The mere softening of the flex pattern couldn’t have made the Monster 98 a better ski if it weren’t already a damn good one. Among its bundle of admirable traits are a few features that are becoming so rare they’re endangered: a forebody that engages the snow the moment it’s tipped, a tail that’s more squared off rather than turned up and just enough rocker to rationalize calling them rockered. They sure don’t behave like typical rockered skis. They perform like race skis wearing a fat suit.
Numbers exude an aura of rectitude and certainty that mere words must struggle at length to contradict. The Finesse and Power averages say the Kästle FX95 HP is a Power ski with a kind disposition; this copy will seek to persuade those who peruse it that this ski is, by virtue of its baseline, inherently a Finesse ski, albeit one with a rich construction that allows it to pose as a Power potentate.
The OoolaLuv gets its determination to excel from a Titanal laminate that significantly augments both edge hold on hard snow and stability in choppy off-road conditions. Its All-Terrain Rocker is tuned to tackle whatever you find off-trail and K2’s signature, ginormous sweet spot helps keep the pilot centered in the turbulence encountered in crud. When the skier breaks back out on the well-traveled trail, the OoolaLuv’s substantial sidecut (14.6m) takes over, linking long, medium and short turns on demand.
The guiding principle of Head’s Joy collection can be succinctly stated: make light right. In the case of the latest addition to the Joy family, Wild Joy, this means applying the same ultralight carbon/Koroyd/Graphene construction used in the 85mm Total Joy to a 90mm footprint. Not lost in this translation is the typically deep sidecut favored by Head engineers, imparting a predilection for precise, carved turns on freshly tilled slopes.
In the golden age of incremental change that we’re currently experiencing, it’s rare to see a major manufacturer commit to an all-new ski construction. When that manufacturer is Head and the new lay-up includes no metal laminates – a cornerstone of Head design for decades – the implementation of a unique use of materials is particularly noteworthy. While the Kore 93 reminded a lot of our testers of the Enforcer 93, the Kore isn’t out to imitate anyone, but to set a new standard in lightweight performance.
