Frontside skis and World Cup, FIS-blessed race skis both allege they’re on their best behavior on hard snow. That much is true, but don’t think for a minute that they handle prepared slopes the same way. The fact is, the gulf between race skis and recreational skis made for the same (or at least, similar) surface has never been deeper or wider. Race skis don’t just require skills that 95% of the ski population don’t possess; they require physical conditioning and mental discipline absent in closer to 99% of the general population.
The Fischer RC One 82 GT is built to bridge this gap. If you want to feel like the demi-god of carving, your search is over. There’s no need to get in an exaggerated posture or press into the tips for all you’re worth; the RC One 82 GT is easily directed from a comfortable, centered stance. They behave like World Cup training wheels: you can mimic the moves of the masters without having to have their level of athleticism and skill.
Its edge grip is to die for. On a steep pitch where other Frontside specialists would flinch, the RC One 82 GT 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.
There’s a mini-trend emerging of loose Frontside skis that are meant to be more amenable to off-trail action; the RC One 82 GT can hold its own in some off-piste conditions, but it remains an unequivocally Frontside ski. While it aims to please a highly skilled skier, it’s not hard to ski. In fact, its stability throughout its inexhaustible speed range makes it a great tool for getting an advanced skier over the expert hump.
In June of 2019 I posted a video titled “82 is the new 88” in which I observe that a then-new sub-genre is coalescing around an 82mm waistline. Some of the new 82’s are descended from off-trail designs, like the Blizzard Brahma 82 and Elan Wingman 82, while others, such as the Fischer RC One 82 GT are derived from a narrow Technical template, in its case the since retired RC4 The Curv.
The RC One 82 GT doesn’t get quite as large a dose of Titanal as its running mate, the All-Mountain East RC One 86 GT, but it’s hardly a delicate flower. A Titanal sheath rolls over the top of its Air Carbon Ti core, and another Ti laminate gives it race-caliber grip underfoot. In the shovel and tail, the Ti is replaced with Bafatex®, Fischer’s own shock-absorbing synthetic. The RC One 82 GT uses the same triple-radius (short-long-short) as The Curv that preceded it in the Fischer line, so the softer zones on the ski curl more easily while the middle delivers unshakeable support.
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.
One way to measure the range of an all-terrain ski is to test its performance in conditions it wasn’t made for. By this standard, the RC One 82 GT is one helluva ski. And it’s a bargain, to boot: the $899.99 price tag includes a Tyrolia Powerrail binding (DIN scale 3-11), so it’s a better deal than it appears at first blush.