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Head I.Rally ski test and review

snow action team 09.08.2020

Our HEAD I.Rally ski test highlights these are serious carve machines.

Just the thing for our Snowboard Editor (yep, you read that right) Peter Wunder to give a hard driving test too on his southern home turf at Thredbo. When it’s no good for a board he likes to charge just as hard, or harder, on skis, and this 2020 season has delivered plenty of difficult days to really check them out on.

Thanks to Harro’s Snowsports at Lake Crackenback (also at Niseko and Furano in northern winter) for the demo set. Drop into Harro’s for an exceptional range of great skis, all tuned to perfection. Harro is also the Kastle importer, so he’s selective about what else he offers. For some great Kastle ski tests check these

HEAD i.Rally © Peter Wunder

I’ve been lucky enough to use these skis for the last few weeks and I’m very impressed.

I had been researching carving skies for over a year, talking to lots of friends and people I met on chair lifts. The I.Rally skis from Head kept popping up and for good reason. It is a stand out carving ski.
With a very wide tip of 136mm, and a narrow waist of 77mm, it has a flat square rear end that’s 115mm wide.

This 177cm long ski has a tidy radius of 14.7cm allowing sharp aggressive turns which is exactly what I was after. The secret is the material used to make the skis.

According to HEAD, “Graphene is the thinnest and lightest element ever discovered by mankind. Graphene is also the strongest material on the planet, stronger than diamond and 300 times stronger than steel, all in the thickness of one atom”.

This material makes light skis which are still stiff, so you can get away with a shorter length than you would normally have.

I must admit I was on the back foot for my first run because I felt like the skis were leaving me behind. I was chasing the skis to catch up, but after a few runs I was getting used to the feel and the speed. And most of all the bite of the skis.

Now that I’ve been on them for a few weeks I just love them, and can’t get enough.

I like the stand out graphics, fluro orange on the back end with a sleek grey front. It’s a very cool look.
The I.Rally skis lay down seamless perfect lines, as long as you’re confident to roll them over on their edge.

But be aware that they’re not ideal for just mucking around taking it easy on the mountain. The flat square tail catches easily if left flat on the snow and they will send you straight off if you’re not ready. It’s important to really ski hard all the time and use them for what they’re designed to do, which is turn hard. 
The I.Rally skis come with PRD 12 GW bindings, with the features of a PowerRail binding and GripWalk compatibility.

I highly recommend these skis for anyone who wants to ski hard on groomed runs and crank hard beautiful turns. Demo a pair from Harros soon. More on the HEAD site here

HEAD iRally close up view
Graphene is the go © Peter Wunder