Alpina Pursuit, Fischer Voyager

Hi folks,
I'm in the market for new nordic skis for the first time in 15 years.
There are more options now! I am intrigued by these shorter (164-184
cm) and wider (48-58 cm) skis like the Alpina Pursuit or the Fischer
Voyager. I guess these called mid-length? I ski on both groomed and
ungroomed trails, sometimes in tracks.

Do you folks who have them like them? Anybody switched recently from
traditional legnth to these want to tell me about it? Is the extra
engineering of the Fischer Nordic Cruiser style (wider under the foot) a
good thing?

Thanks! --GT

In article ,
GT wrote:
Hi folks,
I'm in the market for new nordic skis for the first time in 15 years.
There are more options now! I am intrigued by these shorter (164-184
cm) and wider (48-58 cm) skis like the Alpina Pursuit or the Fischer
Voyager. I guess these called mid-length? I ski on both groomed and
ungroomed trails, sometimes in tracks.

Definitely demo any before you buy them. I've had bad luck
trying mid-length skis in the past -- a good way to walk on the
trails, but forget glide. (I think the suggested weight classes
were way off; my wife, who'd had a similar experience, later that
same season demoed the same model in _my_ size and they weren't
awful for her, though still not too fast -- but she's only about
2/3 my weight, so she shouldn't have been able to get the pattern
into the snow by jumping up and down on it! At least, not if they
were skiable at my weight.)

Do you folks who have them like them? Anybody switched recently from
traditional legnth to these want to tell me about it? Is the extra
engineering of the Fischer Nordic Cruiser style (wider under the foot) a
good thing?

I demoed a Nordic Cruiser pair last season, and they were skiable
but slow. Of course, I was comparing them to my new-ish (though
still waxless, for a purely recreational, non-racing skier here
in New England) Fischer SuperLights -- but I'm not sure the new
skis were even faster than my old Trak T-1250's with their 75 mm
bindings. I checked out the Fischer advertising afterwards (can't
remember now if it was print or online) and at that point I thought
they were targeted as a way for fitness athletes who didn't already
xc ski to get into skiing as a fun way to keep training during
winter. Not as skis for skiers with any real experience.

So I'd say give them a try, sure, but don't expect too much. I
demoed them in-track; they might be better on a golf course or mild
backcountry.

--
***** I'm sure I parked my opinions somewhere around here. *****
Lee Derbenwick
Lucent Technologies / Bell Labs, Westford, MA, USA

I bought a pair of Fischer Voyagers after trying all the models at a Fischer
Demo day, and doing a glide feel comparison to my old skis (Fischer Crowns).
I was right on the cusp of the weight recommendation of medium vs heavy and
went for heavy.
I found in the comparison that the glide felt noticeably better in the
Voyagers than my old Crowns.
The voyagers have very good grip.
gr
"GT" wrote in message
...
Hi folks,
I'm in the market for new nordic skis for the first time in 15 years.
There are more options now! I am intrigued by these shorter (164-184
cm) and wider (48-58 cm) skis like the Alpina Pursuit or the Fischer
Voyager. I guess these called mid-length? I ski on both groomed and
ungroomed trails, sometimes in tracks.

Do you folks who have them like them? Anybody switched recently from
traditional legnth to these want to tell me about it? Is the extra
engineering of the Fischer Nordic Cruiser style (wider under the foot) a
good thing?

Thanks! --GT