Against the backdrop of the other GS race skis in this genre, the Kästle RX12 GS stands out like a ballerina among lumberjacks. Some of its superior fluidity has to be attributable to its lack of a racing plate or binding interface of any kind. The skier is closer to the snow, giving the RX12 GS a living pulse when pressured, unfiltered by extra layers of elastomers and metal.
By elevating the skier on what amounts to a taller tower, a race plate takes the subtlety out of turning; once you tip the tower over, you’re committed to the ensuing high edge angle. The lower altitude of the RX12 GS makes it easier for the skier to feather the edge throughout the turn, rather than relying on the brusque, all-in style elevation encourages.
It’s this suppleness that makes the RX12 GS so versatile in terms of both turn shape and terrain adaptability, traits not usually found in a GS race ski. All of its attributes considered in toto, the RX12 GS behaves more like a luxury cruiser than a brute gate basher. It requires less energy to guide, less force to bend and a less aggro stance to engage.
There’s stability, then there’s MX89 stability. Nothing fazes it. Send it through crud and it bashes every sodden clump of set-up snow out of its way. Toss it on ice and it acts right at home, begging its pilot to tip it further on edge and trust it to hold a honking arc. If it has a speed limit, chances are you’ll never find it.
The MX89 exceeds expectations because it flies in the face of current fashion. It is not worried about its weight. Its camber line runs uninterrupted from shovel to tail, as does its sidecut. Its core is made from silver fir and beech, not cork, Koroyd or Paulownia. The top and bottom sheets of Titanal are a stout .5mm thick and paired with sheets of 0o/90o fiberglass weave. Aside from its shock-damping Hollowtech tip, its construction couldn’t be more traditional and its merits couldn’t be more evident once you put it all in motion.
Head did an amazing job of positioning its Kore series as “light done right,” catching the “Lighter is Better” wave with the right message at the right time. The brand’s focus on the light part of the story was so effective it overshadowed the real point of the slogan, the “done right” bit. What makes the Kore 117 isn’t that it’s ultralight – it’s not close to being the lightest in the Powder genre – but that it’s freakishly powerful.
The deeply tapered tip acts more like a bumper than an avid turn initiator and the rounded tail is intended to release the turn as if it were a wounded sparrow. Right underfoot the sidecut is fairly straight, so the center section can be foot-steered more easily. What keeps the Kore 117 on track in choppy chunder is its overall stiffness. Thanks to Graphene’s absurd strength to weight ratio, the Kore 117 can be as resistant to twisting and bending as Head’s engineers want it to be.
For years, Kästle acted as if the women-specific ski market didn’t exist. Even its two-model LX series wasn’t made for women, per se, just for lighter skiers. If women wanted a Kästle, all they had to do was buy a shorter length, which, in Kästle’s defense, they did offer in all key models. For 20/20, Kästle has at last anointed three models as made expressly for women, of which the DX73 W is the narrowest. (The others are the DX85 W and FX96 W.)
While the DX73 W inherits the shape of the LX73 it replaces, it isn’t a replica. Each of the new model’s deviations from the old is aimed to make it a better match for more women. First, the DX73 W has no metal in its lay-up, which results in a significant loss in weight and gain in flexibility. In another weight reducing move, the wood core of the new model uses poplar in place of silver fir. The changes to the core composition make the DX73 W more responsive to a lighter skier.
[While there has been a slight shift in scores due to new data, both the Supershape i.Speed and this review are unchanged from last year.]
The Head Supershape i.Speed should be called the i.Quick, for while it probably isn’t the fastest ski, it’s certainly the quickest edge-to-edge, superiority it’s itching to flaunt. Point the i.Speed down the fall line, tilt, pressure and repeat. You expect it to make short-radius turns at the expense of all others, but the i.Speed only executes its tightest turns when raked up to a high edge. Relax the edge angle and you’ll discover the i.Speed’s stability in a long-radius arc is underrated.
Head uses Graphene, carbon in a matrix one-atom thick, to manage flex distribution. In the i.Speed, this means applying Graphene to the ski’s midsection so the reinforced center doesn’t have to be so thick. By apportioning more material to the tip and tail, the flex is not only rounder, it’s achievable with less pressure. This is one reason the i.Speed makes a better mogul manipulator than you might expect for ski with so much shape: the tip conforms to sudden terrain changes and the tail won’t wilt under any circumstances.
