Elan has always been willing to innovate, and they continue to do so with their latest development: the worldā€™s first foldable ski, theĀ Ibex Tactix.

Traditional ski and winter equipment poses many limitations for easy transportation. For destination skiers who prefer to travel with their skis, transporting full-length skis can be cumbersome and space prohibiting. For ski mountaineers, traveling across various conditions and mixed terrain from snow to rock with full length skis present challenges when transporting the equipment on a backpack during non-ski touring portions of an adventure, such as climbing up or repelling down steep rocky faces.

To address the issues, Elan developed the first fully foldable skis. To achieve this design feat, Elan took the traditional backcountry touring Ibex skis, cut them in half and connected them with a revolutionary folding mechanism that is built on a fixed carbon plate and rotates 180 degrees for ski and non-ski mode. It dissembles a 163cm length ski to a 90cm length ski in less than 20 seconds for easy transport.

The folding mechanism found on the Elan Ibex Tactix is the first of its kind. Itā€™s high level of innovation was recognized by Popular Science with a ā€œBest of What’s Newā€ award in the recreation category for introducing something that progresses the sport through a new technology for skiers who love to travel or explore. The bindings are powered by Elanā€™s G3’s Ion 12 tech bindings. The entire package weighs 5.5kg and includes skis, bindings, and skins.