It’s hard to classify K2’s Mindbender 99 Ti as either a Finesse or a Power ski as it migrates freely across the border between these two behavioral territories. It Power properties derive from a yoke of Titanal that runs along the perimeter of the forebody, segues to an edge-to-edge binding platform and continues down the center of the tail. This design puts a premium on engaging the edge early and releasing it gently. Its double-rockered baseline uses only enough elevation at tip and tail to maintain flow in uneven terrain, so the skier feels end-to-end snow contact whether on groomers or off-trail.
While the Mindbender Ti models were introduced just last year, they are part of a K2 tradition that stretches back several product generations. If K2’s essence could be distilled to a single trait or two, it would be made of equal parts forgiveness and ease of use. The Mindbender 99 Ti doesn’t try to dictate turn shape nor does it require breakneck speed to get it to bend. It doesn’t have a terrain preference – it’s surprisingly snaky in the bumps – but its torsionally soft tail is more attuned to pushing against soft snow than biting into ice. As long as the surface has some give to it, the Mindbender 99 Ti is a competent carver and a confidence builder for someone still polishing their off-trail talents.
Back in the day, liveliness was a common trait among performance skis. With the advent of shaped skis, advanced technique involved maintaining snow contact through the end of the arc. Popping off the snow became a faux pas, rockered tips reared their ugly heads and camber lines flattened out like deflated tires.
By freeing up the fiberglass in its belly to compress, Völkl’s M5 Mantra creates the energy to recoil off the edge and fire the skier through the turn transition. It’s expert skiing as it used to be, before it became popular to make off-trail skis that were built more for skidding than carving.
The M5 Mantra is the antidote to the smeary ski. It’s not a ski for floating over fluffy drifts of powder. Instead, it dives into pow and blows it up from the bottom, using the energy out of the turn to bring the ski up to the surface like a dolphin. No other ski in the genre is as firmly committed to carving through thick and thin as the M5.
For the skier with established carving skills looking for a ski unintimidated by rough-and-tumble terrain, the revitalized M5 Mantra is your kind of board. The M5 was focused from its conception to serve the needs and meet the expectations of experts, which is why it doesn’t smear as readily as the rest of the AMW contingent.
The new M-Pro series is the first new freeride series from Dynastar that isn’t a spinoff of the Cham models it rolled out nearly a decade ago. Eventually the Cham name was dropped in favor of Legend, but aside from a damping system in the forebody, the essentials of the design remained the same.
The M-Pro series bids au revoir to all that. The M-Pro 99 is tapered and rockered at both ends, but neither the baseline nor sidecut is copied from the Cham/Legend playbook. Titanal has been re-introduced, although not in full sheets. Instead, the Rocket Frame insert is concentrated in the tail and underfoot, with a thin sliver extending towards the tip. The net effect is a forebody that is ready to give in any direction married to a tail that is built to hold its course.
Dynastar knows that skiers don’t buy a 99mm-waisted ski to cruise groomers; they get one in hopes of never seeing a groomer again. The M-Pro 99’s shallow sidecut and square tail design signal a directional ski that will plane evenly through tracked-up pow. One way to think of the M-Pro 99 is as Powder ski shrunk to everyday dimensions, with a more supportive tail that will make a crisper arc on hardpack. As long as the snow has a bit of give to it, M-Pro 99 handles easily and responsively.
Most veteran testers who try the ultralight Head Kore 99 for the first time carry with them a hint of suspicion. You can tell in the hand that they’re lighter than the typical wood-and-metal make-up usually found at the top of this popular genre. Will a noticeably lighter ski like the Kore 99 measure up to the standard set by powerful skis like the Bonafide 97, MX98, M5 Mantra and Enforcer 100?
Because any competent tester will be focused on trying to find a flaw that derives from the Kore 99’s lightness, the first run on this ski feels experimental, sort of like a first dance with a new partner. Somewhere during the second run you realize it can do whatever you can do. You stop focusing on its differentness and gain a deeper appreciation of how well it mimics the performance envelope of this hotly competitive category’s perennial all-stars.
Not only do the Kore 99’s Power properties meet the highest standard for edge grip and stability at speed, its lower mass means it takes less effort to ski, forestalling fatigue and lengthening the ski day.
Unlike some of its burlier bros in the All-Mountain West genre, the Kore 99 feels quick to the edge and reactive off it. “It did not feel like a 99mm width,’ notes Bob’s Theron Lee. “It felt much narrower.”
With a name like Menace, this Dynastar sounds like a handful, but it actually takes instruction well. (As long as we’re not talking about hard snow carving, which lies outside its definition of “fun.”) It’s simplicity itself to pivot, which is essential if you’re going to ride it like a beast with two heads. Even if your intent is to always face downhill, this putty-knife smear-ability comes in handy in lumpy off-trail conditions where a narrower twin-tip won’t move sideways with equal facility.
And when the snow is light and fluffy and you can set your own line, the Menace 98 bounces off the base of a bottomless turn and uses that energy to surface and slash to the other side of the fall line. Whether you prefer your powder turns to be forward, backward or sideways, the Menace 98 is ready to accommodate.
