High spin states in I were studied with the Ni( Ni, 3pp) reaction at 240 MeV, using the EURocAM array in Daresbury, United Kingdom, with 45 Ge detectors. A total of five deformed intruder bands extending to spins I ranging from (73/2 -89/2)h have been identified, all of which reach frequencies Aced)1. 0 MeV and excitation energies 25 MeV. A gradual dropoff of the dynamic moment of inertia / with increasing rotational frequency has been observed and attributed to a mode of "soft" band termination involving valence particle alignment. In this process, the nucleus progresses gradually, over many transitions, towards a noncollective oblate (p = +60') band terminating state.PACS number(s): 21.10.Re, 27.60. +j, 23.20.Lv