It seems like almost every ski made for this mixed-condition category prioritizes facility in ungroomed conditions, willingly sacrificing a measure of steering accuracy on hard snow to obtain leniency on unmanicured trails. This trade-off benefits the less frequent and/or less talented skier, but what if you’re already more than capable of taking care of yourself off-trail and don’t care to surrender any edging power and snow contact that you could put to good use when roaring down groomers?
You turn to the Head Monster 88 Ti. It’s not a stepping stone ski, or a crutch to lean on for backside neophytes. Perhaps the best way to think about what sort of ski it is would be to not classify it at all. It’s not a groomer ski, or a sidecountry ski or some kind of hybrid; it’s just a ski. A damn good ski that you can take anywhere you fancy and it will never let you down.
The obvious point about the V-Shape 10’s LYT Tech design is it’s much lighter than the norm among men’s Frontside models. But the big trick in LYT Tech’s bag is how it uses Graphene to change one of a ski’s most fundamental features, its core profile.
Through all the disruptive design changes that have roiled the ski world in the past 30 years – shaped skis, fat skis, rockered baselines – you could always count on a ski being thicker in the middle and thinner at the ends. But Graphene’s ability to affect stiffness without affecting mass allows Head to toy with flex distribution in unique ways. The V-Shape 10 is made thinner through the middle so it can be loaded with less exertion, a major differentiator between it and, say, an i.Supershape Titan.
The V-Shape 10 is a system ski, meaning it comes with its own binding, but there’s an optional component that isn’t included in the price but is certainly part of the package: Head’s LYT Tech boots, the Nexo series. While not strictly speaking an integrated system, Head’s ultralight boot/ski combo is the first of its kind. If you like the idea of a luxury carving kit that weighs no more than a whisper, consider going all-in and matching the V-Shape 10 with a Nexo Lyt boot.
To grok the essence of the new Fischer RC One 86 GT, think of it as a carving ski with wanderlust. As an Austrian brand, Fischer’s collective mind rarely meanders far from the racecourse, so it’s natural that the RC One 86 GT is a carving machine first and an off-trail implement second. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. All a ski this wide really needs to navigate most off-trail conditions is a dash of tip rocker, aka, early rise.
The tip-off that Fischer envisions the RC One 86 GT in Frontside environs is that it’s the head of a mostly Frontside (75mm-84mm underfoot) family. Furthermore, its construction is all about maintaining snow connection, a classic Frontside obsession. The tip and tail are outfitted with Bafatex®, a synthetic compound meant to muffle shock and keep every cm of the 86 GT’s fully cambered baseline plastered on the snow. Not to mention .8mm’s of shaped Titanal to further cow hard snow into silence.
Last season represented a sort of coming out party for Liberty, a small brand that had carved out a niche as a bamboo-and-carbon specialist with a knack for making lightweight wide-bodies. Then they figured out how to industrialize the integration of an aluminum strut into their wheelhouse construction, trimmed down their usual silhouette to something more svelte and boom, they elevated to a whole new level of performance.
After having skied two generations of Vertical Metal Technology models from Liberty, two global qualities standout. One, every sinew of the ski seems dedicated to maintaining snow contact. If the modestly rockered tip deflects upward for a microsecond, the struts manage the moment so the edge underfoot is never perturbed.
Two, all the VMT models require zero adaptation on the part of the pilot. Don’t worry about loading the tip or exaggerating edge angles. Just ski from a centered stance with whatever means of angulation floats your boat. The V92 will hold an edge no matter how you stand on it. Because the V92 is so open-minded, it’s an ideal match for someone who hasn’t bought a new ski in ages, wants the benefits of new technology but doesn’t want to re-learn the sport.
