Were one to distill Fischer’s essence, the resulting elixir would be made of equal parts precision and speed. Rigorous quality control is the driving force in the corporate culture, a comforting thought for a brand that also makes components for aircraft. The infatuation with speed comes with the territory—namely Austria—where winning World Cups is considered a national necessity on a par with strudel and water.
Despite the recent spectacular results of American racers on the World Cup, American interest in alpine racing remains a pale shadow of Austria’s national obsession with the sport. As skiers, we gravitate towards models that are more forgiving than precise. Except where Fischer is concerned.
The models our panelists prefer from this brand run contrary to the Zeitgeist of the smeared turn; they are unapologetically accurate and geared to run smoothly on the Autobahn. In the language of realskiers, Fischer excels at making Power models that reward speed and technical skill.
In an odd twist of fate, Fischer’s alpine boot division has led a resurgence of interest in the brand. Fischer has been making skis practically since the era of barrel staves, but didn’t elbow its way into the boot market until roughly a decade ago. A few years ago they commercialized a means of vacuum-molding the ski boot shell—not just the inner boot—to the skier’s foot. The technology earned instant accolades and swift market acceptance as boot fitters discovered the effectiveness of this breakthrough in customization.
When the same people who are flocking to Fischer boots for their precision realize that the same brand specializes in skis every bit as precise as their malleable footwear, Fischer skis will earn an ever-widening circle of fans.
Austria is the world’s foremost skiing power, so if Austrian manufacturers sometimes appear obsessed with hard snow performance, it’s because they are. Fischer always puts its best effort into what we at realskiers describe as Power skis and they keep fiddling with their Finesse formula, this year applying their domed Aeroshape and Air Tec Ti technologies to the off-trail Ranger series.