2024 Fischer Ranger 96

Prior to last 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. 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. 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.  It’s interesting to note that despite being put on a Ti diet, the new Ranger 96 earned exactly the same score for power properties as the Ranger 99 Ti it replaces in the line, while its Finesse score went up. On balance, the 2024 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. Given that its double-rockered baseline is biased towards soft snow that gives the tip and tail something to push against, the Ranger 96 is more at home off-trail than on. Skiers who possess a more upright, centered stance may share the reaction of Peter Glenn’s Mark Rafferty, who pondered the question, “How can a ski be both playful and hard charging? Magic, I guess. But the Ranger 96 has all the carve that the Ranger series has been great at for years with an easy-going feel.”