2021 Head Super Joy

Quick, light, and super-carvy, the Head Super Joy returns with a vengeance, ready to carve up the front side of the mountain like nobody's business. At 75 mm underfoot, these skis are narrow enough to hold on the firmest of snows, and offer fantastic torsional stiffness and edge grip. While still keeping the build light, Head uses a combination of karuba wood, carbon, and graphene to achieve the light weight performance of the Super Joy. With the shape of the ski more akin to a world cup slalom ski, the Super Joy is built to be on edge. While they may claim that there's some tip rocker in there, it's really more of a fully-cambered ski, and for on-piste performance, that's not a bad thing at all. In fact, in the 163 cm length, these skis generate a 12.2-meter turn radius, which is just about where that slalom ski lands. Built with a more forgiving flex, the Super Joy is easier to get on edge and rip that turn versus the more metallic race skis. That said, the carbon and graphene do combine to make for a pretty stiff ski, just without the weight. At first, some of our testers found it unnerving, but once they got the hang of it and found the balance point of the ski, they loved the quick-turning and agile nature of the Super Joy.

Allison Ruschp takes notice of this precision on her 163, stating that the Super Joy is "great for the lady that's working on finishing turns. The turn radius is very short, so the ski can feel a bit grabby, especially for how stiff it is." Alli scored the ski 4's out of 5 for quickness, maneuverability, and playfulness. For how light they are, it's incredibly easy to swivel them around, so you don't feel like you're locked into the turn. Kristi Brown was also on the 163, and although the size was short for her, she noted that it skied super-confident and stable. All 4's from Kristi on the scorecard except for flotation (not a surprise). She calls it a "smooth operator. The Super Joy skis exactly as named. Turns are pleasing with no surprises." And in terms of the ability to make a turn, she notes that the skis have "easy entry."

Darcy Mangan appreciates the graphene and carbon in the ski. She also was on the 163 and scored all 4's and 5's, with 5's for versatility and overall impression. Suffice it to say, Darcy is a fan of the Super Joy. She calls it a "sharp looking ski that has easy turn initiation and good edge hold. Playful on the sides of the trail. Super Joy=Super Fun! Great for an advancing intermediate to grow into." In addition to Kristi and Alli, Nifer Hoehn also has a competitive racing background, and she calls the Super Joy a "good, solid, all-around ski. Good in most of the turns with great responsiveness, nice energy coming out of the turn and easy to maneuver." She, too, was on the 163 and found that was a good size for the slalom-style turns that she was prone to make.

We had four strong testers on the Super Joy, three of them with competitive race experience, and we got some great and valuable feedback on these skis. So, for advanced skiers looking to make that slalom-style turn at a fraction of the weight and demand from a race ski, the Super Joy fills a need in the market for sure.