The Head Oblivion 116 is the brainchild of Cole Richardson, one of the most unique and prodigious freeskiers on the planet. According to the fine folks at Head, their engineering and design teams sat down with Richardson to craft all elements of the ski, inside and out. It was created to play in the deepest snow one can find. But, it wasn’t made simply to make turns through the depths; it was made to butter, spin and paint your way down the hill, as Richardson does in any of his staggering film segments. When the roads are closed and avalanche bombs echo from the mountain through the valley floor, you’ll want to wake up next to the Oblivion 116, we can promise you that.
The Oblivion 116 features Head’s TNT rocker, which has been praised in other Head ski models in its acclaimed Kore series, but was adapted for a twin tip shape. This TNT rocker translates to a twin tip shape with roughly 60-percent camber underfoot and a 40-percent rocker split evenly between the tip and tail. This gives you plenty of rocker in the tip to float and plenty in the tail to accommodate switch landings. The core is a hybrid of poplar wood and recycled polyethylene terephthalate (PET) from plastic bottles. The result is a light, playful powder ski that is equally environmentally conscious. There’s no metal in the Oblivion 116, but our testers reported feeling an intriguing mix of stability underfoot with flex in the tip and tail.
From pillow lines on North America’s West Coast to the mountains of Hokkaido, Japan, the Oblivion 116 beckons to the advanced freeride skier looking for the ski that will optimize your time in the deep end.