Review: Fischer RC4 Pro MV DYN BOA ZipFit

These past two seasons, we’ve seen the rise of a new kind of high-performance ski boot that has yet to be given a name that’s stuck. While they’re not for everyone, they fill a very specific niche for those of us that have a use for them. I’m talking about incredibly stiff boots with no walk mode and tech fittings just in the toe. I’m going to go ahead and call these Pro boots because of how specific a niche this fills. 

I don't mean to pigeonhole these for use only by dudes with FWT aspirations, but they really cater to specific shred-ready audience (male and female), and will be too stiff and specialized for the average skier.  

I wouldn’t take these touring unless it was a short tour to lap a zone or get out of a pickle, not to mention they’ll only work with Shift, CAST, and Duke PT bindings - not real tech bindings. CAST Touring has been offering this modification to your alpine boot for years - the industry has just finally caught on. 

Fischer joined the party this year with the RC4 Pro MV DYN BOA ZipFit. What a mouthful. True to the category, it’s a 130-flex freeride boot with just tech fittings in the toe, no walk mode, and a high quality liner in the form of a fully customizable cork-lined ZipFit. These are mega stiff, medium volume, and designed for really aggressive skiing both in and out of bounds - in other words these ski like a race plug boot that someone drilled a tech fitting into. I don’t say this about boots often, but the craftsmanship on this pair is very impressive, with clean, simple and sleek lines and a finish that showcases the Austrian brand’s expertise.

Features:

Fisher’s new boot is actually devoid of many features - and that’s kind of the point. There’s no walk mode, there’s half a tech fitting (toe only), a BOA down low and two buckles up top, plus a power strap on the cuff. It looks a lot like their pro-level race boots. It’s labeled an RC4 after all.

Arguably the biggest feature is that this particular model comes stock with a ZipFit liner, something Fischer started doing just last year on their highest performance boots. We’ve certainly seen competitors boots in the past featuring Intuition liners out of the box, but I would argue that the ZipFit certainly adds a better value and much more customization options. It’s a Fisher x ZipFit branded model, that falls somewhere between the Gara and the Corsa models that ZipFit offers as aftermarket options. It’s fairly thin and stiff, offers the same cork customization all the other ones are known for, and has been optimized to work with the RC4 boot. I haven’t found any issues with using it in other boots too - so if you have a pair of older shells or hybrid touring boots you’d like to share a liner with, this certainly works.

The BOA on the bottom is the same BOA H+i1 that has taken the ski boot market by storm. Love it or hate it, it definitely does what it advertises - closes your boot evenly across your forefoot.

Unlike many other high-end boots this year, the power strap is non-elastic. Personally, I prefer the feel and rebound of a booster strap style elastic power strap, but this 50 mm strap is super burly, and really adds some more stiffness.

The plastic of the entire shell is made of Fisher’s vacuum fit-compatible heat-moldable plastic. Thanks to the big complex machine a ski shop needs to properly do this process, this isn’t really something you can do at home.

Fit:

The Fischer boot comes with a stated 97-103mm last, thanks to the BOA. That falls squarely within what I’d call Medium Volume range. It’s slightly wider than Fischer’s other RC4 models.

The heel pocket on these is very tight, largely thanks to how well the cork in the zip fit liner will grab your foot. Up front, there’s actually quite a bit of room in the toe, and I would say these boots actually feel quite long for a 27.5.

The instep height falls somewhere in the middle of the general volume range, so I would imagine that very flat-footed skiers will want to add some more cork into the tongue of the ZipFit liner. I have pretty high arches and tend to have issues with instep volume so these actually felt very good for me. For a really tight fit, I could have added a shim beneath my footbed. The cuff cinches down very tightly, again thanks to how much volume this liner can take up when adjusted by a bootfitter.

Uphill Performance:

This isn’t really a touring boot, but it does come with tech fittings, so it’s worth briefly talking about how it would perform uphill. The lack of a walk mode really makes it quite uncomfortable to tour long distances in, especially on flat. It does, however, work quite well if you need to skin up some short and steep terrain, like getting out of a pickle in the sidecountry, or, if you set a skin track next to a backcountry jump or mini golf line that you were sessioning.

Loosening up the top buckles and the boa gives you a small amount of range of motion, and actually makes this quite a comfortable boot to hike in. The grippy grip walk sole works very well on icy or rocky bootpacks, ridges or parking lots.

This boot will not work with true tech bindings as there are no tech fittings in the heel, but will work with something like the Shift, CAST, or Duke PT.

Downhill Performance:

The Fisher boot is one of the stiffest 130 flex boots I have ever skied - it’s really impressive. I tend to flex through most 130 flex boots and this one is actually almost too stiff for me. That’s especially noticeable when skiing softer and floppier skis - it feels like I am easily over driving those skis.

Pairing these with a really stiff or really heavy ski makes a lot of sense especially when skiing in questionable snow conditions where it will help to just absolutely plow through mank, crud or cut up snow.

I experimented with taking a bolt out of the spine to soften things up, and I think that actually helped quite a bit and put it more in line with the other 130 flex boots on the market.

The cuff height of the boot actually feels kind of low compared to others, which might have also contributed to it feeling much stiffer as you get less leverage into the tongue than you would on a taller boot.

Overall, while they offer less precise of a fit than a plug boot, the downhill performance is the closest I’ve found to a plug in a boot like this.

What compromises does the Fischer RC4 Pro DYN ZipFit make?

Since Fisher doesn’t really advertise this as a touring boot, I think it would be unfair to say that the lack of a walk mode and ROM is a compromise. It’s just not really designed to do that, instead, focusing on all out downhill performance, with the ability to use it with certain kinds of bindings.

I think I would’ve liked to see a more elastic style power strap stock out of the box, especially given how literally every other part of the boot is super high-end.

I also think that if you are going to add a tech fitting into the toe, why not add it to the heel just so that you can use both types of bindings?

What does the Fischer RC4 Pro DYN ZipFit’s ideal skier look like?

This is kind of a hard question to answer, but I think the Fischer boot would best serve a very very aggressive skier that typically wears plug or high-performance on-piste boots and wants the option to use that style of boot with a hybrid touring binding. They like to lap out of bounds runs, hit big airs at speed and want the ability to occasionally tour short distances. Admittedly, that’s a very small category and would include athletes, patrollers, heli guides or just hard-charging local guys and gals. This would be a great boot for sidecountry riding in Jackson Hole, on the Aiguille du Midi, heliskiing or sled skiing in Valdez, or filming your next sled-access backcountry booter sesh. 

The Fischer RC4 Pro MV DYN BOA boot will be available soon.