There’s a misconception about short-radius skis like the i.Magnum (13.1m @ 170cm) that they won’t do a long turn without getting wobbly and will lose all composure off-piste. Poppycock. Of course it’s not a Powder ski, but the i.Magnum is no more perturbed by common off-trail conditions than it is by blue-tinted boilerplate. It will eat whatever you feed it. If you want a little more stability at speed and a slightly longer radius arc, don’t be shy about stepping up the 177cm.
To the short list of life’s certainties – death and taxes – you can add the security on edge of the Supershape i.Speed. Although it’s shaped for short turns, it can bolt down the fall line in a heartbeat and never break a sweat. The Sport Loft tester who goes by colorful sobriquet Rico Suave anointed the Supershape i.Speed “the funnest Super Shape of all! Sweet, playful and butter smooth.”
It’s not necessary to have competed alongside The Curv’s designers, all World Cup veterans, to appreciate The Curv DTX, but it’s fair to say it favors those with some race training on their resume. The best Technical skis recreate the sensations of racing without the complications imposed by FIS-sanctioned shapes and World-Cup-level flexes. The Curv DTX makes it easy to carve like a champ: the triple radius sidecut pulls the skier into the arc on autopilot, and its softer flex allows it to be decambered by someone who doesn’t train every day.
The Curv Booster isn’t for an advanced skier looking for technical training wheels. It expects the pilot to have one leg extended and the other tucked up tight, with hips suspended just above the corduroy, setting up for the next exercise in total commitment. Skiers who want carving control that doesn’t require quite this level of athleticism should look at The Curv DTX, built with the same amount of muscle inside but without the supercharger effect of the Booster.
The Dynastar Speed Zone 12 Ti is the current incarnation of what was once a popular genre, the cruiser. Not as brutish as a race-ready GS ski, the cruiser nonetheless shares the same interests and terrain preferences. It isn’t ashamed to admit that it hates moguls and anything that looks like them, not so much because it couldn’t find its way around the cursed obstacles if so required, but because anything that slows it down is an unwelcome interruption in its course.
