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Fischer GTS crown, were they sold in the U.S?
Posted: Mon Jun 26, 2023 11:37 pm
by Erik H
hello all, I have recently been looking for a pair of short-ish (185-190 cm) traditional telemark skis, (narrow width, low-ish camber) with fishscales. I was thinking that the waxless version of Fischer's old GTS tele skis would be a good fit but all of the information that I found online was from Japanese sites, were these skis only sold in Japan?
Here is a picture that I found online:
Re: Fischer GTS crown, were they sold in the U.S?
Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2023 8:29 am
by phoenix
I never saw, or heard of, any waxless GTS here in the states. Had a pair of the taxable GTS though.
Re: Fischer GTS crown, were they sold in the U.S?
Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2023 10:01 am
by fgd135
Although I skied on GTS for a few seasons in the late 1980s-early 1990s, the heyday of that model, and worked in a ski shop that sold them, I never saw any with waxless patterns. Doesn't mean the ski was not produced in a waxless model, but the secondary camber (wax pocket) was virtually non-existent, if there at all, on the waxable ski. IMO, it shined better as a medium-stiff resort tele ski and was a bit too stiff for western USA backcountry touring. Unless Fischer re-cambered the ski design later on, I don't think it would've been very conducive to waxless bases; even with the excellent Fischer crown base patterns, it would've had serious amounts of drag, imho. Even waxing that ski for kick was difficult as the low camber meant rewaxing often as the wax scraped off quickly in use.
There are so many other more modern choices for waxless backcountry touring skis that I would keep looking for something else. If not, find a used pair of GTS on Craigslist, etc., and use them with thin, short length, wool mohair skins.