The Head Monster 83 Ti has lived a sheltered existence, at least in the U.S., where it overlapped with the Power Instinct Ti Pro and was overshadowed in its own family by the popular Monster 88. Now is its moment to shine. How the 2019 Monster 83 Ti is built hasn’t changed, but how it’s shaped has. The tip is blunt, rounded, tapered and most of all, wider (by .8cm). The tip taper mellows out Head’s usual fast-twitch turn entry, while the added shape in the forebody enables a tighter turn radius behind the rockered shovel. The Monster 83 Ti is a narrow all-mountain ski that knows how to carve.
The secret to the Kore 93’s success is Graphene, carbon in a one-atom thick matrix, that’s 300 times stronger than steel. Head combines it with Karuba, a superlight wood, and Koroyd, a synthetic honeycomb, to make a structure that’s damp yet reactive and most of all, light. For the second year in a row, testers raved about the Kore 93. “Easy to turn, light yet stable and fun for many types of terrain,” writes one. “This is the best light ski, so stable at speed. Super sick all mountain light core ski,” says another. “Awesome line of skis. Quick, light, damp ski. For the intermediate cruiser to hard charger,” chimes in a third fan. Another succinct summation: “Smooth, powerful, and fun. Makes the rider better.”
The Kore 117 looks the size of a life raft in a 189cm, but it steers easily despite its girth. The skier doesn’t feel its heft, only the ease it imparts by drifting like a putty knife, smearing over the choppy terrain. Mercifully, it doesn’t need a high edge angle to remain stable and even stays calm when running flat. Almost any Powder ski will help a lower skill skier survive; it takes a strong ski to satisfy an expert who intends to lay it over and charge the fall line. The Kore 117 is as exhilarating for experts as it is forgiving to those in need of forgiveness.
Sometimes it seems every new model in the Age of Lighter is Better is being made for some pixie who can’t bend a real ski. Put a big man who knows how to motivate down the hill on one of these weak reeds and it will fold like a $5 lawn chair. So it was interesting to read the comments of Corty Lawrence, a full-sized dude (and one of the best boot fitters of his, or any other, generation) when we pried him off the i.Speed Pro after several scorching runs. To compress Corty’s impressions into an aphorism Yoda might utter, “Total commitment yields total reward.” If you know where the accelerator is and aren’t afraid to stomp on it, you’re the target pro for the i.Speed Pro.
