In fairness to the rest of our Recommended roster, the Head World Cup Rebels i.SL RD ought to be DQ’d. It’s the real deal, a FIS-blessed ski whose day job is winning World Cup slaloms. We keep including it our results because, year after year, through every reiteration, we keep receiving wildly enthusiastic cards from our testers.

For 2017, Head has incorporated the miracle material Graphene™ – carbon reduced to the irreducible one atom – into the i.SL RD’s make-up. One might be forgiven for thinking that adding Graphene would ipso facto reduce the ski’s weight, but racers aren’t looking for lighter skis, but ones with perfect flex distribution. Because of its absurd 300-to-1 strength advantage over steel, Graphene strengthens the ski as well as stiffens it, an important feature among fragile slalom race skis.

With slalom skis as with radioactive superheroes, with great power comes great responsibility. The i.SL RD supplies the power; it’s up to the skier to be responsible and drive it skillfully. There is no cruise control switch on the i.SL RD’s console.   The driver better be 100% present and ready to match the energy output of the ski.

But if you have the game and are in reasonable condition, oh boy, are you in for a treat.