Fischer is calling their very carefully branded backcountry line 'Transalp.'
When a company such as Fischer decides ski touring is a big enough segment of the ski business for a complete product line and major square footage in their expensive ISPO booth, one has to notice. And in their case you notice it isn’t all mouse bait (as in cheesy me-too efforts made by some companies). Sure, Fischer has always had various touring skis and nordic skis in their line; what I’m speaking of is their addition of boots as well as a ‘modernized’ ski lineup (skis reported from Outdoor Retailer 2014). All is branded in a way that’s obviously being pushed as a major segment of their business.
Why all the interest from ‘mainstream’ ski companies in ski touring? Simple. Backcountry is the only growing segment of the ski industry. Business 101 says when your customer base as mostly stagnant but one segment is actually growing you’d better take notice. So, done.
We are seeing this trend across the board. If you’re an experienced ski company it’s not that difficult to build a decent “backcountry” ski. Just lighten up one of your ‘all mountain’ designs and you’ll probably have something that works. But boots are a different story. For the time being our loyalty to the traditional backcountry skiing boot brands is an easy bias, as their boots are more advanced than most of the newcomers (many of which are simply alpine boots with a severely limited walk mode). But when someone such as Fischer makes a touring boot that includes proprietary fit technology and reasonable cuff articulation, one does notice.
Thus, after a trip to the ISPO press room for a triple espresso to counteract all the free pretzel bread I’d been hounding out, I did spend time milling around Fischer’s ISPO 2014 booth along with a predominantly Italian bunch of ski tour reps and shop owners, many of whom looked uncomfortable not to be in the Dynafit, Scarpa, Trab or ATK booths (to name a few of our ‘incredibly core’ breed, ha ha). I tried to interpret the grins and mumbled phrases with no success. From the looks of things, one had to assume they were saying things such as:
“Big heavy frame binding? Why?”
or “Nice skis, actually, REALLY nice skis. But I expected that, Fischer, you know…”
or “I heard these Vacuum technology boots will mold to your foot like a sock. Now that is something that could be quite nice — and they have tech fittings.”
Here be the ski line. Quite extensive with 8 models. When weighed with the 'pick it up' scale they felt astoundingly light for not including much carbon. Transalp 80 is 118/80/104 and weighs 950 grams (catalog) in a 163 cm. That probably puts it in the 'one kilo' class. Their wider offering 'Hannibal 100' felt quite light but I don't have a catalog weight, it's a classic wide modern touring ski at 131/100/117.
Ski lineup in a nutshell:
Transalp 88, 123/88/11
Transalp 80, 118/80/104
Transalp Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner, 118/82/104 (Google Gerlinde if you forgot who she is.)
Alpattack, 99/65/81 (650 gram at 161 cm, skimo race ski)
Hannibal, 131/100/117 (have to say these looked sweet)
Hannibal 94, 126/94/112
Alproute 82, 120/82/106
Alproute 78, 116/78/104 (appears to be a price-point offering for traditionalists)
As mentioned in a previous ISPO post, Fischer’s method of trimming weight is to reduce volume of construction material by using a minimalist core that yields what they call “Aeroshape.” This looks a bit too minimalist when you see the ski guts, but for now I’ll trust Fischer didn’t get too crazy and the package will work.
Transalp line includes niceties such as pre-cut skins (re-branded from Kohla, a company who appears to have a very nice glue formulation), adjustable poles (funny how people still use those klunky things) and several bindings. Their tech binding appears to be a re-branded ATK or something along those lines, and their plate binding 'Ambition' is probably a re-brand of something, or if not it's a pretty close copy of a Fritschi. Yes Virginia, I'm not paying much attention to frame bindings these days. Hint, great opportunity for another blogger!
Now, the good stuff. Fischer's boot line looked very nice. Mostly basic stuff such as tech inserts (sourced from Dynafit) and the usual cabrio shell with a lean lock. But what's different and exciting is all four Fischer touring boots are made with their Vacuum technology plastic. That means you get a boot with a shell that is incredibly easy to heat mold. Either spot mold it, or bake in Fischer's special oven and do their 'Vacuum' forming process to customize the boot totally to your own personal little feets. I think this is a big deal.
Fischer's flagship 'Transalp Vacuum TS Lite' clocks in at 1550 grams (catalog, size 26.5), an average weight for this sort of boot. Thus, a viable choice if you like the last or want to take advantage of Vacuum molding the shell and getting what might be the last word in fit.
Fischer Transalp Vacuum TS appears to be a lower cost option that weighs slightly more at 1620 grams for a size 26.5.
Both the above boot models are sold in a female specific version; above is the women's Transalp Vacuum Lite. One thing we always enjoy about Europe is the greater participation of ladies in backcountry skiing. During many days we see what we count as easily 50% female, and during some trips we've actually seen more girls than guys. Unheard of in North America! With that in mind, it's super to see various ski companies continue with female versions of nearly all their ski touring products.
Below vid shows Vacuum Fit technology. Pretty simple. The boot shell is heated to the point where it’s pliable, then an air pressure bag is placed over it to compression fit the shell to your foot. The process requires specialized equipment that would be hard to replicate for the do-it-yourselfer, but is quite effective when done in a fully equipped shop by a trained boot fitter. From what I’ve seen (we did hands-on at Masterfit boot fitting training), I’d highly recommend the Fischer Vacuum fit process if you’ve never quite gotten a good fit in our touring boots. Otherwise, it’s probably not worth purchasing these obviously average ski touring boots just to be able to do the fit process.
WildSnow.com publisher emeritus and founder Lou (Louis Dawson) has a 50+ years career in climbing, backcountry skiing and ski mountaineering. He was the first person in history to ski down all 54 Colorado 14,000-foot peaks, has authored numerous books about about backcountry skiing, and has skied from the summit of Denali in Alaska, North America’s highest mountain.
