RMU Apostle 106 Carbon Skis

RMU’s philosophy with their Apostle Carbon 106 Skis is as they say “We manufacture all our Carbon skis in the same style and mindset; drop the weight, while IMPROVING performance. It is a continuously difficult task to find the right balance of wood and carbon fibre to lighten the ski and new innovative methods to improve the ski, but we believe we've reached a new milestone. Our new carbon skis drop between 12 - 15% in weight and outperform all others. We are ecstatic on the results.”

While the Apostle 106 Carbon Skis are not new to RMU’s line up they have been improved for the 2023/2024 edition. They have an updated carbon construction with the addition of an ABS frame around the rubber material in the tip spacer. This change improves their torsional rigidity throughout the ski and also stiffens the nose which means less tip chatter than before—helping to improve the continuity of the ski’s flex throughout its entire length.

The Apostle 106 Carbon are directional all mountain skis with a wide 106mm width underfoot for stability in variable snow conditions and technical terrain. Their fatter tips at 140mm and tails (127mm) mean that the ski’s taper allows for a relatively quick response when faced with tighter tree or technical couloir descents.

On the tail of the Apostle 106 Carbon Skis, you’ll find a rubber tail protector which helps improve the ski's durability. Integrated into this is a notch to accommodate a skin clip, helping to keep your skins in place and attached securely. The rockered tails allow for a versatile skiing style and some fun jibbing or smearing on days that warrant it.

The Apostle 106 is ideally suited for deep days in the backcountry and resort days with softer snow. Their progressive early-rise tips are fairly aggressive which ensures you’ll float on the deepest of days and over any crud or broken snow.

With a progressive flex and moderate camber underfoot initiating quick turns is fairly easy for such a wide ski. They are nimble underfoot and able to transition edge to edge with surprising ease when required. If you prefer carving hard on long consistent groomers with a flowing style you’ll be right at home with the Apostle 106 Carbon Skis.
 

Being fairly stiff skis the Apostle 106 Carbon are in need of a confident pilot who wants a reliable platform that they can drive fast and hard and isn’t afraid of skiing aggressively. With a beech wood mounting plate located under the binding position of the skis, you can be assured that no matter how hard your aggressive skiing style is, your weight or your binding's DIN rating, the Apostle 106 Carbon Skis can handle what you dish out.

The Apostle 106 Carbon Skis are a mid-fat freeride ski for those who want to add up the vertical in the backcountry and don’t want to be slowed down on the up track. This is why I mounted the Apostle 106 Carbon Skis with Marker’s super-light Alpinist 12 tech bindings, this ensures that the entire setup remains light and fast.

Rocky Mountain Underground takes sustainability seriously and the Apostle 106 Carbon Skis are built with 100% renewable energy generated by hydroelectric and geothermal sources which helps them reduce their carbon footprint by up to 75%.

• ICP 8210 PI19 Nylon Topsheet
• Extra Thick ABS Sidewall 8.5mm
• 18Oz Pre-Preg Heavy Duty Biax Fiberglass
• Aerospace Carbon Fiber Stringer
• Poplar & Paulownia Wood Core With Beech Mounting Plate
• Thin Felt To Increase Adhesion
• Rubber and ABS Frame Tip and Tail Spacer For Superior Dampening
• Aerospace Carbon Fiber Stringer
• 26Oz Pre-Preg Heavy Duty Triax Fiberglass
• Thin Felt To Increase Adhesion
• Full Wrap Rubber VDS For Superior Dampening
• Extra Thick Steel Edges 2.3mm
• Okulen 7150 C Graphite Race Base

• Rubber tail protector
• Poplar and paulownia core
• Beech mounting plate
• Tip Spacer with rubber and ABS Frame
• Built with 100% renewable energy
• Lifetime warranty

While the Apostle 106 Carbon Skis are considerably less stiff than the Apostle 106 Pro Skis (non-carbon version) they are almost equally stiffer than the Apostle 106 Skis while not being as torsionally stiff as either of those two versions. This is mainly because the Apostle 106 Carbon Skis are so much lighter, 500-700 grams when compared to the Apostle 106 which is 3,840g and the pro version which is 4,036g. All this means that while the Apostle 106 Carbon Skis are an advanced-expert ski, playfulness and forgiveness are not typically found in the Apostle Carbon Ski's vocabulary. These are skis that need to be driven with confidence, run them hard and fast and their stability at speed is surprising and welcome.

While testing these skis in bounds on a powder day I was surprised at how damp they were relative to their weight. Soft crud and bumps were seemingly ironed out and the ride was very stable and enjoyable. On firmer snow, there was some tip chatter due to the Apostle 106 Carbon Ski's progressive early-rise rocker in the tips, although this did not resonate down the ski or noticeably affect their performance and they remained stable underfoot. These skis are most at home in soft snow, whether it be groomed, deep or chopped up. They don’t have the weight or power behind them to plow through chunder and crud, for this, you would want the Apostle 106 or Apostle 106 Pro Skis.

In soft deep snow, the Apostle 106 Carbon Skis are effortless, they float with ease and provide a rhythmic bounce from one turn to the next. On firmer snow, they are more challenging to firmly lay down a turn that bites hard into the snow as the early rise in the tips and tails simply leaves less effective edge on the ski to connect with the snow. While they are very confident at speed when carving out long-radius GS turns, they simply do not have the carving power that I’d hope for on firmer snow when linking up short radius turns as they tend to smear more than bite. They are designed for softer snow and this is where they really shine. With an efficient ease in deep snow, they simply float you up on top and make you smile ear to ear—even when it comes to the up track thanks to their relatively lightweight.

Overall, if you are a fan of the Apostle skis from RMU then you’re going to love this more touring-friendly Apostle 106 Carbon version. They’ll drive through turns with ease in the backcountry and won’t slow you down on the uptrack and—if you just want to lap runs at the resort they’ll do that too!