Fischer Nothing Ski Review | GearJunkie

I pushed off the top of Vail’s chair 4, eager to dive into North Rim’s steep fall line terrain blanketed with fresh 6 inches of powder — the terrain where I was sure Fischer’s new Nothings would thrive. I dropped from the upper headwall into a soft pillow of snow, slashing to scrub some speed before the terrain got more complicated. Then, bam. A big rock grabs my right ski and throws me off balance as I’m plunging downhill.

On a stiffer, more demanding ski, my day might have ended right there. But I was on Fischer’s new, weirdly mysterious Nothings. Instinct kicked in, I slashed some speed and pulled my derailed ski back on track, bashing through the moguls in what felt like a miraculous save.

These skis kept pushing me to ski fast, loose, and with more flair than I’m used to. They’re playful and intuitive freeride skis, blurring the line between big mountain and about three other ski categories.

I won’t dance around it. Even the low tide conditions couldn’t wipe the smile off my face while I pushed the Nothings beyond my comfort zone.

So what are the details on these mysterious sticks? Well, if you ask Fischer or their PR partners, they’ll literally say “Nothing.” They’re keeping all the specs, details, and information secret because “the ski doesn’t need to tell you how it should ski,” according to the brand.

The marketing stunt hooked me like a trout on a fly. I dug into some of the most fun days all season on Fischer’s new Nothings to see if these big skis are being oversold — or deeply under hyped — by the marketing department.

In short: Fischer’s mysterious Nothing skis ($900) are a 112mm waisted ski aimed at a fun-first freeride skiing. To call them powder skis would deeply undersell their versatility. Big shovels, tails, and a healthy rocker make them a hoot in powder. But it’s their steady camber and moderately stiff flex that gives them just enough backbone and pop for surprising versatility when the conditions don’t line up in your favor. They’re a category bender that intermediate and expert freeride skiers will be thrilled to step onto when the snow trends toward soft.

Check out GearJunkie’s guide to the Best All-Mountain Skis.

Fischer Nothing Review

At Vail, my home resort, Saturdays are often mayhem, and powder fever runs rampant when more than 6 fresh inches blanket the back bowls. Powder, especially on the most fun lines, gets skied out pretty quickly. For that reason, big, floppy powder skis excel for about an hour. After that, a little bit of camber and backbone goes a long way.

The Fischer Nothings are trying to be my favorite Vail ski. Floaty dimensions, a healthy camber, a poppy core, and a fun-first demeanor. That 112mm waist width is the sweet spot for big, soft, tracked ski terrain. I skied the Nothings until I could barely walk to expose their mystique for myself.

Build & Dimensions

As I scrambled to source a binding, I was again denied by the marketing department. The dimensions on the Nothings are literally scribbled out. I trudged over to my workbench and pulled out the tape measure to begrudgingly measure them for myself, like it was 1960.

The dimensions land at roughly 112mm underfoot. That would theoretically land them squarely in the big mountain category, maybe even peeking into powder ski dimensions toward the shovels. And they come with a healthy sidecut with ~142mm tips and ~133mm tails. I can just barely see a “21m” scribbled out on the top sheet. Those roughly calculated dimensions together point to a big, nimble pair of skis.

The rocker profile only adds to that suspicion. Both the shovels and tails come with big fun-hog rockers and even a legitimate twin tip for switch skiing and landings. But there’s no escaping Fischer’s 100-year heritage and ski racing dominance. The 186cm Nothings come with a springy camber extending an effective edge of roughly 119cm according to my tape measure.

But what’s inside? Here comes the speculation. My baseline assumption is that these skis are a mashup of Fischer’s Ranger freeride chassis and Nightstick freestyle line. I can tell there’s a thin fork-shaped sheet of titanal extending about 99cm in the middle part of the ski. That’s a defining characteristic of the Ranger collection.

Underneath? Wood. Obviously. I’d wager it’s primarily poplar, based on the core’s liveliness on the snow. But they’re damp too. Maybe there’s some beech in there? I honestly can’t tell.

Skiing the Nothings

It didn’t take more than half a run for me to realize that Fischer is onto something here, and it’s really not that complicated. The Nothings are big freeride skis that manage a super-intuitive feel. Big ski energy with freestyle playfulness. Enough power without feeling demanding.

I’d venture to call them easy to ski. You can trace that back to the easygoing shape. They have big rockers, a little bit of camber, a lot of sidecut, and a moderately stiff flex that’s agreeable in most terrain.

When I pushed off into a steep, groomed run, their easy-turning character jumped right out at me. I just thought about turning, and the Nothings made it happen. They have just enough camber that I could carve deep trenches in relatively soft piste. Short- and long-radius turns just made sense. The formulaic 21m turn radius is a good indicator of their overall turny-ness.

And yet they still had enough heft and backbone to point ‘em straight and let it rip. They wouldn’t feel too chattery as long as the snow was on the softer side.

Freeride & Powder

“Let them eat” is a note I typed into my phone after a particularly aggressive full-send run. The Nothings aren’t shy about pointing it straight and going fast. But unlike the freeride skis of 10 years ago, they aren’t stiff, unstoppable freight trains. Their nimble character makes it easy to scrub speed and throw them sideways. It’s a confidence-inspiring design.

These skis provide a ton of room for error thanks to those big rockers and moderate flex profile. “Forgiving” is another way to say it. And that’s great because they’re really at their best when you let them ski freely. That’s not a characteristic that traditional directional skiers will necessarily love as much as Fischer’s Ranger line. It takes some willingness to let go and some trust in the skis and your own abilities.

Even still, the Nothings will feel more familiar to traditional skiers than pure freestyle skis like the Scott SEA 108 and the Nightstick.

As you want from a playful freeride ski, every little side hit became a lot more interesting. The poppy tails lend flavor all over the place. A buttered catwalk here, a tree tap there. They genuinely brought me back to my park skiing teens, every run filled with creative possibilities.

The powder days were the best days. That shouldn’t surprise anyone. The Nothings float and bounce through the deep stuff with poise and agility. They’re objectively fun — you don’t even need to work that hard for it. You kinda just imagine how you want them to ski the powder in front of you, and they do it like an extension of your body.

I’d be lying if I said this winter was all powder days and rainbows. During an unsettlingly warm February day, I managed to push the Nothings into perfectly ripe corn. I’ve been on powder skis that ski corn terribly — they need a little backbone and a good edge to keep from turning into a floppy, sloppy mess.

The Nothings have just that backbone. Their edge provides a nice grip for initiating turns. But those big rockers and moderately soft shovels kept them absolutely flying. It was like surfing through the mash with just enough rudder.

Tight Terrain

At one point, I found myself in a tight, steep tree chute that barely had enough snow to justify being there, stuck in one of those zones where a straight line is the only way out.

I hopped over some exposed rocks, pivoted to the line, and sent it through the chute.  For such big skis, the Nothings are surprisingly nimble in tight spaces. That continued to be the theme as I explored the stashes and steep shots all around the mountain.

That quick, pivoty flavor translated to moguls as well, where the Nothings galvanized me toward more of a jumping rhythm than a standard mogul turn. They don’t like to be boxed in by too much traditional technique. You need to let them breathe and come alive. Once I got on board with their aptitude for pivoting and jumping, moguls turned into a tiny terrain park with vast new opportunities for creative lines.

The 186cm Nothings I’ve been riding have been the sizing sweet spot for tight terrain. But at 185cm tall myself, the Nothings closer to 189cm would be my perfect match, for reference. The point is that the Nothings are far from demanding. It won’t hurt to go a little longer for skiers between sizes or who want a more stable character.

Firm Snow

No matter how much camber they have, 112mm waisted skis won’t be hard snow specialists. The Nothings offer just enough bite in hard, steep snow when a reliable edge is what separates you from falling down the fall line on a cliffy headwall.

Still, these aren’t the skis you’re reaching for during the hardpack days and for steep ice, even if they do better than their width might suggest. Don’t get me wrong, I had a ton of fun on the Nothings during an icy day at Keystone, but they distinctly lacked precision and bite in the very firm snow, so there was a lot of sliding and sideways drifting.

You could do a lot worse, but I wouldn’t call the Nothings a “quiver of one”–type ski unless you’re in a region where you’re skiing soft snow 75%+ of the time. They’ll thrive on ski days with 2 inches to multiple feet of fresh snow, which is still a wide range. Let a skinnier ski, like the Ranger 96, handle the icy days.

I was having so much fun skiing the snot out of the Nothings that I almost overlooked their biggest flaw — they only come in 176cm, 186cm, and 196cm lengths. That’s great for folks like me who ski in the 185cm+ range (even if 196cm is gigantic). So, I guess we’ll see if they make the Nothings available for smaller skiers. It would be silly not to, given what a riot these skis are.

Fischer Nothing: Who They Are For

After skiing the new Nothings until my legs fell off, I kinda get where Fischer is coming from. They refuse to share much information about the new skis because, as the site claims, “The ski doesn’t need to tell you how it should ski. It’s waiting to be told, by you.”

I hate to say it, but they’re right. The Nothings aren’t easy to put in a box. “Powder ski” undersells their versatility. “Big Mountain Ski” downplays their playful, easy-to-ski demeanor. They don’t feel particularly constrained into a single ski category, nor do they have a strong idiosyncratic character. They really just do what you tell them to, across a broad range of conditions and terrain, with some extra pizzazz.

That brings me to who they’re for. If 176cm is truly the smallest length they’ll be offered in, that pretty much eliminates smaller skiers. If and when they bring more sizes to market, and for folks that fit the available sizes, the Fischer Nothings are going to match best with skiers that like skiing fast and loose in all kinds of freeride terrain, especially when it’s coated in a fresh layer of fluff.

They’re a step up in playfulness from the Ranger collection. But they’re easy enough to ski that they aren’t just reserved for experts or freestylers — strong intermediate skiers could have a blast on these too, especially in soft snow.

I haven’t been this tickled by a pair of skis in a long time. Fischer’s new weirdly mysterious Nothings manage to combine an intuitive shape and a fun-first core for huge versatility. Big terrain, small terrain, soft and even chunky snow — it didn’t really matter. I couldn’t stop smiling.