The Fischer Ranger 115 FR is an interesting amalgam of suppressed carving tendencies and overt desires to drift around every corner. Like any decent Powder ski, it’s first duty is to drift, but its ultralight Air Tec Ti core is sheathed in a sliver of Titanal, generating the security underfoot necessary to stay on course in heavy, cut-up crud.  Despite its inherent prejudice for smearing, it’s on its best behavior when mimicking giant slalom technique through an open snowfield.

The one move it can’t copy is a short-radius, carved turn, a virtual impossibility given its front and rear rocker.  This limited liability is shared by all Powder models, and is readily overcome by simply swiveling one’s feet. The Ranger 115 FR’s facility as a power drifter is further assisted by its Carbon Nose, which lowers swingweight, and its domed, Aeroshape top surface that slips sideways with silken ease.

Because it’s been made to move laterally, with most of its mass concentrated in the middle, the Ranger 115 FR feels lighter on the snow than it does in the hand. A Finesse ski with a faintly disguised urge to be driven powerfully, the Ranger 115 FR uses it width to stay on top of ever-changing snow conditions. Once all semblance of powder is but a memory, the Ranger 115 FR can summon its latent carving skills, but its loose extremities can’t hide their longing to be back in pow.