2024 Head Kore 87

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 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 just two years ago. 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 another tick in 2022 with the substitution of poplar and Karuba for Koroyd, which subtly enhanced its feedback on hard snow. Last year, Head coated all the Kores with a sheath of urethane, mostly to protect the top and sides from minor nicks and scratches, with the added benefit of further smoothing out the ride. Our stats suggest the new topskin had less effect on the Kore 87 than it did on wider Kore models, but no matter what its contribution is to the ski’s overall behavior, the experience the Kore 87 delivers remains remarkable for its trustworthy edge grip and quickness on and off the edge.   Renowned bootfitter Jim Schaffner dubbed the 2023 version of the Kore 87, “Fun, easy skiing, yet enough high performance to hold well on harder snow. This is a very good execution of a one-ski quiver ski for the aging crowd!” The recent improvements made to the Kore’s capacities on brittle hardpack don’t seem to have diminished its inherent talent for off-trail travel. The sidecut is fairly straight underfoot, so it’s simple to swivel, an action made even more greasy by a 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.