Telemark Talk / Telemark Tips Forum

Anyone know what's coming for Fischer this winter? I've heard a rumor that maybe S Bound 88 and 98 are finished?

I know it's still early but I'm not seeing any one gearing up with 88's, which is a ski I've been waiting to buy for a bit now.

Man that's a shame. The 98 is such a good ski.

I think they should ditch the 112 and the 88 and keep the 98 and the 78.

No idea on what's new though. If the 78 works as intended my ski purchases are done for a while.

Spoke too soon! Looks like they are back and also have EZ Skin options as well.

Link for the Lazy?

There is something new called the Excursion 88:

http://www.leyeti.ca/en/excursion-88-u.html

I'm told its not as soft as S-bound and not as hard as E109.

The fischer site is terrible with keeping up to date.

I bet the Yeti man is listening in on TelemarkTalk as they are also carrying the fischer STEEL LITE this year (and Asnes and ALFA)!

http://www.leyeti.ca/en/steel-lite-u.html

Well, Fischer's site just got worse and more clunky, slower to load, and more difficult to navigate. WTF are these guys thinking? Whoever is developing their website is absolutely ripping them off.

The S-Bound 78 and 88 are now called the Excursion 78 and 88 and appear unchanged except that they are EZ Skin adaptable. S-Bound skis are now 98, 112, and the new 125-- 125/95/120 and come up to a 185cm. Offtrack Crown and EZ Skin on all them.

What happened to their wide 100-120mm SUPERLIGHT series that were available a few years ago?

Hey, my two cents:

The half skin attachment is a great idea but it has its niche applications and I think Fischer is not respecting them, taking this smart innovation from a much smaller competitor and using it all over the place, kinda like a trademark, or an excuse to bump up their prices.

Half skins are juste too similar to scales. The greatest advantage of scales on these larger skis is for those who love hunting for turns, yo-yo ing up and down small hills. If the slope is not too great, no need to stop and install skins. By the way, i often do as well and better as my friends with scaleless skins and a basic wax applied generously on the skis, plus I get a smoother and faster ride down, but that's another story.

Now the great thing of half skins and an integrated attachment (as developed by Asnes), is that you get sufficient traction on the flats to pull a heavy pulk yet still get "decent glide", for efficient touring.

You don't really get that MUCH more traction on the uphill. If your doing any serious climbing, full skins are the better way to go. Have them in you pack on you yo-yo days with scaled skis, and pull out when required.

So I say: No scales and half-skins or scales alone. Full skins when required on either kit.

Fisher, get it straight, give us some of those wide turning skis without scales!

And don't charge us even more for that little attachment and half skin setup. If we really really want a half skin for uphill we can get the BD ones (which do suck on the flats given the metal clip) for much less.

Yeah I agree Ben. I couldn't figure out why they would do the easy skin with the scales either. I figured the easy skin would be smooth underneath.

Those S-125s should be interesting. Fischer is obviously taking a shot at the Vector BC- good luck!

The S-78 & S-88 are now under "off-track cruising". Hey Mike- you going to make a video just like your favourite one last season?

Anybody tried the "Easy-skin", or Asnes' "skin lock"? (Fischer ripped off Asnes by the way).

I haven't tried them, but I have certainly used kicker skins- which to my mind is exactly what these are.

I agree with you in part Ben- clearly one of the traditional uses of kicker skins, is for extra K&G traction, when pulling a pulk/sled.

I don't agree that they are a replacement for a waxless base. These are skins, and on a single-cambered ski they are definitely going to drag and have less glide than a waxless base. On a true double-cambered ski, a kicker skin will still allow the glide zones to work somewhat freely. This is clearly a major traction advantage when pulling a pulk- with a double-cambered xcountry ski.

My perspective is that- other than pulling a pulk- a kicker skin offers traction that is in between kick wax/waxless traction and a full-length climbing skin. Another tool with its own trade-offs- better glide than a full skin, but your not going to climb as steep a slope as with a full skin.

The kicker skin makes sense to me in less extreme terrain, with very long, moderately-steep approaches. Full-length climbing skins are brutal in these conditions because of the loss of glide.

So to me- the choice of waxable versus waxless is always the same- the kicker skin option is separate tool that can be used with either.

What sucks is that Fischer refuses to make waxable versions of the their fatter single-cambered XCD skis.

And I agree with you Ben- not crazy about spending a bunch of cash on an "Easy-skin" when there are already field-proven kicker skins available...What happens when your "Easy-Skins" break on a long trek? Don't trust them yet.