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 Monster 88 Ti is successful wherever it goes because it’s built on rock-solid principles and embraces traditional values. The Monster 88 Ti is to all intents and purposes a Head race ski with a waistline wide enough to enable confident off-trail travel. In other words, you can haul butt down crud and pow just like it wasn’t there.
When we say the Monster 88 Ti is built like a race ski, we’re not exaggerating. Even though it uses Graphene to manage flex distribution, Head doesn’t use its presence as an excuse to pare back on heavier components. The core is still all wood, its two Titanal sheets still run side-to-side and end-to-end and prepreg fiberglass is used top and bottom to add structure and instill rebound energy. About its only concession to the Lighter is Better movement is the use of Graphene, but in this instance its deployment is more about softening flex a touch underfoot than it is about lightness per se.
If you’re a skilled skier who loves the feel of a race ski but doesn’t want to work that hard, the Monster 88 Ti has an old school feel you won’t have to adjust to. Because it’s so simple to just get on it and go, we again award the Monster 88 Ti a Silver Skier Selection.
