There’s a misconception about short-radius skis like the i.Magnum (13.1m @ 170cm) that they won’t do a long turn without getting wobbly and will lose all composure off-piste. Poppycock. Of course it’s not a Powder ski, but the i.Magnum is no more perturbed by common off-trail conditions than it is by blue-tinted boilerplate. It will eat whatever you feed it. If you want a little more stability at speed and a slightly longer radius arc, don’t be shy about stepping up the 177cm.
One way to encapsulate the i.Titan’s personality is as “combi carver,” a ski with the stability at speed of a GS race ski and the quick reflexes of a slalom. It would take an avalanche to knock it off edge yet it can make serpentine S’s in an unending spool. What we wrote about the i.Titan last season still pertains: “This is what a perfectly balanced ski is all about, absolute power with fingertip control. It’s exhilarating to let the i.Titan run, leaning into the belly of big, bodacious arcs, feeling as carefree as riding first class.”
Fischer puts all its top-shelf technology into the new Ranger 115 XTi: Air Tec Ti, an intricately milled-out wood core with Titanium reinforcement; Carbon Nose, a carbon fiber weave up front that lessens swingweight; and Aeroshape, the dome-shaped top that helps the ski slash sideways in deep snow. Despite all the weight-saving tech, the Ranger XTi remains a granite-solid ski predisposed to big turns, behaving like a GS ski on PED’s.
To the short list of life’s certainties – death and taxes – you can add the security on edge of the Supershape i.Speed. Although it’s shaped for short turns, it can bolt down the fall line in a heartbeat and never break a sweat. The Sport Loft tester who goes by colorful sobriquet Rico Suave anointed the Supershape i.Speed “the funnest Super Shape of all! Sweet, playful and butter smooth.”
The tapered forebody and mildly rockered baseline are ready to party off-piste, but with two Titanal laminates on board, the Orb is so strong on edge it doesn’t really care where you send it. Its tip design obliges the Orb to be loose at the top of a laid-over turn, but once it settles into the arc it’s as solid as the Mont Blanc massif. The once rebellious boys of the Chamonix backcountry now are making perfectly balanced skis that any member of the ski culture can climb on and relate to immediately.
