The Head Wild Joy was the first model to be added to the original Joy collection since Head unveiled the first skis – men’s or women’s – to use Graphene. Graphene has a direct impact on flex distribution, so by controlling where it’s concentrated Head can fine tune the flex to match the snow conditions the model is made for: for on-trail carving skis, more Graphene goes underfoot; for off-trail purposes, Graphene is moved to the extremities. However it works, the Wild Joy feels stable on the edge and snappy off it. Its sidecut has a lot of shape for an off-trail oriented ski, so it’s always up for carving.
No other ski in the All-Mountain East category remains as committed to carving as the Head Total Joy. If the Total Joy were a doctor, it would be a specialist rather than a general practitioner. Carving is it’s life’s work, as one glance at its deep-dish sidecut will tell you. Its turn radius is only 13.6 in a 163cm, and it descends to a size 148cm, which must be able to turn sitting still. The Total Joy earns its highest marks for Short-Radius Turns – third best in the entire genre – with an aggregate score will above the category average. Aside from its short-turn fetish, the Total Joy’s most tangible trait is its featherweight design, an amalgam of carbon fiber, Koroyd honeycomb and Graphene.
The i.Speed’s receptivity to arcing with a light rein masks a thoroughbred’s temperament that longs to charge the fall line. Only speed reveals its special skill: it responds to loading by slinging the ski forward, rather than popping off the snow and – perish the thought – losing continuous snow contact. The extra energy comes from piezoelectric fibers that stiffen the tail when stimulated by high-velocity vibrations. Matt Finnegan from Footloose cautions, “This ski isn’t for everyone. It’s very technical, but that being said, it’s technically rewarding.” 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.
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 a 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.
The Head Supershape i.Rally has The Right Stuff. (Farewell, Tom Wolfe, we’ll miss you!) It uses Graphene, carbon in a matrix one atom thick, in the ski center so it can make the core thinner in this area and easier to press into an arc. Any other ski maker in the golden age of Lighter Is Better would pocket the weight savings Graphene allows, but Head instead invested them in adding more Titanal to the mix, giving the i.Rally the stability and intensity of a battering ram. In a cage match with crud or crisp groomage, the contest is over in the first round. The i.Rally is better than whatever snow you throw under its gently rockered tip, and it imbues its pilot with its self-confidence.
