Featured Image: Brooks Roe
Over the last few years, Icelantic has steadily expanded its women line of skis, watching the popularity of the Riveter 85 and 95 continue to grow. Recently, they’ve heard a boom in demand for a wider, stiffer version of the Riveter for the hard-charging woman and responded by rolling out the new Icelantic Riveter 104, built with the same Poplar Power Core to rip big-mountain lines with confidence.
The shape of the Riveter is a bit different too, with a lower tail, creating a more directional, all-mountain profile that allows the skier to power in and out of turns with ease. Most of the development time and effort for the Riveter 104 was spent dialing in the appropriate flex, primarily by playing with different core profiles and testing them out on the mountain. Icelantic wanted to add the necessary stiffness to keep you in the front of your boot on fast turns, while providing a balance to drive the ski smoothly, without chatter, especially on variable snow.
The result is a stiff, damp ski that loves big lines. Instead of adding metal, the designers opted to add three layers of rubber, channeling the energy of chatter instead of making it overly stiff. Designed for hard-charging, all-mountain female skiers, the 104 is a compliment to Icelantic’s more playful Maiden collection of freeride skis. The strength of the ski is stability at high speeds and adverse conditions, yet it also performs in powder.
Using a rockered tip and a touch of camber underfoot, the Riveter 104 is a directional ski that accelerates quickly and blasts through crud with ease. However, the sidecut is proportionally the same as the Riveter 85 and 95, allowing it to still have fun while carving on groomers. After six months of testing different prototypes with athletes and dealers, Icelantic landed on a shape and flex that rocks a balance of lively and stiff, holding its shape and camber well.
“Durability of our product has been our top priority since the beginning,” says Icelantic Founder Ben Anderson. “The addition of more rubber in this will only enhance that and allow us to continue to offer our Bombproof Three-Year, No Questions Asked Warranty. Overall, when you buy a pair of Icelantic skis, we want you to believe in it as much as we do and ensure that you will have it for many years to come. Like all of our skis, the Riveter 104 is built to last and hand-crafted in Denver, Colorado.”
