Head wasn’t the first ski manufacturer to market a carving ski, but it was the first major brand to not only embrace the Carving concept but to adopt it as the cohering principle behind every ski it made. This primordial dedication to the art of creating a continuous track has reached its purest expression in Head’s Supershape series, where the i.Titan is the widest (80mm waist) among peers.
Despite its relatively broad beam, the i.Titan feels as quick to the edge as any 75mm stick on the slopes. It feels more agile than it measures for three main reasons. First, there’s its shape, with a 57mm drop between the tip and the waist, so as soon as it’s tipped, it’s carving on a multi-radius, continuous edge. Second, its front rocker is so shallow it does nothing to inhibit early turn entry. And third, the piezos in its tail stiffen up the rearbody when subjected to vibrations that racing across hard snow engenders.
Its electrified tail earns the i.Titan superior scores for carving accuracy, turn finish and stability at speed. Its connection to the snow is imperturbable and speed only encourages it to work harder. “It’s like slicing butter with a warm knife,” says Peter Glenn’s Jim McGee. Its security at speed is attributable to the richness of its construction. When Head engineers realized that Graphene – carbon in a matrix one-atom thick – would allow them to trim mass off the i.Titan, they responded by spending the weight savings on more Titanal. Its all-wood core is also encased in layers of glass and glass/fleece fibers, which serve as the host material for the Graphene.
All these construction elements working in concert create a sublime dual-track carver that can travel off-trail without having a conniption. “The edge hold is so spectacular, you could drag your shoulder!” exclaims the laid-over Ward Pyles of Peter Glenn. Glenn Spiller from Granite Chief, who loved the i.Titan’s short-turn steering, emphatically – if somewhat uncharitably – declares, “ If you can’t carve this ski, take up bowling.” Yet another tester’s epigram captures the i.Titan’s ecumenical attitude: “Best race day/tree ski yet,” he quips.
