diff --git a/hack/e2e/config.sh b/hack/e2e/config.sh
index b09e7cac28..89847ca8b4 100644
--- a/hack/e2e/config.sh
+++ b/hack/e2e/config.sh
@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@ OUTPOST_INSTANCE_TYPE=${OUTPOST_INSTANCE_TYPE:-${INSTANCE_TYPE}}
 # kops: must include patch version (e.g. 1.19.1)
 # eksctl: mustn't include patch version (e.g. 1.19)
 # NOTE: Keep KOPS at v1.29.x until ELB usage bug fixed
-K8S_VERSION_KOPS=${K8S_VERSION_KOPS:-1.29.6}
+K8S_VERSION_KOPS=${K8S_VERSION_KOPS:-1.31.1}
 K8S_VERSION_EKSCTL=${K8S_VERSION_EKSCTL:-1.31}
 
 EBS_INSTALL_SNAPSHOT=${EBS_INSTALL_SNAPSHOT:-"true"}
diff --git a/hack/e2e/kops/kops.sh b/hack/e2e/kops/kops.sh
index c76bd90841..4f8dd9dec4 100644
--- a/hack/e2e/kops/kops.sh
+++ b/hack/e2e/kops/kops.sh
@@ -32,6 +32,7 @@ function kops_create_cluster() {
   KOPS_PATCH_FILE=${10}
   KOPS_PATCH_NODE_FILE=${11}
   KOPS_STATE_FILE=${12}
+  export KOPS_RUN_TOO_NEW_VERSION=true
 
   if kops_cluster_exists "${CLUSTER_NAME}" "${KOPS_BIN}" "${KOPS_STATE_FILE}"; then
     loudecho "Replacing cluster $CLUSTER_NAME with $CLUSTER_FILE"
@@ -74,6 +75,7 @@ function kops_cluster_exists() {
   CLUSTER_NAME=${1}
   KOPS_BIN=${2}
   KOPS_STATE_FILE=${3}
+  export KOPS_RUN_TOO_NEW_VERSION=true
   set +e
   if ${KOPS_BIN} get cluster --state "${KOPS_STATE_FILE}" "${CLUSTER_NAME}"; then
     set -e
@@ -88,6 +90,7 @@ function kops_delete_cluster() {
   KOPS_BIN=${1}
   CLUSTER_NAME=${2}
   KOPS_STATE_FILE=${3}
+  export KOPS_RUN_TOO_NEW_VERSION=true
   loudecho "Deleting cluster ${CLUSTER_NAME}"
   ${KOPS_BIN} delete cluster --name "${CLUSTER_NAME}" --state "${KOPS_STATE_FILE}" --yes
 }
@@ -99,7 +102,7 @@ function kops_patch_cluster_file() {
   KOPS_PATCH_FILE=${2} # input must be yaml
   KIND=${3}            # must be either Cluster or InstanceGroup
   ROLE=${4}            # must be either Master or Node
-
+  export KOPS_RUN_TOO_NEW_VERSION=true
   loudecho "Patching cluster $CLUSTER_NAME with $KOPS_PATCH_FILE"
 
   # Temporary intermediate files for patching, don't mutate CLUSTER_FILE until
diff --git a/hack/tools/install.sh b/hack/tools/install.sh
index 2cee9d96b2..9ce493a502 100755
--- a/hack/tools/install.sh
+++ b/hack/tools/install.sh
@@ -33,8 +33,8 @@ GOMPLATE_VERSION="v4.1.0"
 # https://github.com/helm/helm
 HELM_VERSION="v3.15.4"
 # https://github.com/kubernetes/kops
-# NOTE: Keep at v1.29.0 until ELB usage bug fixed
-KOPS_VERSION="v1.29.0"
+# NOTE: We pin kops to a commit instead of a release to support newer versions of k8s earlier
+KOPS_COMMIT="aaa35cc5304f9b191ca9828b552e62bddc5b263a"
 # https://pkg.go.dev/sigs.k8s.io/kubetest2?tab=versions
 KUBETEST2_VERSION="v0.0.0-20240703180642-53f3d216ad9f"
 # https://github.com/golang/mock
@@ -153,9 +153,11 @@ function install_helm() {
 }
 
 function install_kops() {
+  # Build from source so we can test latest Kubernetes version earlier.
   INSTALL_PATH="${1}"
 
-  install_binary "${INSTALL_PATH}" "https://github.com/kubernetes/kops/releases/download/${KOPS_VERSION}/kops-${OS}-${ARCH}" "kops"
+  # Lower max processes to avoid oom-killed
+  GOMAXPROCS=1 install_go "${INSTALL_PATH}" "k8s.io/kops/cmd/kops@${KOPS_COMMIT}"
 }
 
 function install_kubetest2() {