It’s not necessary to have competed alongside The Curv’s designers, all World Cup veterans, to appreciate The Curv DTX, but it’s fair to say it favors those with some race training on their resume. The best Technical skis recreate the sensations of racing without the complications imposed by FIS-sanctioned shapes and World-Cup-level flexes. The Curv DTX makes it easy to carve like a champ: the triple radius sidecut pulls the skier into the arc on autopilot, and its softer flex allows it to be decambered by someone who doesn’t train every day.
The Curv Booster isn’t for an advanced skier looking for technical training wheels. It expects the pilot to have one leg extended and the other tucked up tight, with hips suspended just above the corduroy, setting up for the next exercise in total commitment. Skiers who want carving control that doesn’t require quite this level of athleticism should look at The Curv DTX, built with the same amount of muscle inside but without the supercharger effect of the Booster.
One of the major market trends over the past few seasons has been a “Lighter is Better” movement, a competition among manufacturers to see who can make the lightest ski that still retains high performance properties. No other brand is as well positioned as Fischer to capitalize on the LIB frenzy, as it has spent decades astride the cross-country ski market where lightweight has always been a fetish. At 1,750g in a 175cm length, the Pro Mountain 86 Ti is by far the lightest ski among our Power picks in the AME genre.
What Fischer retains from its racing heritage is how to optimize the union of wood, Titanal and fiberglass. This combo provides the power to keep the skis tracking cleanly in broken snow or etching grooves into hardpack. The influence of the Lighter is Better movement is apparent in the Air Tec Ti core, an intricate whittling-away of much of the ski’s center material, and the selective use of Titanal to deliver the optimal vibration dampening that is metal’s métier.
