Last season we opined in this space that this descendant of an off-trail brood looks out of place among carvers with an on-trail pedigree. How does a ski whose Flipcore baseline is practically already bowing manage to mingle with the second cousins of true race skis? It still seems like the Brahma 82 is trying to crash a party hosted by club to which it doesn’t belong.
In its quest to prove it belongs, the 21/22 Brahma 82 added another line to its resume. This year its core design upgraded to TrueBlend, Blizzard’s way of micro-managing its poplar and beech laminates to produce the optimal flex pattern for every length. It bears mention that the rest of the Brahma 82’s lay-up is mostly made up of carbon and 2 ½ layers of Titanal, as rich a construction as you’ll find in the genre.
With its off-trail, Flipcore baseline, the Brahma 82 is one of the few Frontside skis that actually feels made for moguls. It double-rockered baseline slithers around in torturous troughs that many carvers can’t conform to. Even though it’s more than capable of holding its own on hardpack, it’s actually bred for the backcountry. It doesn’t look at moguls and crud as trouble city, but like a hometown playground. Not many other skis in the Frontside genre have this ability to perform at a high level in any terrain.
The S/Force Bold is an unapologetic Frontside carver. If you want to find out how deep a new snowfall is, take a run on the S/Force Bold and you’re almost certain to find the bottom. Any ski this stable can make its way through off-trail porridge, but it will send out the occasional reminder that you’re running against its grain. The reason the S/Force Bold is laden with dampening agents and associated avoirdupois is to maximize edging power and stability on hard snow, which is its happy place.
When it’s running fast and loose in its element, the S/Force Bold is “damp, stable, with very strong edge hold,” says Bobo’s Pat Parraguirre, identifying its dominant traits. “If you like speed and grip – this ski is for you! Great high-speed carver.” Note that Pat didn’t mention short, slow turns on his list of likes, for the S/Force Bold shows its disdain for their ilk by ignoring them entirely.
Longtime fans of Salomon skis will remember the Enduro, its last Frontside series to make bombproof long turns. The S/Force Bold represents a return to this type of damp, dedicated carver after several generations of lighter weight solutions. In a laid-over, big-bellied arc it’s as secure and comfortable as riding in the back of a limo.
The edge grip of RC One 82 GT is to die for. On a steep pitch where other Frontside specialists would flinch, it held with far less exertion. This is precisely the mission of the Frontside ski: to magnify the skier’s energy rather than drain it. The extra weight this ski hauls around helps a ton when it comes to sticking to a pencil-thin line on hardpack. Its sidecut and construction deliver an ultra-secure, short-radius turn; its shock-sucking mass and materials keep it quiet when you let it run.
Given its origins and substantial construction, you’d expect the RC One 82 GT to be “a blast at speed as much as mellow cruising,” as Ward Pyles of Peter Glenn discovered. “Super quick edge to edge,” he adds. “Fast, quick, rips everything,” concurs a Jan’s tester, whose boss, Jack Walzer managed to be even more succinct. Walzer’s one-word review: “Money.”
What makes the RC One 82 GT rise above the mundane and into the “money” class is how well its carve-centric personality travels. When pointed down Broken Arrow at Squaw Valley late on a spring morning, the snow on its exposed flank had turned to a slurry that peeled off when pushed. The RC One 82 GT never asked for special treatment but kept it moving through heavy snow that would have submerged a more persnickety carver.
The Ranger 99 Ti seems to be a ski without bias. It could care less about snow conditions, has no qualms about long turns at high speeds or short arcs at a snail’s pace and can switch from a drift to a carve in mid-turn. Its monotonously good scores were above our Recommended cut line for every attribute we measure.
Another bias that the Ranger 99 Ti eschews is any trace of gender bias. The men’s and women’s versions are identical save for the decoration on the topsheet, and Fischer’s rationale for this homogeneity holds water. At this skill level, men and women tend to ski alike, so the need for a differentiated women’s product is little to none. Our female testers validated this approach, praising the 99 Ti in particular for its off-piste performance. Our male testers laud the Ranger 99 Ti’s agility for a ski of its girth, calling it “best short turns of the big mountain, soft snow skis.”
By tweaking everything – core, baseline, sidewalls – Fischer transformed this commercially important model from what was once a lightweight who got beat up by mean conditions like hard snow or chunky crud into a lean machine that doesn’t take any crap from any kind of snow, no matter what the Eskimos call it. The Ranger 99 Ti deserves to be considered among the first rank of All-Mountain West models.
Fischer’s Ranger series of off-trail skis is split into two distinct camps. Those with a “Ti” suffix include two sheets of Titanal that deliver the enhanced edge grip and shock damping that are the hallmarks of the aluminum alloy. Those with “FR” in their name use fiberglass as the main structural component, with a dash of carbon in the tip to lower swingweight and buffer the forebody.
The Ranger 102 FR’s frisky attitude is perfect for the Finesse skier who doesn’t want to plow through pow on a metal-laden battleship but prefers to playfully pounce in and out of it. An outward sign of its inner desire to let its freak flag fly is a twin-tipped baseline that would rather drift over snow than drive through it. A big sweet spot that’s easy to balance on makes it simple for skiers of any skill set to keep up with Ranger 102 FR’s smooth moves.
When it has a little cushion of snow to push against, the skier can compress the camber pocket underfoot, loading its fiberglass laminates so they recoil off the edge with enough energy to carry the skier across the fall line. Deep snow fills the gaps under its double-rockered baseline, stabilizing the entire chassis. All the skier needs to do is initiate a mid-radius rhythm down the fall line and the Ranger 102 FR will take over from there.
