Head has never disguised its passion for carving or addiction to speed. Who else except Atomic can boast a stable of World Cup athletes identifiable by their first names? (Lindsay, Bode, Ted, Anna, Julia, Aksel… need we go on?)

So guess who makes the most connected-to-the-snow collection of All-Mountain and Big Mountain skis extant? Did everyone say, “Head?” For every Monster from 88 to 108 has a baseline that’s borrowed directly from Frontside DNA; compared to the front rocker of say, the Enforcer 93, the slight elevation of the Monster 88 tip is invisible.

Since we’re playing a guessing game with hints, what AME ski do you think has two sheets of Titanal, plus a dash of Graphene, the strongest strength-to-weight material mankind has yet to extract from the Ether? Anyone who said, “Monster 88” can have an extra fruit cup. This ski is super-strong, torsionally rigid and unintimidated by peer pressure. It’s basically unimpressed by all efforts to deflect it except the skillfully applied force exerted by a Power skier in full flight down the fall line.

Much about the Monster line from Head is contrarian in nature: they want to engage early (the tips aren’t tapered), the tail holds onto a carve (they’re only rounded enough to avoid hang-ups), they use absurdly light materials but don’t obsess about overall weight, and every ski is built the same and priced the same despite wider skis having higher material costs.

Every Monster could also give a hoot about what’s it’s flying into. The Monster 88 would make a good ski for a Marvel™ Avenger: it’s not afraid of conflict. Aim it at snow with the consistency of fluff or foie gras; it could care less.

If you really know how to ski, don’t let the Monster 88’s relatively low scores for Finesse deter you. This is a great ski just waiting for great skiers to discover it.