[While there has been a slight shift in scores due to new data, both Supershape i.Magnum and this review are unchanged from last year.]
Head was the first major manufacturer to embrace carving skis when they were still in their infancy, and the brand has never lost its commitment to perfecting the genre. The Supershape series is an unmatched collection of carving machines, and the i.Magnum is the shapeliest of them all, with a 59mm drop between its tip and waist dimensions, creating a turn radius (13.1m @ 170cm) tighter than that of World Cup slalom.
The slight early rise in its shovel is shallower than the same feature on the i.Rally or i.Titan, so the i.Magnum behaves more like a fully cambered ski than a rockered one. It doesn’t just like to carve; it insists on it. If you want to moderate its mongoose-quick reflexes, consider getting it in a longer length; if you’d prefer to accentuate its short-turn expertise, stick with the shorter length you’d normally use for a Technical ski.
Note that you don’t need length for stability as the i.Magnum is built to be as quiet as a Bentley in a Mini Cooper length. “A strong carver,” confirms California Ski Company’s Paul Jacobs. “Prefers short turns rather than long radius turns. Grippy, with excellent rebound.”
To the degree that there’s a generational rift splitting the Powder category in two – Boomers still holding onto the idea that technical skiing can translate to bottomless snow, while Millennials’ idea of powder technique is to get airborne as often as possible – the Catamaran lands squarely (switch, of course) on the side of the kinder. The Catamaran’s signature asymmetric sidecut presumably helps keep this natural drifter from getting in its own way, but the forebody is so rockered the imbalance between inside and outside effective edge length is disguised.
The Catamaran’s tail is also rockered, but not to the point where it can’t support someone tossing a gainer into a couloir. This is, after all, an athlete-driven ski, with Sean Pettit and Pep Fujas lending their street cred to its popularity. How well what they regard as de rigeur is adapted to your personal, inimitable style, I leave entirely up to you.
The Nordica Dobermann GSR isn’t interested in bolstering your self-esteem. Its attitude is, if you want to feel better about yourself, take a lesson. Or better yet, hire a coach. For the Dobermann GSR is like a street-legal race car: it’s been detuned for civilian use, but not by much. If you don’t take control of it, the GSR will most definitely take control of you.
When you look at the Non-FIS Race category as a whole, most models have been defanged to the point that they could serve an expert as an all-terrain ski. Not the Dobermann GSR, which could care less about pandering to non-racers. It’s built on the straightforward assumption that it’s as elite a race ski as any blessed by the FIS, it just doesn’t conform to the dimensional limitations imposed by racing’s sanctioning body.
The Fischer Ranger 115 FR is an interesting amalgam of suppressed carving tendencies and overt desires to drift around every corner. Like any decent Powder ski, it’s first duty is to drift, but its ultralight Air Tec Ti core is sheathed in a sliver of Titanal, generating the security underfoot necessary to stay on course in heavy, cut-up crud. Despite its inherent prejudice for smearing, it’s on its best behavior when mimicking giant slalom technique through an open snowfield.
The one move it can’t copy is a short-radius, carved turn, a virtual impossibility given its front and rear rocker. This limited liability is shared by all Powder models, and is readily overcome by simply swiveling one’s feet. The Ranger 115 FR’s facility as a power drifter is further assisted by its Carbon Nose, which lowers swingweight, and its domed, Aeroshape top surface that slips sideways with silken ease.
Everything about the Head Worldcup Rebels i.Speed Pro yells, “Racer ready?” It’s a rhetorical question, for ready or not, once you set the i.Speed Pro in motion you are off to the races. The first clue that this is a no-posers powerhouse is its honking plate, which contributes damping, leverage and the need for total commitment by the skier on every turn. Pick up a pair and you’ll get the second striking indication that this ski might be better than you: it’s loaded with Titanal. Remember, Head is the only supplier with a license to use Graphene, the lightest, strongest material yet industrialized, so it could, theoretically, reduce the weight of the i.Speed Pro.
Instead, Head uses Graphene in this ski to manage flex distribution and loads up on Titanal for its irreplaceable ability to muffle high-speed vibrations. Whatever shock can penetrate the Titanal shield inside the i.Speed Pro will encounter KERS, arguably the most technologically advanced shock management system ever created. Piezo-electric fibers embedded in the prepreg fiberglass in the tail section are activated by the high frequency vibrations caused by running over ruts at 50mph. The piezos send their charge into a microchip (visible on the topskin) where its amplified and fired back into the glass, stiffening what was already a substantial platform.
