Crazy 88's - Head Monster 88
When Head reintroduced the Monster name, I heard about it before I saw it. Thus, I was wondering what it would be. Was it going to be a name change for the older Rev series? Or, would it be more like the older Monster series of some years back? The answer was closer to the latter I guess, but this is really an entirely new ski and it is quite different than most of the other models within this category. The Monster 88 has the newer shape (wide tip and high taper) that most Head models exhibit and it has a small amount of tip rise and a conventional tail. The Monster uses the sophisticated, ‘Graphine’ construction along with metal laminates top and bottom. The ‘Graphine’ reduces the weight somewhat but this is not an ultra-light ski.
On the firm groomers at Mammoth, the first thing I noticed was that at slow speeds, the nearly conventional shape engages with just a slight movement of the ankle. There is none of the delay that is common to the skis with more tip rise and the Monster really feels almost like a carver in that regard. In my first pass down the trail, I found that the Monster has a natural tendency toward medium radius turns. I cut over to the shaded race hill where it was shady and the racers had scraped the trail down to chattery hard snow. The Monster was absolutely at home on this fairly difficult condition and as I started to pick up speed, it just kept getting better. Near the bottom of the race hill there was no one else around so I just laid out big GS arcs. The monster was the best of all the “all mountain” skis in this task as I just couldn’t shake it loose.
On my second run, I cut into an easily accessible patch of rough and choppy snow that had bumps forming in places. In the rough stuff, the monster sliced over and through the semi frozen crud with ease. In the areas that were getting bumpy, the Monster required some input from me to snake through the troughs but the high taper angle made it easier than I thought it would be on this stiff ski. Among the 88mm category, the Monster is right at the top of the heap for grip, stability and damping. In crud and rough snow, it just smooths everything out beautifully. This is a not a real floaty ski and it tends to charge through soft stuff rather than float over it. Because of this trait, my take is that the Monster is best suited for boot top powder at the most. In boot top powder, you'll be skiing down in the snow. OTH, in crud, you can comfortably handle any depth you have the skill for. In chopped up or heavy snow this thing is wellll......a Monster. I’d say this is a great ski for the skier that wants to blast around on groomers at whatever speed they have the skill for and is willing to be agressive in off trail situations. The Monster has a firm snow and high speed bias and it is stable enough that for the skier that thinks they are in between two sizes, I’d suggest the smaller in most instances.
SJ
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. Great to have your voice back, Jim!
