The Fischer Progressor F18 is a ski that has been designed to be lightweight yet still retain the good qualities needed by a piste-specific ski - edge hold, responsiveness and stability.
The use of metals such as steel and titanal have traditionally been used in the construction of piste skis, but more and more we are seeing graphene and carbon being used as alternative materials.
In the Progressor F18, Fischer has really pushed the envelope in carbon construction by using two different layers of the stuff.
The first part has sheets of corrugated carbon laid on their side tip to tail, and that series of parallel ridges and grooves gives added rigidity and strength while the spacing between the ridges keeps the weight down.
Fischer has then added straight shafts of carbon around a beech poplar wood core, which itself has been milled (what Fischer calls Air Tec) to reduce weight further.
The result is rather impressive as each ski comes in at around 1800 grams, leaving the Progressor F18 super nimble but still able to maintain bags of grip.
Bigger or more powerful skiers may find the ski a little flappier when pushed to high speed compared to skis that contain chunks of metal, but put them into shorter turns or moguls and the Progressor F18s pop and rebound with gusto.
Conclusion: our lighter weight testers felt more comfortable on the F18's than the bigger guys and therefore our scoring reflected that.
