The 2024 Head Oblivion 94 gets a facelift for this year but remains the same playful freestyle ski with all-mountain capabilities that we’ve loved for a few years now. Head has more of a loyal following when it comes to alpine and race skis versus freestyle stuff, but Oblivion has certainly helped put them back on the map. With an array of skis ranging from 79 to 116 underfoot, the 94 sits right in the middle, offering up a ton of versatility to go along with strong freestyle prowess. Perhaps the 84 is more suited to true competition, while the 94 is a better option for skiers looking to spend some, but not all, of their time in the park. As a result, the Oblivion 94 is a highly useful ski for creative and playful skiers that like to spend a lot of time in the air, but don’t want to fully give up on all-mountain freeride and fun.

The construction of the ski is pretty basic, but in a good way.Twin tips don’t need a whole lot of fancy stuff in there, but what they do include must be on the burly side. Built with a full wood core and a sandwich sidewall construction, the Oblivion 94 gets an extra thick base and edges. They do a good job of tapering the thickness of the core from beefy underfoot to thinner in the ends, and this helps with swing weight and agility in the air. They call it their Independent Suspension System, but it’s really just a fancy way of saying “tapered core thickness.” This is more popular in twin tip and freestyle skis than it is in all-mountain ones, as they park skis need to be more flexible in the tips and tails, and this method allows just that. In the 177, the ski weighs 1791 grams, and while this isn’t exactly heavy, most of that mass is found in the underfoot zone.

From a shape and profile perspective, the Oblivion 94 relies on more of a traditional style with less rocker, more camber, and almost zero taper. The splay of the twin tip is the most dramatic part, and even that seems to be falling out of fashion these days. This doesn’t mean that it’s wrong, rather, more companies and their twin tips seem to be moving to a lower profile manner of splay. The Oblivion 94 has quite a bit of positive camber underfoot, so the ski is very energetic and poppy both on the trail and off the lips of the jumps. With minimal to zero taper, this makes for a very smooth carving ski, and a long effective edge to further that smoothness and confidence. The 177 produces a 20.8-meter turn radius, so that adds to the loping aspect of the ski. Again, this is not bad, it’s just a stylistic choice that Head makes, and there are a lot of athletes out there who like this design, so it’s nice that somebody’s providing this type of ski.

This ski has surprised a lot of skiers over the past few years. Most don’t think of Head when they are in the market for a park or freestyle ski, and that’s okay, it still seems like more of a niche company for this style. However, since they are so incredibly successful in making excellent on-trail and all-mountain skis with a high success rate in the ski racing world, it’s not surprising that those positive characteristics and qualities filter into the freestyle world as well. If you get a chance to ski Oblivion 94, it’s highly suggested as it has an intriguing mix of traditional twin tip creativity with all-mountain and freeride capabilities. Other skis have this blend as well, but Head’s just feels a bit different, and that’s what it’s really all about.