If the Head Total Joy wore a bumper sticker it would read, “I’d rather be carving.” Unlike most All-Mountain East women’s models, the Total Joy doesn’t make any special accommodations for off-piste skiing other than meeting the minimum waist width of 85mm. It’s meant to engage the entire edge, maintaining maximum snow connection.

Some carving-centric skis are built beefy, the better to handle the shocks of riding hard snow at speed. But the Total Joy feels sensationally light and responsive, thanks in large part to Graphene™, the only material measured by the atom. Graphene allows the Total Joy to be both super light and torsionally stiff so the edge stays calm in all but the roughest terrain.

Skiers looking for a skills-improvement pill in ski form should take two Total Joys and go skiing every morning. All a lightweight skier has to do is tip it and the Total Joy takes over. “Easy peasy,” purrs Kelli Gleason of Boot Doctors, “it’s forgiving and light yet maintains a big sweet spot for recovering from a backseat turn.”