The all-mountain skis K2 introduced last year looked nothing like the 15-year parade of models that preceded them. The older generation of K2’s earned a huge following by being super simple to ski and as damp as soup.

The new K2’s, christened iKonic, stripped away a decade’s worth of embellishments in search of a leaner, more sensitive ski that would be both lighter and more reactive. To make a possibly inappropriate extended metaphor: compared to skiing, say, the Aftershock, skiing the iKonic 85 Ti is like waking up inside a B movie to find your wife is suddenly 20 years younger.

For 2017, K2 has amped up the flagship iKonic model by inserting a carbon weave at tip and tail to give the edge more bite without adding palpable poundage. Our statistics suggest that the latest incarnation indeed has a slightly earlier turn entry, enabling more accurate carving, and better stability at speed.

But lovers of K2’s legendary forgiveness need not fret: the iKonic 85Ti hasn’t been transformed into an intractable, fall-line charging ogre, but remains a sweet, compliant cruiser. Its hallmark trait is accessibility, in the sense of being equally manageable by aspiring and actual experts and in the sense of opening doors to new terrain. For its generosity of spirit, we award the 2017 iKonic 85Ti a Silver Skier Selection.