Head didn’t invent the shaped ski, but when the Carving Revolution was in its infancy it was the first major brand to commit to the concept with its Cyber series. Over the last quarter century its commitment hasn’t wavered, consistently offering several skis in its collection with curvaceous sidecuts. For the last decade, the focus of Head’s non-race carving models has been the Supershape series, a family that remains intact in 21/22, returning intact the incarnations introduced just last year.
In light of its history of making category-crushing carvers, it’s saying something to assert that the latest batch of Supershapes is the best ever and that among them the e-Rally hits the sweetspot. At the first hint of recognition that its pilot wants to change direction, it dips and tugs into the turn; all it needs is a little more encouragement in the form of a tilted edge and it’s cutting a short-radius arc you couldn’t bobble if you tried. As the skier’s energy shifts to the tail, the e-Rally provides an earthquake-proof platform for transitioning to the next exhilarating turn.
With its 54mm-drop between tip and waist width along with two thick, end-to-end, wall-to-wall sheets of Titanal, you’d surmise the e-Rally isn’t open to suggestion about turn shape. But you’d be wrong. Sure, if you take full advantage of its sidecut you can cut a world-class slalom turn, but back off the edge angle and you can extract whatever shape you want.
Of the four Supershape models, the one that underwent the most telling transformation last season was the e-Titan. In previous generations, the Titan and Rally were very close in every respect. Last year, the e-Titan put more distance between it and its thinner sibling.
It’s not just that the e-Titan plumped up to an 84mm waist; it also was trimmed down at tip and tail. By taking some of the shape out of the sidecut, the e-Titan became more adapted to irregular terrain and even powder, while the e-Rally remained a purebred carver. To put it more plainly, the e-Titan is more at home in a big-bellied GS arc while the e-Rally is genetically inclined to SL turns.
Comparing the 21/22 e-Titan to the Titans of yore, the latest issue feels smoother flexing and easier to compress at less than rocket speeds. This is due in part to how Head takes advantage of Graphene’s ridiculous strength-to-weight ratio to re-distribute heavier materials so they’re not all concentrated underfoot. Reducing the core profile underfoot and making the middle of the ski softer allows it bend more fully, unleashing the e-Titan’s flawless grip. The flex pattern is matched to the sidecut and baseline of each length to achieve a more fluid, balanced flex pattern that makes skiing feel as natural as walking.
How can a ski as narrow-waisted as the Kore 87 come across as the most versatile ski in its wide-body family? After all, the Kore collection is 100% an off-trail creation; its avatar should be the new Kore 111, not this string bean.
The improbable polyvalence of the Kore 87 is partly explained by a sleight of hand Head pulled off in the make-up of the narrowest Kore models in the 21/22 line. Taking advantage of Graphene’s ability to affect flex without a commensurate effect on mass, Head beefed up the Kore 87 to account for the certainty that it will spend much of its life on groomers. Its power quotient might have gone up a tick this year with the substitution of poplar and Karuba for Koroyd, which subtly enhanced its feedback on hard snow.
The improvements made to the Kore’s capacities on hard snow don’t seem to have diminished its inherent talent for off-trail travel. This is when the Kore 87 shines, for they can be moved around on a whim. The sidecut is fairly straight underfoot, so it’s simple to swivel, an action made even more greasy by a new, beveled top edge that slices sideways without resistance. But the primary contributor to the Kore 87’s ease of operation off-trail is its ethereal light weight. An energy reserve that would otherwise sputter out before noon can last until tea time.
With Graphene in its arsenal, Head has embraced lightweight design with the fervor it once brought to the early carving craze. The unapologetic objective of the V-Shape series is to create the lightest on-piste design possible. There are still traditional elements in the V-Shape 10, such as carbon, fiberglass and ash alongside Karuba in its wood core, but it’s Graphene that makes its LYT Tech construction possible.
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, a Supershape e-Titan.
Compared to an alternative carving set-up, with a fat, shock-sucking plate and a metal-laden make-up, the V-Shape 10 feels like nothing at all. Says one of our veteran testers, “I wasn’t even sure they were still on my feet. Impressive performance for its weight. Floats on powder and carves on ice.” Once you get past its crazy weightlessness, you’ll find the V-Shape 10 is a smooth operator with an innate desire to lay down dual tracks on groomers of any pitch.
The Kore 99 epitomizes what makes Head’s unique Kore construction so well adapted to irregular, off-trail conditions without compromising its capacity for holding on hard snow. The All-Mountain West category resides on the boundary line between hard-snow carvers and Big Mountain drifters. The Kore 99 is definitely from the latter camp of looser skis, but its thoughtful design never forgets that is has to meet a certain hard snow performance standard or Head won’t put its name on it.
Kore’s paramount intention is to make a lightweight construction that can be applied to wide skis without extra weight accompanying with the extra width. In the Kore series, Graphene is moved to the tip and tail where it adds structure but almost no weight, thereby lowering swingweight and making these wide skis easy to swivel.
Three other features contribute to the Kore 99’s shocking ease at negotiating battered crud fields and tight tree lines. One, the shoulders on the new Kore series have been rounded off, so the ski slips sideways almost without resistance, a huge plus when a wide ski has to be tossed around an obstacle. Two, the center section of sidecut is essentially straight, facilitating a swiveled turn finish that is the norm in deep snow. And three, a flex pattern that promotes playfulness and rebound, which reduces the effort required to make turns in tough terrain. Less effort means more fun and a longer ski day.
