by Jackson Hogen | Sep 3, 2024
The latest iteration of Fischer’s long-running Curv series of carvers, the Curv GT 80, is the most traditional, unabashed, groomed-snow partisan among our Women’s Frontside Recommended models. Like its fellow Austrian brand Head, Fischer was an early adopter of the Carving crusade, an allegiance that has never wavered. The Curv series was inaugurated in 2016/17, when three racing legends were commissioned to create the ultimate carving machine. The original Curv’s were most definitely cut from racing cloth, but the linkage to elite competition has been softened in this generation, to open its appeal to skiers of less than world-class ability.
So, the new 2025 The Curv GT 80 is wider, softer, lighter and easier to flex than the original Curv’s, geared down to match the talents of recreational skiers. It’s still a rich construction, with a single sheet of .5mm Titanal, a beech/poplar wood core and Diagofiber, Fischer’s homespun damping material to quiet the ride.
by Jackson Hogen | Sep 3, 2024
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.
by Jackson Hogen | Sep 3, 2024
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.
by Jackson Hogen | Sep 3, 2024
[Fischer’s Ranger women’s models are identical to their unisex counterparts. It’s in this spirit that we reprise our unisex review of the Ranger 90, whose every word is as applicable to its “women’s” version.]
Fischer spent several seasons behind the R&D curtain re-imagining its entire Ranger collection of off-trail models. The result was a family 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 got a dose of .5mm-thick Titanal underfoot married to a fairly loose tip and tail. As befits the family name, they all possessed 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.
Skiers who want a more substantial ski under them (in the Ranger series) should step up to either the Ranger 96 or Ranger 102, both of which mix denser beech into the otherwise poplar core. When choosing which Ranger to ride, bear in mind that Fischer draws no distinction, other than color and size range, between men’s and women’s models.
by Jackson Hogen | Sep 3, 2024
Prior to the 22/23 season, Fischer had subdivided its Ranger family of off-trail models into two distinct clans, indicated by their suffixes: Ti, for those with metal in the mix, and FR, for those without. Among Fischer aficionados, the softer and surfier Ranger FR models had a more distinct, looser character that distinguished them from the large cadre of all-mountain skis with metal in them. In the Realskiers scoring system, which favors snow connection over smearing, the Old School Ti models would consistently out-perform the New School FR’s, but it was clear from the tester comments that the Ranger FR’s had a bigger fan club.
Two seasons ago, Fischer unveiled an entirely new Ranger series, ushered from the drawing board to the ski shop wall by none other than Mike Hattrup, who recently earned a well-merited induction into the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame. As one might expect from a mash-up of the old FR and Ti branches of the family, some of each genome is entwined in models like the Ranger 96.
Like the Ti’s of yesteryear, there’s metal in the latest hybrid Rangers, just not as much as before. The metal is confined to the area underfoot, and while there are some changes in how the metal part is configured across the line, none possess enough Titanal to suppress the loose extremities that appealed to FR fans. Because the metal is mostly underfoot, the tip and tail feel lighter, easier to pivot sideways and generally more genial than a ski with tip-to-tail Ti laminates. 258
As is often the case, the metal plate in the middle extends its influence beyond its boundaries, so the Ranger 96 feels secure all along the tail. On balance, the 2025 hybrid Ranger behaves more like the FR side of its pedigree, albeit with a stouter tail that holds up under the sustained pressure of a long-radius turn.