- Joined
- Nov 12, 2015
- Posts
- 6,357
A quality ski for Tween sized skiers is hard to find. Constructions and shapes can be all over the map. My 10 year-old prefers skiing in our ski school program instead of racing, so she needs a true one ski quiver as there is no telling what she will get from one day to the next and one coach to another. Her ski needs to be good enough regardless of conditions and terrain. The last few skis have been Faction Agent 90s in a 149, Volkl Gotama Juniors and Nordica Ace of Spades twin tips. They all had their pluses and minuses. The Gotama was nice in the woods, but the continuous reverse camber did make her ski worse IMHO, the AOS wasn't great quality, and while it was better on groomers, not so great in the woods. Faction was a good ski, though build quality may have been a bit iffy and bases didn't take wax very well.
This year I discovered the Fischer Ranger Jr in the catalog and it seemed like it should tick all the boxes. Moderate reasonable rocker and a pretty traditional shape, sandwich construction, enough kick in the rounded tail for her to not think it was a racing ski. 88mm waist to give enough float for a hundred pounder. We went ahead and special ordered a pair in 152. Here are some pictures to save me some typing -
Dimensions. I like that you can see the wood core through the topsheet. Yes, it's a real ski!
Yes, it is sidewall construction from tip to tail.
They're not too bad on the eyes.
In our challenging winter they have been presented with most every condition. Yes even a bit of powder. These are built as well as you would expect for an adult's ski. The bases are flat and take wax. Sidewalls are shaped nicely. Rocker profile is enough to make it easy in the woods, but doesn't turn it into a floppy slider on firm groomers. Flex is soft. These are her favorite skis so far.
This whole genre of skis can be hard because you are usually looking at a child's ski that has been scaled up too far and shares the same traits as it's 100cm sibling. Either that, or a stiff plank that is scaled down from it's 180cm older sibling. That is sort of like buying Marker Comp 20s and running them at a DIN of 10. This ski is sized right in the middle and it shows.
This year I discovered the Fischer Ranger Jr in the catalog and it seemed like it should tick all the boxes. Moderate reasonable rocker and a pretty traditional shape, sandwich construction, enough kick in the rounded tail for her to not think it was a racing ski. 88mm waist to give enough float for a hundred pounder. We went ahead and special ordered a pair in 152. Here are some pictures to save me some typing -
Dimensions. I like that you can see the wood core through the topsheet. Yes, it's a real ski!
Yes, it is sidewall construction from tip to tail.
They're not too bad on the eyes.
In our challenging winter they have been presented with most every condition. Yes even a bit of powder. These are built as well as you would expect for an adult's ski. The bases are flat and take wax. Sidewalls are shaped nicely. Rocker profile is enough to make it easy in the woods, but doesn't turn it into a floppy slider on firm groomers. Flex is soft. These are her favorite skis so far.
This whole genre of skis can be hard because you are usually looking at a child's ski that has been scaled up too far and shares the same traits as it's 100cm sibling. Either that, or a stiff plank that is scaled down from it's 180cm older sibling. That is sort of like buying Marker Comp 20s and running them at a DIN of 10. This ski is sized right in the middle and it shows.