“Excellent carvability!” exclaims Sturtevant’s of Sun Valley’s Olin Glenne. “Solid feel, yet quick and very precise,” Glenne added, ranking the Pro Mountain 86 Ti his favorite all-mountain ski for Frontside conditions. Greg Whitehouse, the affable owner of California Ski Company also declared his love for this Fischer, calling it, “very solid and smooth as silk for high speed cruising in a variety of terrains.” Noting that its interest in short, slow turns was also of short duration, Whitehouse opines, “Hard to reel it in but if you don’t care to slow down, just hang on and grin!”
The Faction Nine.5 is an All-Mountain ski that favors any Finesse skier from intermediate to advanced; its broad ability range could be attributable to Faction’s unique transition zones between the rockered tip (10mm elevation) and tail (5mm) and the cambered (2mm) center section that make a long, strong ski feel shorter and easily re-directed. If the Nine.5 has a particular affinity for off-trail conditions, the culprit lies in its baseline that pulls the front rocker back 20cm from the tip and keeps the tail off the snow for 10cm. What remains in contact with mother earth is fairly stout, bolstered by a full sheet of Titanal that won’t let the Nine.5 get bossed around in set-up crud.
