Elan, the often innovative Slovenian ski company, has launched a folding all-mountain ski, called the Elan Voyager.
This isn’t the first folding ski Elan’s developed, but it’s the first model for mainstream skiing. We haven’t tested this ski yet, but we have tested the previous version of this design from Elan.
Elan Ibex Tactix Carbon
Their previous model was built for military needs and specialist ski tourers requiring a ski that could easily fit on the side of a backpack. Part of their Ibex range of ski touring products, the Elan Ibex Tactix Carbon was an incredible innovation, even though it is was quite a niche product.
We skied this in 2018, at the SIGB Ski Test in Galtür, Austria, and were really impressed by how it performed. Add in the fact that it’s a folding ski, and it was even more impressive. The multi-pivot hinge allows the ski to fold, but has excellent torsional control. When unfolded, a beefy carbon plate pivots to sit above the hinge. This locks into place in front of and behind the binding. The binding’s mounted directly into the carbon plate.
The carbon plate is so strong it made the ski far more like an all-mountain ski than a touring ski – so it’s no surprise that their latest iteration of this design is for all-mountain skiing.
Elan Yoyager
Lengths: 160 (87cm folded), 166 (89cm folded), 172cm (93cm folded)
Sidecut: 127-78-110mm in all lengths
Radius: 14.9m in 172cm
Weight per ski: 3,400g in 160cm
Price: £1,349.95 / €1,499.95 / $N/A* including bag, poles & accessories
The skis are available in green, black or pink, retailing for €1,299.95 including the bindings. All of the Voyager options include the bindings, as they’re mounted on the frame which locks the ski into its unfolded, skiing state.
Construction
The Voyager has a woodcore, with Titanium metal boosting stability and performance, with a decent sidewall for drive through the edge of the ski.
Amphibio
The ski utilises Elan’s Amphibio shaping, where you have a left and right specific ski. The reason for this is that the skis have a longer standard camber along the inside edge, with more rocker on the outside of the ski. This results in excellent grip without the skis being too ‘grabby’ into the turn. The outside edge rocker provides easy and forgiving entry and exit of the turn. The rocker is not primarily designed for flotation in soft snow, rather for easy of use.
Carving tight lines
The skis have quire a short radius: 12.6m in 160cm length, 13.7m in 166cm and 14.9m in 172cm. This should make for fun skiing on firm snow, carving tight ruts down the mountain. Given the power we know Elan can deliver with this design, it could work really well with a relatively tight radius.
Binding & plate
The multi-linkage hinge in the ski is key to how it folds and keeps a high level of torsional rigidity when skied. However, the carbon reinforced bridge, which pivots and locks the ski unfolded, is the powerful backbone to this novel approach to packable skis. Watch the video below, and you’ll see Filip unfolding the ski to show you how it works.
Having skied a previous version of this plate, it’s amazing how effective this sytsem is at keeping everything locked in place, with tons of power through the ski.
Want to see how strong this is? Watch Filip Flisar, Ski Cross World Champion, putting the Voyager ski through it’s paces and trying his very hardest to break them.
The Elan branded Tyrolia binding is the EMX 12.0 Grip Walk. It comes pre-mounted on the carbon reinforced binding plate. Tyrolia’s the oldest binding manufacturer in the world, and this model’s compatible with regular flat-soled ISO 5355 downhill boots as well as the modern curved rubber Grip Walk sole. The binding provides a DIN setting range of 3.5 – 12.
Voyager packages
Elan also offers the Voyager as one of two packages. Each of these options include the Voyager skis, a pair of poles, a cleaning brush and a drying cloth, along with a transportation / storage bag.
Elan Voyager Urban Traveler
The Urban Traveler (their spelling, not ours) package comes with a bag that has room for the kit you’re provided with, and a few snacks and small knick-knacks, but not much else. This retails for €1,499.95. If you wanted to buy the bag on its own, it costs €189.95, with the poles quite expensive too at €129.95.
The bag’s 100cm long, 26cm wide and 18cm tall. This means the bag can be checked into the hold of many airlines without incurring ski carriage fees. This would work with Swiss and Easyjet, for example, but the bag’s 10cm too long for British Airways. It’s a moot point with BA though, as they allow you take skis as part of your checked baggage allowance, up to 190cm in length; you just can’t exceed their weight allowance of 23kg.
Elan Voyager Skier On The Go
The other package includes a larger wheelie bag and costs €1,779.95 for the bag, skis, poles, brush and drying cloth. The bag has a telescopic handle and wheels, making it a breeze to move your kit around. This bag’s also a larger clamshell design, accommodating the skis and poles in one side, with enough room for your boots, jacket, ski pant, gloves and goggles in the other. If you want to buy the bag on it’s own the cost is €349.95.
The Skier On The Go bag’s still 100cm long, but with a width of 25cm and 31cm height. Again this would fit in Easyjet and Swiss Airlines checked baggage allowance, scraping 2cm within the Swiss Airlines limit of a 158cm total for the three dimension measurements. Not that it matters, as Swiss let you take skis anyway, like BA.
The great thing with this bag is that you could get away with this one bag for your trip, possibly with your backpack as carry-on.
Gimme More
Want to see more kit tests and reviews then subscribe to the SkiKitInfo.com YouTube channel for industry leading gear test videos, or check out What’s New for 2021? for more gear reviews from SkiKitInfo.com.
We hope to test the Voyager ahead of next winter; fingers crossed we get the chance to get onto snow. When this happens, we’ll be sure to make a video of this for you on the YouTube channel.
Want to see more of what Elan’s got to offer, you can visit their site at Elanskis.com.
Quoted Prices
*Prices quoted here can be a mixture of recommended retail price from the brand and prices that you can currently get the kit for from retailers in that territory. The prices may therefore be less or more than you can find in-store / online and are only intended to give you a guide as to what you may expect to pay.
N/A means a price, or the product, was not available to us in that territory at the time of writing this article.
Always ensure you do adequate research when buying ski equipment to ensure you’re getting the best service and advice from the retailer, combined with a price that works for your budget. Don’t always assume that cheaper means better value.
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