Of all the new models introduced last season, K2’s Mindbender 99Ti took by far the greatest leap up in our standings, a stratospheric orbit it wasn’t able to sustain this year as new data knocked it back a few notches. But the slight dip in scores doesn’t negate the two crucial facts: 1) the Mindbender 99 Ti version 2.0 represents a vast improvement over its original incarnation, and 2) it’s one of the best AMW Finesse skis of its era.
Driving the 2023 Mindbender 99Ti’s ascension to the top rung of the Finesse ladder was a re-design of the ski’s signature feature, Titanal Y-Beam. It’s still shaped like a futuristic slingshot, with the forks of the yoke running up each side of the forebody, a wall-to-wall stretch underfoot and a centered tail section. K2 fiddled with the size and shape of the forward forks so the ski hooks up earlier and with more authority, but it’s the transformation of the Y-Beam’s tail design that contributes the most to the Mindbender 99Ti’s newfound tranquility on edge.
Not many skiers lose sleep thinking about the effects of tail design on turning accuracy, especially in a nation where carving a full turn is a dying art, but the palpable improvement created by a more supportive tail in the Mindbender 99Ti proves that everything that goes into a ski – from tip to tail – affects the total result. The new model earned higher marks in every single criterion, not just turn finish or stability at speed, which one would expect to be enhanced by a beefier tail. On average, its Finesse scores were even higher than its boffo Power scores, indicating that the new Mindbender 99Ti not only has a higher ceiling than any K2 AMW model in recent memory, it also manages to have a lower floor.
“This Mindbender goes for everything and comes up aces,” enthuses Mark Rafferty from Peter Glenn. The 99mm width is great for the rare powder day, but the selective use of Titanal allows it to grip and rip on hard pack. I always felt in total control. Fun in all conditions,” he concludes.
The K2 Mindbender 89Ti has yoyoed up and down our rankings of the best All-Mountain East skis since its year of introduction in 2019/20, when the Mindbender 90 Ti debuted in last place among our Recommended Finesse models. Its position changed dramatically last year, in large part due to allotting more metal to the tail, creating a solid platform that was notably lacking in the original. The improvement was so striking, most testers lavished praise – and higher scores – on the upgraded design, putting it in sight of the podium in the crowded AME Finesse field.
The Mindbender 89Ti came back to the pack this year, largely due to an infusion of new data. Last season we had to rely on an unusually small sample, but we expected the ski to be important and the verdict was so coherent we let the results stand. The influx of new data from this past season’s testing diluted the degree of euphoria the Mindbender 89Ti initially inspired in a handful of testers, but it nonetheless remains an avatar of how an All-Mountain East Finesse ought to behave.
The dip in scores year to year doesn’t change the fact that the Mindbender 89 Ti represents a major improvement over the MB 90 Ti it replaced. The Titanal Y-Beam that provides the backbone for the 89Ti’s design was significantly reconfigured. The metal laminate is still shaped like a slingshot, but the yoke in the forebody has been beefed up and the tail section re-shaped to cover a lot more area. The result is a serenity on edge that won’t shake loose under heavy pressure on hard snow. As one of our 2023 test crew opined, “Fantastic ski. Lots of power at bottom of the turn. Stable and quick. Bit slow edge to edge but the stiff tail is easy to load.”
Of all the new 2023 skis that are upgrades to existing models, none took a greater leap up in all key averages – Total Score, Power and Finesse – than K2’s Mindbender 89Ti and 99Ti. In the case of the Mindbender 89Ti vis-à-vis the Mindbender 90Ti that it supplants, the new ski blows the doors off its forebear no matter how you slice it. The retiring 90Ti languished near the bottom of our rankings last year; the new iteration ranks near the top, a strong indication that things have improved underfoot.
As indeed they have, for the Titanal Y-Beam that provides the backbone for the 89Ti’s design has been significantly reconfigured. The metal laminate is still shaped like a slingshot, but the yoke in the forebody has been beefed up and the tail section re-shaped to cover a lot more area. The result is a serenity on edge that won’t shake loose under heavy pressure on hard snow.
This quality matters, particularly in a daily driver that will perforce be fed a diet rich in groomers. The Mindbender 89Ti retains a bias for off-trail conditions, as evident in its baseline, sidecut and build, but the extra Titanal in the new edition makes all the difference in the world when the off-trail is iffy. The new Mindbinders are archetypes of the all-terrain, in-resort ski that loves to play around in new snow but can get down to business when the untracked turns packed.
Theron Lee is both a world-class ski mechanic and a technically precise skier accustomed to skiing slalom race models. He spotted the improvement in the Mindbender 89Ti from the first turn. “The ski has a lot of power underneath the foot with the new metal configuration. The tip and tail have a lot more power to them and the ski makes a very round turn, unlike in the past. The ski was a lot of fun to ski and the roundness of the turn and the power of the ski made it made it a complete jam to ski.”
