Head built its Joy women’s line from scratch, without borrowing so much as a gram of Titanal from the hundreds of men’s models it might have cloned and declawed. The weight reference is apt, for Head’s undeniable advantage of being the first and only ski brand to use Graphene™ – carbon reduced to its single-atom essence – gives its women’s skis amazing snow feel. Its one thing to experience the already significant joy of skiing powder; it’s another whole level to feel the Big Joy as it transmits the pearly brush of snow on its bases to your arches, as if you were skiing barefoot.

“Love, love, love,” trills Lisa Wiles from Footloose, as if she’d just discovered the secret to universal peace and harmony. “What’s not to like? This [waist] size shouldn’t be able to turn or carve. Well, not the case,” she concludes. Ms. Wiles is spot-on, for Head always preserves a modicum of carving capability in every ski they make, even one with the capacious waistline of the Big Joy.

Lisa’s card includes a coda, a personal plea for semi-divine intervention. “Oh Santa,” she pleads, “I’ve been a good girl. I need to find these under the tree.”   If there is a Santa Claus, as there certainly ought to be, perhaps Lisa’s wish can still come true.