2027 Fischer Nightstick 97

The 2027 Fischer Nightstick 97 is a carryover model for this year, bringing with it the same shape, construction, and profile as last year. By taking a lot of the things we like about the Ranger series and adding in a more playful feel and freestyle-oriented shape, these skis are poised and ready to take over the mid-90's twin tip division with a lot of positives to lean on. With a blend of pop, stability, and twin-tip fun, these Nightstick 97’s love to be used in a variety of conditions and terrain, with an emphasis on park and freestyle use. While it’s easy to take a glance at these skis and note their obvious freestyle implications, it’s also fair to say that they work better than expected in non-park formats.

These skis use a full poplar wood core and a .5 mm titanal plate under the core in the underfoot zone, and this does a lot of heavy lifting when it comes to stability and edge grip. Skiers who want their park ski to carve clean turns will find a lot to like here. Tester Alyssa Ringler calls it a “Solid ski. These felt nice and sturdy on the ice/hard pack. They didn't chatter and felt like they could be really playful in more snow. These would be great on powder/packed powder as well as the firmer stuff. I think they’d also be sweet to take in the trees. They can be a little playful and seemed fine on the ice. These were on the heavier side but were manageable. No chatter and decent for the boiler plate conditions.” That blend of carving smooth turns and off-piste mobility is what it’s all about with this 97. In the 177, the ski has some heft to it at 1870 grams per ski, so core thickness has a lot to do with it. We feel that this is a good mid-weight for a ski to be in terms of mixing park, slopestyle, and all-mountain skiing. Confidence is part of the process when taking huge airs and this ski delivers.

Freestyle performance has a lot to do with the influence of the shape and footprint. As a twin tip, we’re dealing with a lot of splay at both ends of the ski. The taper shape sticks out to us the most, though, as the ski can cut through softer snow smoothly and predictably. We’ve also been noting that this has been a trend in freestyle skis lately to accommodate buttering, smearing, and increased confidence in high-speed takeoffs and landings. The skis are very hook-free and amenable to correcting small mistakes. The all-around nature of this ski is what seems to stand out to our tester and the skiing population at large. We get a relatively short turn radius here at 17-meters in the 177, and you can feel the ski want to come around cleanly in a carved turn. Landel Cochran states that “The Nightstick 97 is pretty easy to ski, not too demanding. Significant rocker in both tip and tail allow you to swing them around easily. These skis are hard to upset but they also don't really want to "lock in" too much when put on edge.” It is fun, though, to feel the underfoot smoothness and power shine through in this ski while keeping it fun at the ends.

These skis work great in terms of feeling sturdy and playful. If you like a bit of heft and power to your all-mountain twin tip, then this is a fantastic choice. Skiers can use this Nightstick 97 all over the place—it doesn’t just have to be in the park. At the same time, since it’s a twin tip, it comes along with that specific character that not everyone will enjoy—it's more of a specialty ski on paper, but on snow it still has a lot to offer the everyday all-mountain skier. This has been a surprising ski for us over the past two seasons and it continues to show its versatility as time goes by.