Brands with an entrenched position don’t normally overhaul the core of their collection for both men and women in the same year, but that’s just what K2 has done for 2016.
We’re not talking some deft tweak, the umpteen iteration of the brand’s signature Mod technology that sucks vibration like Hoovers inhale carpet lint. This is K2’s biggest change in snow feel since the last millennium.
The technical property that underlies the sea change in feel is weight distribution.
The new K2 families, Konic and Pinnacle for men and Luv for women, all move their densest core material and, in the case of the high-end Ti models, a strip of metal, to the ski’s perimeter. This makes the ski lighter without compromising its gripping power.
One trait that hasn’t been diminished in this personality transplant is K2’s ease of operation. The new models aren’t finicky about turn shape, speed or balance point, always happy to change an edge whether from an upright stance or by dropping a hip. Skiing doesn’t get much easier than this.
If we had to pick one ski from the new batch to emerge as the symbol of everything K2 stands for, it would be the Pinnacle 95. We tested in the worst condition for this waist width – boilerplate worthy of northern New Hampshire – and it purred. To perform at a high level when out of its element is one of the benchmark characteristics of a great ski. The Pinnacle 95 is unlikely to encounter terrain it can’t cheerfully manage.
Taken as a whole, the K2 line for next season is cleaner, more focused and more coherent than it’s been in several years. For example, there’s no overlap between the Konic and Pinnacle collections; the fattest iKonic is 85mm underfoot, and the thinnest Pinnacle is the 95.
Expect 2016’s star products to include the Konic 85Ti for men and the OoolaLuv 85Ti for women. This is noteworthy not just because these are both excellent skis, but because at 85mm at the waist, they are relatively narrow skis in today’s fat-obsessed market, a status quo K2 helped to foster.
It’s encouraging to see a major brand, particularly one with the freeride chops of K2, subtly encourage the American public to adopt a narrower ski as their everyday ride. We heartily applaud this emerging trend.