Total Joy
No other ski in the All-Mountain East category remains as committed to carving as the Head Total Joy. If the Total Joy were a doctor, it would be a specialist rather than a general practitioner. Carving is it’s life’s work, as one glance at its deep-dish sidecut will tell you. Its turn radius is only 13.6 in a 163cm, and it descends to a size 148cm, which must be able to turn sitting still. The Total Joy earns its highest marks for Short-Radius Turns – third best in the entire genre – with an aggregate score will above the category average. Aside from its short-turn fetish, the Total Joy’s most tangible trait is its featherweight design, an amalgam of carbon fiber, Koroyd honeycomb and Graphene.
Wild Joy
The Head Wild Joy was the first model to be added to the original Joy collection since Head unveiled the first skis – men’s or women’s – to use Graphene. Graphene has a direct impact on flex distribution, so by controlling where it’s concentrated Head can fine tune the flex to match the snow conditions the model is made for: for on-trail carving skis, more Graphene goes underfoot; for off-trail purposes, Graphene is moved to the extremities. However it works, the Wild Joy feels stable on the edge and snappy off it. Its sidecut has a lot of shape for an off-trail oriented ski, so it’s always up for carving.
Super Joy
Head was the first major brand to jump on board the carving revolution, and it continues to invest a little more shape than the norm in every recreational ski it makes. The Super Joy is the top pure carver in Head’s Joy collection of women’s skis, with a tidy 12.5m sidecut radius that could make slalom turns in its sleep. Unlike the top carvers in the men’s Frontside fold, the Super Joy is almost insanely light. It can weigh almost nothing and still earn better Power scores than most skis in the genre because of its unique carbon, Koroyd and Graphene composition. Three hundred times stronger than steel for its weight, Graphene can be tactically deployed along the ski’s length to modify flex and rigidity, creating all the support lightweight skiers need.
Kore 105
The core that the Kore name is meant to call attention to is made from Koroyd, a synthetic honeycomb, and Karuba, a bantamweight wood often found in AT skis. Graphene is used in the tip and tail, making the extremities not only lighter, but inherently stronger and stiffer. This allows the center of the Kore 105 to bow more easily, a benefit when skiing on a surface that gives way when you press against it. You expect the Kore 105 to be light. But you don’t expect it be this strong. It smoothes out chunder that would treat most non-metal skis like a rented mule. Its relatively straight-waisted mid-body facilitates foot swiveling, a godsend in the trees where there’s neither time nor space to execute a carved turn. Its tapered tip isn’t itching to carve, either, but it can bank into a wind berm with the cornering confidence of a bobsled.