• Women skiers, this is the place for you -- an online community without the male-orientation you'll find in conventional ski magazines and internet ski forums. At TheSkiDiva.com, you can connect with other women to talk about skiing in a way that you can relate to, about things that you find of interest. Be sure to join our community to participate (women only, please!). Registration is fast and simple. Just be sure to add [email protected] to your address book so your registration activation emails won't be routed as spam. And please give careful consideration to your user name -- it will not be changed once your registration is confirmed.

Question: Head Joy Poll

Are you a Head Joy fan?*

  • Own or demoed 2 or more Joy models; love all

    Votes: 5 16.1%
  • Own or demoed 2 or more Joys; love one, meh on the other

    Votes: 2 6.5%
  • Own or demoed 1 Joy; love it

    Votes: 15 48.4%
  • Thinking of pulling the trigger on a Joy

    Votes: 3 9.7%
  • Other

    Votes: 7 22.6%

  • Total voters
    31

va_deb

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Bonus points if you add info on which Joys you own or have tested, specs and length, your stats, and where and how you normally ski.

Feel free to add other info such as prior or current DD as well and how they compare. Thanks!
 
Last edited:

va_deb

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
I'm 5'1" 135ish, cautious intermediate cruiser. Ski mostly mid Atlantic but hope to do 1 trip out west annually.

Demoed Absolute Joy (78 wide) in a 153, the only size they had available. Thought they might be too short but loved them. Confidence inspiring! Full review here: https://www.theskidiva.com/forums/index.php?threads/loved-the-head-absolute-joy.21521/

Wish I had a chance to demo the Total Joys (mid-80s underfooot) but won't be able to. Torn on whether I should pull the trigger on the Absolute or the Total Joy for more versatility, but not sure if the Total Joy will have the same generous sweet spot as the Absolute.

Especially interested in thoughts from those of you who have skied more than one model in the Joy line. TIA!
 
Last edited:

Sheena

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
I demoed the Total Joy last year. It was amazingly light, fun and fast!

I ended up buying the Head Monster 88 however. I was looking for a replacement for my 2006 Head Monster, and was debating between the Total Joy and the Monster 88, and got the Monster 88 again. They are my all time favorite ski, and they are amazing in all conditions.
 

santacruz skier

Angel Diva
I'm 5'1 about 103 or so, older advanced skier. Demoed the great joy in a 153 in Portes du Soleil in Switzerland for 5 days and had a blast in all conditions.. Ungroomed was the most fun as snow started to get soft.. Also fresh snow was a blast!
Sadly just standing got tangled up with 2 other skiers yesterday and was snowmobiled out . Bindings did not release and fell forward in a snowplow not even skiing. Now that was scary other than 2 cute ski patrol guys who spoke only French took me for a wild card ride on the snowmobile. Dr thinks may have meniscus issue as xrays were fine.. Icing on deck enjoying sun...
 

santacruz skier

Angel Diva
Also turning radius was 11.4 and not used to that.. Probably could have skied the 158 but really fun ski
 

contesstant

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
I demoed both the Super Joy and the Total Joy yesterday for several runs (2300 vert per run.) Both in a 163. I loved both of them! They skied very similarly to me. Super easy to ski. I want the Super Joy now, as a front side carving ski, I liked them that much.
 

luliski

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
I ended up with 2018 Head Great Joy due to a binding mounting error on my 2017 Great Joys. The shop said they're unchanged from 2017 version. They are 168 cm, and I'm 5'6", 140 lbs, advanced (?) skier in my 50s. My older skis are the Nordica Olympia Conquer in 163. The Great Joys are much lighter than the Conquers and are easier to manage on ungroomed terrain that requires more turning. I wanted an all mountain ski that I could use in fresh snow. The Great Joys have been great fun in Tahoe this winter! I am still learning how fast I can go on the Great Joys on groomers, the Conquers were super at speed!
 

santacruz skier

Angel Diva
I demoed both the Super Joy and the Total Joy yesterday for several runs (2300 vert per run.) Both in a 163. I loved both of them! They skied very similarly to me. Super easy to ski. I want the Super Joy now, as a front side carving ski, I liked them that much.
Sketchy wi fi here in Swiss alps. Compare to Great Joy?
 

santacruz skier

Angel Diva
I ended up with 2018 Head Great Joy due to a binding mounting error. The shop said they're unchanged from 2017 version. They are 168 cm, and I'm 5'6", 140 lbs, advanced (?) skier in my 50s. My older skis are the Nordica Olympia Conquer in 163. The Great Joys are much lighter than the Conquers and are easier to manage on ungroomed terrain that requires more turning. I wanted an all mountain ski that I could use in fresh snow. The Great Joys have been great fun in Tahoe this winter! I am still learning how fast I can go on the Great Joys on groomers, the Conquers were super at speed!
Skied over 20 miles on Friday on them!!!! FYI I mostly ski in Tahoe . Hope I'm not done for the season from yesterday...
 

MaineSkiLady

Angel Diva
Super Joy - own, 163 (demo'd 153 in January).
Total Joy - demo'd in January, 163, quite pleased, core felt altogether different from my first demo of these in March, 2015. Solid ski.

Got the Super because it was "there" :wink: - an offer I couldn't refuse.

Would be happy with either.
Love the lightness - does NOT translate into flimsy.
Turn radius on the Super Joy, even at 163, is TIGHT.
Great front-sider!
 

Jenny

Angel Diva
Sadly just standing got tangled up with 2 other skiers yesterday and was snowmobiled out . Bindings did not release and fell forward in a snowplow not even skiing. Now that was scary other than 2 cute ski patrol guys who spoke only French took me for a wild card ride on the snowmobile. Dr thinks may have meniscus issue as xrays were fine.. Icing on deck enjoying sun...
Well, that stinks!
 

santacruz skier

Angel Diva
Well, that stinks!
Yes it does! Skied 5 days in Austria and was supposed to ski 6 in Switzerland but injured on 5th.. real bummer is $580 for dr to look at me, do X-rays, and give me huge knee brace.. also since I'm leaving on Tuesday , I have to give myself shot to avoid blood clot on night before flight (tomorrow) and when I get home .. I'll probably faint - not good at this and will be alone as friends leaving day early .
 

luliski

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Skied over 20 miles on Friday on them!!!! FYI I mostly ski in Tahoe . Hope I'm not done for the season from yesterday...
Hope your knee is ok and that your flight wasn't too painful. I saw from another thread that you ski at Northstar. I've been there often this winter. I have a Squaw/Alpine pass and they've had trouble opening their mountains with the amount of snow, but BF has pass at Northstar. At least I get a buddy discount!
 

va_deb

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Sadly just standing got tangled up with 2 other skiers yesterday and was snowmobiled out . Bindings did not release and fell forward in a snowplow not even skiing. Now that was scary other than 2 cute ski patrol guys who spoke only French took me for a wild card ride on the snowmobile. Dr thinks may have meniscus issue as xrays were fine.. Icing on deck enjoying sun...

Oh no, so sorry to hear. How scary! That's a relief that the X-rays were okay.

How are you feeling today? Glad you were having a blast until then at least. Fingers crossed for a smooth and fast recovery.
 

Christy

Angel Diva
Yes it does! Skied 5 days in Austria and was supposed to ski 6 in Switzerland but injured on 5th.. real bummer is $580 for dr to look at me, do X-rays, and give me huge knee brace.. also since I'm leaving on Tuesday , I have to give myself shot to avoid blood clot on night before flight (tomorrow) and when I get home .. I'll probably faint - not good at this and will be alone as friends leaving day early .

:eek:
 

Christy

Angel Diva
I demoed the Total Joy on a very variable day at Sun Valley and liked it, but it was such different conditions than I usually ski in I'm not sure if that was a great test.
I really, really need a pair of skis right now. Yesterday. And it's that time of year when places aren't demoing much anymore. I'm wondering if I should just buy these or the new Black Pearls, which I haven't tried.
 

CarverJill

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
I have the first year of the Great joy 168, the second to fattest at 98 (I think) and the first 2 years they were purple. These are my west coast, one ski quivers. I'm 5"9" 170lbs and an advanced skier who loves groomers, steeps and is working on the bumps. The #1 reason I got them was the turning radius. They were the widest skis I could find that also were able to truly carve railroad tracks into corduroy.
 
Last edited:

santacruz skier

Angel Diva
I have the first year of the Great joy 168, the second to fattest at 98 (I think) and the first 2 years they were purple. These are my west coast, one ski quivers. I'm 5"9" 170lbs and an advanced skier who loves groomers, steeps and is working on the bumps. The #1 reason I got them was the turning radius. They were the widest skis I could find that also were able to truly carve railroad tracks into corduroy.
They were a blast in Switzerland this past week... I got the 153's but all reviews said to ski them a bit longer so I think 158 would have been fine as well. They were so turn-y, which I wasn't used to, but made so many tight turns was so very fun. And they plowed through all kinds of terrain. No problem with ungroomed steep soft bumps, slush, even hard pack. Think I like them better than the Santa Ana as a bit stiffer. Also demoed the Black Crow Camox Birdie in Austria and those were also a blast. Turning radius is 18 so quite different but very fun. I was ready to buy them!
 

santacruz skier

Angel Diva
Hope your knee is ok and that your flight wasn't too painful. I saw from another thread that you ski at Northstar. I've been there often this winter. I have a Squaw/Alpine pass and they've had trouble opening their mountains with the amount of snow, but BF has pass at Northstar. At least I get a buddy discount!
Lucky me got 3 seats to myself so elevated knee on both flights (Geneva to London - 2 hrs) and (London to San Jose - 10 1/2 hrs)...
We should try to meet up... There is a thread for Conditions Reports - Tahoe...Check it out .
 

Members online

Forum statistics

Threads
26,233
Messages
497,560
Members
8,503
Latest member
MermaidKelly
Top