Alpine skis
Product 2021
Man
On paper the Elan SCX Fusion X is very performant. It is very heavy underfoot, there’s no doubt there is quality material. You can’t feel the tip, but you do feel a bit of inertia.
This Elan is one of these richly endowed skis: every year the brands add materials, layers, platforms, it becomes real gas factories unfortunately reserved for very good very powerful skiers who manage to deform the ski in order to ‘get a workable flex. With this prerequisite admitted, we are not even sure that an expert skier can take advantage of it unless they go really fast: on an open slope it isn’t that easy. At any rate, this Elan SCX Fusion X is only reserved for very well-groomed snow.
With testers weighing around 70kg we were able to exploit it on open rolling slopes, like blue runs. As soon as there’s a steep slope it’s not so easy to stay on the edge and keep fluidity. It stalls if you push on it too far forward, and if you don’t apply enough pressure behind. We also tried to pressure it more underfoot and at the tail in order to get a consistent curve on a steep run; the test wasn’t that successful.
The Elan SCX Fusion X sends a lot of vibrations up the legs, which is a shame, it loses finesse and softness on the snow which has been described as rather “raw”. You have to push the ski all the time and the ski’s structure doesn’t filter hardly anything. We tried to find solutions but couldn’t and, in the end, we had to adapt to the ski, and this shouldn’t be the case. You have to pick your brains and concentrate on skiing, instead of just focusing on your curve.
On rolling slopes, and loading the tip, you finally find a ski that carves fluidly without having to push it too much. In these conditions, you can enjoy the powerful and efficient grip on icy hardpack. On a straight fall line, the Elan SCX Fusion X does not float, you can tell it comes from a racing background and it can go very fast. The glide is really good as well as the finishes and the professional manufacturing.
The colors are very… fluorescent, especially the neon green plastic plates under the bindings, it doesn’t go unnoticed! In terms of skiability, we’d like a more regular flex, we feel that there’s a really very stiff zone underfoot. We would like a softer ski with a smoother ride. If you decrease the angle in a more upright stance, things get better but you find yourself entering a skidding turn, then you find the edge but then the exit tends to be under turned, or it just pulls straight ahead. We’re not getting the nice carving acceleration we expected. Elan wanted to do a little too much with the SCX Fusion X, but it ended up being unevenly balanced. Reserved for heavily built very good skiers.
We used this equipment over a long period of time
These are our thoughts after intensive use:
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