Featured Image: Joe Dubois
For its 10th production year, RMU’s design philosophy for the Apostle focused on freeride touring. Loyal RMU skiers might balk at a revamp of the Apostle, the Breckenridge-based boutique ski brand’s most popular model. But the new Apostle 3.0 series only improves upon RMU’s longest standing model.
Adaptations to the Apostle included damper construction for stability at speed, a directional shape for carving quicker turns and a heavy-duty carbon-layup process that improves the flex pattern as it runs the full length of the ski. With a tight-knit team and the ability to prototype in-house in Breckenridge, RMU was able to adapt quickly: The Apostle 3.0 went from concept to production within a single year. As with the rest of RMU’s line, the new Apostle 3.0 is handmade in Sweden, in a hydroelectric factory that’s committed to minimizing waste and impacting the environment as little as possible.
Three different constructions offer a choose-your-own ski experience. The wood Apostle 96 (featured here) is built with a proven construction of poplar/beech core and reinforced triaxial fiberglass, offers playfulness and versatility, while the carbon version introduces a brand-new construction process that decreases the ski’s weight by five percent. RMU employs a lighter biaxial fiberglass mixed with reinforced aerospace carbon, which makes the ski slightly more forgiving and playful while preserving its torsional rigidity and solid feel on edge. A unique vibration-dampening tip in both models also decreases carbon chatter that disrupts variable snow performance.
Designed to have more stability and power, the Apostle 3.0’s blended directional radius gives the skier the freedom to change turn shape/size at different speeds, and a longer effective edge helps the Apostle grip and power through its turns, enhancing its performance on hardpack. But with new low-rise rocker in the tip and tail, the 3.0 can easily smear and surf. That extended radius makes for smoother contact points and results in a forgiving, user-friendly ski.
“When you stand on it, you instantly feel at home,” says RMU founder Luke Ocho Allen. “It’s intuitive. A lot of people are going to be happy about how this ski skis.”
They’re bound to be happy with how it looks, too. Coastal experiences inspired the Apostle’s art direction, influencing everything from the color palettes to the graphics, which are a snippet of a larger watercolor painting with an abstract nod to the ocean. “My work heavily relies on the flow of water to create unique shapes and lines that are created by letting the pigmented water naturally flow and pool with the paper,” says Colorado painter Juli Watson. Watson hopes skiers will make a visual connection with her artwork.
Rather than resting on its laurels with the decade-old, award-winning Apostle, RMU put time, effort and energy into everything from the inspired graphics to a brand-new construction.
