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.
Because all the Monsters, and especially the 83, were constructed like elite carving skis (or detuned race skis, take your pick), the 83 Ti is still a great fit for its category while its wider kin – always anachronisms in their respective genres – are extinct. In recent years, Head has tinkered with the 83 Ti’s tip shape and contact point, but it didn’t change its attitude or aptitude one bit. It still skis unmistakably like a wood-and-metal ski, even if Graphene is part of its formula. In this lay-up, the Graphene isn’t used as much for its infinitesimal mass as for its ability to soften the flex at tip and tail relative to the middle.
Once upon a time, all Monsters had the same MSRP, which made some sense as all were made from the same recipe. Now that the aging Monsters have lost most of their sales mojo to the ascendant Kore series, Head has ratcheted up the 83 Ti’s cost/value relationship by lowering its price. No other ski with this rich a construction sells for so few simoleans.
