8.5/10 • Off Piste: 6/10

REVIEWER BIO:

Jeff Schmuck
Age: 41 / Height: 5’9” / Weight: 185 lbs / Occupation: Editor of Forecast Ski Magazine
Raised in Rossland but now based in Vancouver, our very own editor Jeff Schmuck returns to his old stomping grounds of Red Mountain Resort as often as he can to lay down lefts and rights at his favourite place to ski in the world, and nostalgically listen to golden-aged locals tell tales of old during après at Rafters. Due to his early days in the dense, tangled forests that make up Red’s multifaceted slopes, Schmuck loves tree skiing above all else, and therefore currently prefers a slightly stiff, fully rockered, shapely, poppy, non-directional twin-tip a little above or below 110 millimetres in the waist.