The 2021/2022 Fischer Transalp Pro was tested in the men’s Backcountry category by the experts at America's Best Bootfitters, powered by Masterfit.
The Gist
It looks minimalistic (hell, it’s missing plastic along the Achilles tendon area!) but with an eye toward design—like a piece of anatomical sculpture. It’s technical (look at the mechanical advantage buckles) but simple in that all the elements contribute to a functional up or down. It’s the biggest surprise of our boot test this year—testers were shocked at how strongly this micro skied.
The Fit
It’s a snug medium-width but with the curves in all the right places to suit the foot’s bony bits—our knobbiest testers were amazed at how closely but comfortably this fit with a minimally padded liner. The toebox is modern in its squared-off shape for adequate breathing room for all the toes while touring and while the midfoot is constructed with a modified cabrio throat the soft material over the top of the foot is cushioned enough that the buckle cable doesn’t chop the top of the foot. The fit through the instep and into the cuff is smoothly executed with a proper fit along the shin and a tall-enough feel against the leg to support real skiing movements through terrain. The entry and exit via the weatherproof gusset (or is it a gauntlet?) is not easy, period, but with a little practice and fiddling it’s worth the hassle.
Performance
This was where our test team was blown away—somehow this little bugger can put a fat ski on edge and drive it through whatever’s in its path. It was accurate in its steering capabilities and responsive to both minute and substantial edging movements. A couple of our testers put it head-to-head (left foot, right foot) against the more alpine power centric Lange XT3 Tour Pro and both testers said that if they had their eyes closed they couldn’t have known which one was which, power-wise. The touring capability was fantastic here, with the lightest feel on the foot and the longest touring range of motion in the test.
Cool Features
The Z-drag style bottom buckle cable is routed to exert maximum pull with minimal buckle tension and manages to not feel “strappy” across the top of the foot. The gliding top buckle fulcrum provides a little bit of smooth mechanical advantage to the closure, which testers thought was cool, though probably an unnecessary element. The G.I. Joe kung-fu grip style cam-buckle power strap clasp is not original but is an improved version and it does grip pretty damn well—enough that one of our testers couldn’t figure it out, pulled the strap all the way past the cam buckle and then had to take a knife to the strap hem stitching in order to get it back through. Oops, sorry Fischer.
