The Fischer RC4 Worldcup SC is the slalom counterpart to the Worldcup RC (reviewed above), built to identical specs except for sidecut and length. As befits a slalom specialist, its turn radius of 13m in a 165cm mimics the mandated shape of a World Cup SL, and it’s available in sizes small enough to make a complete turn inside a cubicle.
For 2017, Head has incorporated the miracle material Graphene™ – carbon reduced to the irreducible one atom – into the i.SL RD’s make-up. One might be forgiven for thinking that adding Graphene would ipso facto reduce the ski’s weight, but racers aren’t looking for lighter skis, but ones with perfect flex distribution. Because of its absurd 300-to-1 strength advantage over steel, Graphene strengthens the ski as well as stiffens it, an important feature among fragile slalom race skis.
Like everyone else, we have no idea why Michaela Shiffrin is so preternaturally talented and unflinchingly poised, but we’re pretty sure of one thing: her equipment isn’t holding her back.
As with the Head iSL RD, to ski the Atomic Redster Doubledeck 3.0 SL is to fall in love, hard. One tester felt a 10-point scale couldn’t do the Redster justice, awarding it 11’s for rebound and short-radius turns, two traits that epitomize what makes race slalom skis such a kick to cut loose on.