As befits a flagship model, The Curv 85 GT is a showcase for Fischer’s best technology. In addition to two .8mm Titanal laminates, a full sheet of Diagofiber, Fischer’s signature synthetic shock dampener, quiets the ride from tip to tail. The Curv’s distinctive triple radius sidecut (short-long-short) is facilitated by thickening the core underfoot so the addition of edge angle tightens the turn shape automatically. Topping it all off, literally, is a wear-resistant topsheet of Fischer’s own creation.
What all this technology delivers is a ski that reserves its best performances for relatively soft groomers. While it has a waist width (85mm) normally associated with all-terrain aptitude, The Curv 85 GT would rather be carving corduroy than deflecting crud bumps. (Whenever there’s a nearly 50mm drop between tip width and waist, there’s a decided disposition in favor of groomers.) With a softer flex than the recently retired RC One 86 GT (and other notable denizens of the carving clique), it’s easier to bow in a lower speed range, so skiers who lack the power to drive a true race ski can still feel the exhilaration of a cleanly carved arc.
In a switch from the industry norm – and Fischer’s own previous practice – the narrower members of The Curv clan have a lower performance range than the 85mm flagship. Hence The Curv GT 80 with its thinner (.5mm) Ti sheets feels less substantial and less accurate on edge despite its more slender footprint. The Curv 85 GT is likely to cost $150 more than The Curv 80 GT at retail; in light of all the lucre one must lay out to be a skier these days, $150 is a pittance. The daily performance benefits of stepping up far outweigh the costs, which will soon be forgotten. If you don’t spend the additional dough, however, you’ll be reminded every time you go skiing that you should have.
The 88mm-waisted All-Mountain ski has become a permanent fixture in many major brand’s collections because it hits the sweetspot for the plurality of skiers who plan to deploy the same pair of skis day-in, day-out. It’s the archetype for a model that lives in the middle of a series, able to perform like a Frontside ski on groomers and magically morph into an off-piste crud buster when summoned to perform off-trail. Because every brand structures its line a little differently, an 88 can be the top model in a Frontside-focused series or the narrowest member of an all-terrain clan. Regardless of the angle one views it from, an 88mm-waisted ski is expected to excel.
The Anomaly 88 inherited the slot in the Blizzard line previously occupied by the Brahma, and it continues to offer the same, all-the-turns-you-can-eat menu. Its relatively narrow tail won’t hang up in mutilated moguls, and it has enough surface area to float near the top of 18-inches of powder. It has sufficient power and agility to keep a skilled skier amused even when the off-piste is kaput, yet it isn’t geared so high it won’t take the time to slow down and help a less talented enthusiast learn the ropes. Its performance envelope is huge but doesn’t extend into the extremes of bulletproof boilerplate, which is never fun, or bottomless powder, which is rarely encountered.
I’m leery of the term “intuitive,” at least as it’s applied to computer software. But the Anomaly 88 feels intuitive on snow in that it has no agenda of its own, so it’s ready to do whatever you feel like doing. It’s unperturbed by high speeds or tracked-out terrain. The edge grip feels clean and accurate, and the ski remains compliant throughout the speed range. Its only limitations are intrinsic to its 88mm-waisted shape; it can’t cut corners as fast as a wasp-waisted slalom, or float like chubby Big Mountain model. These are limitations most skiers can learn to live with.
How can a ski as narrow-waisted as the Kore 87 come across as the most versatile ski in its wide-body family? After all, the Kore collection is 100% an off-trail creation; its avatar should be the Kore 111, not this string bean.
The improbable polyvalence of the Kore 87 is partly explained by a sleight of hand Head pulled off in the make-up of the narrowest Kore models just three years ago. Taking advantage of Graphene’s ability to affect flex without a commensurate effect on mass, Head beefed up the Kore 87 to account for the certainty that it will spend much of its life on groomers. Its power quotient might have gone up another tick in 2022 with the substitution of poplar and Karuba for Koroyd, which subtly enhanced its feedback on hard snow.
Two years ago, Head coated all the Kores with a sheath of urethane, mostly to protect the top and sides from minor nicks and scratches, with the added benefit of further smoothing out the ride. Renowned bootfitter Jim Schaffner dubbed the 2023 version of the Kore 87, “Fun, easy skiing, yet enough high performance to hold well on harder snow. This is a very good execution of a one-ski quiver ski for the aging crowd!”
The recent improvements made to the Kore’s capacities on brittle hardpack don’t seem to have diminished its inherent talent for off-trail travel. You use your feet a lot off-trail as you pick a path through trees, moguls and other skiers’ tracks. This often entails picking up your feet, sometimes suddenly and violently. This is when the Kore 87 shines, for it can be moved around on a whim, seemingly without any effort at all. An energy reserve that would otherwise sputter out before noon can last until tea time.
To understand where the Salomon Stance 90 fits in the All-Mountain East pantheon of Recommended models, it’s helpful to first understand its role within Salomon’s line, where it is cagily categorized as All-Mountain Frontside, a mash-up of two adjacent Realskiers categories. The blended genre succinctly captures the intent of the Stance series, to create what are essentially Frontside skis with wanderlust, always interested in what lies off-trail yet easily persuaded to lay down a neatly carved turn on corduroy.
Within the cross-brand context of the All-Mountain East genre, the Stance 90 stands apart from the crowd in several respects. While its twin Titanal laminates put it toe-to-toe with the eminent Power players in the genre, it responds to a light rein, emphasizing ease over brute force. While it’s positioned as having a Frontside bias, unlike other carving-centric AME skis – such as the Fischer The Curv GT 85, for example – it isn’t built on a Frontside chassis, but an all-mountain, double-rockered foundation.
When the Stance series was launched in the 20/21 season, Salomon’s mainstay collection in the All-Mountain genres was QST, which focused on off-trail conditions. In the marketplace, QST had to go head-to-head with models from Blizzard, Nordica, Völkl and Stöckli, who loaded their best all-terrain skis with two sheets of Titanal. While the flagship QST 106 earned a following in the Big Mountain genre, the rest of the QST series didn’t fare as well against the richer constructions of the competition. Stance provided Salomon with its own, double-Ti-laminated series, leveling the playing field.
Just because it isn’t as burly as the Power skis in the All-Mountain East category, doesn’t mean a less aggro expert won’t appreciate the Stance 90. As ski test veteran and active ski coach Jim Schaffner summarized its capabilities, “It’s a good all-around ski, there for you without being flashy. The 102 is probably the best execution of this re-design, but all are good, aiming at a proficient, all-terrain skier.”
Two years ago, after several seasons of toil behind the R&D curtain, Fischer rolled out a completely overhauled Ranger line of off-trail models. The new clan consisted of hybrids that blended the two branches of the previous Ranger clan, the surfy FR series and the more connected Ti models. All the new Rangers received a dose of .5mm-thick Titanal underfoot married to a fairly loose tip and tail. As befits the family name, they all possess a decidedly off-trail bias.
Fans of earlier Rangers will find the new series are more closely related behaviorally to the easy-to-smear FR models of yore than to the metal-laden Ti fraternity. The lighter weight (all poplar) core of the Ranger 90 suggests it might be a good option for living a double life as an in-resort/backcountry, all-purpose partner-in-climb. Its Aeroshape exterior further enables foot steering by reducing resistance when rotating a flat ski.
The Ranger 90 encourages its navigator to assume a centered stance and take advantage of a double-rockered baseline that makes it easier to drift to an edge than ride a continuous rail. If carving is more your thing, Fischer’s The Curv GT 85 is a strong and precise trench-digger you’ll find among our Power Picks. The Ranger 90 derives from the opposite side of the carve/drift schism.
