K2’s idea of Luv is normally of the lovey-dovey, coddling kind, but the Luv Machine 74Ti is from the tough love end of the emotional scale.  Its new, more rounded tip shape will ease the entry to a high edge angle, but it would behoove the pilot to know how to step on that edge once she’s been introduced to it.

The Luv Machine shares the shape of the Potion 74 XTi that preceded it, but note the “X” that’s no longer in the name.  The old ski had an elaborate superstructure called RoX that sucked up shock and a lot of other sensations. The new Luv dispenses with the RoX and further trims down with the Channel Light Core that removes material from the center of the chassis and concentrates mass over the edge.

However its insides have changed, the constant in this ski’s evolution is its unwavering edge grip, assisted by a traditional camber line and a sidecut that runs uninterrupted into the tip for neck-rein response.

“Really powers through turns,” said an admiring Kayla from Aspen Ski and Board. “Great edge hold. Extremely stable at speed, a super reliable carving ski for the advanced female.”

K2 bet the farm on their new Konic construction that strips away surface structures and moves the bulk of the remaining mass to the ski’s perimeter, over the edge. We’re pleased to report the farm is not in any jeopardy.

In the case of the iKonic 80 Ti, the changes wrought haven’t altered the quintessential K2 property of making life easier for the skier whose skills could still use a little burnishing.  Versatility is another K2 traditional family value respected by the iKonic 80 Ti. It lets the skier change style, stance and pressure without ever losing its cool.  Mixing turn shapes is easier than changing socks.

Skiers who feel compelled to stomp on the edge would be better served by one of our Power picks, but the less aggro skier who wants a ski that responds to a light touch will be elated to find the iKonic 80 Ti gets some kick out of its camber underfoot.  Stephanie Humes from Jan’s, who while highly skilled is the antithesis of hefty, praised the ski for its liveliness, noting, “It has a lot of pop,” and punctuating her remark with a smiley face.

Another of our lighter testers, Pat Parraguirre of Bobo’s, the unofficial mayor of Reno, also admired the iKonic 80 Ti’s “light and lively feeling on your feet.  People who ski at lower speeds will like that it requires so little energy to turn.”  Matt from Footloose put his finger on it when he wrote, “This ski will make you feel like you’re a better skier than you are.”

The only blemish on this K2’s cards were demerits for how quickly it connects at the top of the turn, not surprising since its slightly tapered tip is also rockered so it will handle a variety of conditions and not just freshly manicured corduroy.

To be a market leader, you can’t just offer a great ski; you must have, somewhere in your collection, a great ski at a great price.  For the new K2’s, that ski is the Konic 78 Ti.  It’s a Frontside ski that, true to K2 tradition, is so simple to ski you’ll want to take it everywhere.

The Konic 78 Ti isn’t lightning quick on or off the edge, but once it puts its teeth into a turn it holds with admirable tenacity. “I did not expect much,” wrote Steph from Jan’s, “but was pleasantly surprised to realize that it was a powerful little ski with lots of snap out of the turn.”  (If you’re wondering why a woman would test a unisex ski, note that the Konic 78 Ti is available down to a 149cm, which we hope isn’t intended for a man.)

Lest you imagine a man might overpower it, Hank, who likewise toils at Jan’s, was happy as long as he didn’t push it too hard.  He called the Konic 78 Ti a “ski instructor special, goes anywhere, turns quickly and easily.”

BTW, the deal on the Konic 78 Ti that makes it such a superior value is $599, out the door, with a stellar Marker binding included.

Women who bought a pair of Luvs when this nameplate was first adopted by K2 a couple of product generations ago may be scarred by memories of how heavy they were.  The old Luvs earned your affections by driving with the stability of a Coupe de Ville, with about the same feel for the road.

K2 heard the collective groans of their countless faithful followers hefting their skis to their shoulder and took decisive action.  The new Luvs, like the Luv Sick 80 Ti, have had several operations to improve responsiveness.  First, K2 liposuctioned all the dampening goop off the top layer.  Then, taking a page from the new Konic technology, they trimmed the Titanal laminate down to a thin strip outlining the ski’s perimeter, to create extra edge bite without extra lbs.  Finally, they created the Channel Light Core. Made from aspen, Paulownia and bamboo, the Channel Light Core would be featherweight even it weren’t whittled on, but K2 takes the extra step of milling material out of the ski’s mid-section.

If you elect to mate the Luv Sick 80 Ti with its matching Marker binding, you’ll add $200 to the MSRP but you won’t be adding a lot of extra weight, as K2 has worked with Marker to trim excess fat from the binding, too.  The new Markers feature a fresh heel design that improves ease of entry, always a bonus.

The payoff for all this dieting is a ski that flows effortlessly edge-to-edge.  The accent still falls on ease, the quintessential K2 trait.  The Luv Sick 80 Ti is more concerned about making the ski simple to guide into a slow, controlled, short-radius carve than it is with staying calm beyond the recreational speed range.  The Luv Sick 80 Ti has more than enough moxie for the 20-day-per-season skier and best of all, won’t remind her if she’s skipped a few off-season work-outs.

K2 has made a very tidy business out of coddling the recreational female skier, giving her the confidence to let her hair down and her skis run. The Luv Struck 80 is in this tradition, an easy-going ride that holds a steady edge under a light touch.

Most skis made for the intermediate are flavorless noodles, but the Luv Struck has just the right amount of support and ­energy to carry the skier from turn to turn.  Kim from Cal Ski Co confessed to being bushed at the end of long test day when she stepped into the Luv Struck.  “I was TIRED but this ski was so smooth and easy – had a great run!!!” Kim summed up the Luv Struck as “light, playful and responsive,” although not enough ski for the more aggressive or skilled skier.

K2 made a bold move this season, changing what had been an insanely popular design for over a decade.  The iKonic 85 Ti is expected to fill the big shoes once worn by the venerable Rictor 82 XTi without the ultra-damp, shock-sucking properties of its now mothballed MOD structure.   Mission accomplished, with a sensitive snow feel unattainable on earlier editions from K2.

Where the old AMP Rictor series had the secure if ponderous quality of a 1990’s Cadillac, the iKonic 85 Ti has the more nimble reactions and feel for the road of the Detroit icon’s more recent incarnations. “Smooth yet responsive,” coos Bobo’s proprietor Steve Sheehan.  “More customers will like this one.”

Ease of turn initiation has been a K2 signature trait since the brand’s inception, a tradition the iKonic 85 Ti keeps intact.  The biggest change in snow feel between the two generations of K2’s is the sensation of lightness in the new arrivals, without any loss of edge grip, even on hard snow.  “Not at all demanding, yet when pressured could hold its own,” confirmed one impressed tester.

Despite the significant departure represented by the Konic design, the 85 Ti retains three behaviors that are intrinsically K2:  readily disposition to change turn shape, a balance point that’s easy to find and facility at off-piste conditions.  In the how-can-you-make-all-mountain-skiing-easier sweepstakes, K2 has another winner.

If you can’t change direction without suffering a minor panic attack, take 2 Shreditor 92’s and call us in the morning. Firm enough underfoot to inspire trust, the blunt, tapered tip and tail sections offer no interference with a swiveled turn, so even if technique is not your forte, you’ll still be able to get out of your own way.

Absurdly facile even in conditions like chalky crud that can make a more traditional baseline balk, the new Shreditor 92 will open up terrain vistas for skiers who have spent too much of their lives on manicured slopes.  Descended from a line that goes up to the 136mm-waisted Powabunga, the 92 retains the distillate of a Big Mountain ski in its bones, with a surfy personality that’s in no great rush to get to the edge but calm enough once it gets there.

Realskiers’ test methodology puts an emphasis on precision, so we don’t normally award high scores to skis with this surfy an attitude.   The Shreditor 92 overcomes this handicap by being so easy to ski off-piste that it just can’t be ignored.  If moguls are a regular part of your daily diet, the Shreditor 92 is as easy to steer through the rubble of a bump field as any ski this wide.

The massive makeover that K2 applied to their cornerstone men’s models they’ve also implemented across their all-mountain women’s collection.  The OoolaLuv 85 Ti is the standard bearer for the new K2’s, representing the best the re-designed line has to offer.

In keeping with the new Konic design in the men’s line, the new Luv series trims mass away from the center line by cutting channels out of its lightweight wood core.  The OoolaLuv also concentrates more of its metal laminate over the edge so it feels as solid as a rock without weighing more than a pebble.

Shirley from Footloose said, “Unbelievable light skiing with all the smoothness and stability you could want.  Forgiving with a lot of performance.”  Steph from Jan’s found that even in short lengths it packed a punch.  “The 156 was way too short for me BUT wow, it delivered,” she wrote. “I pushed it more than I should have for its length, but it took it and was stable. It loved fast, medium-radius turns.”

Women who loved everything about their old K2 Luvs but their heft will find the OoolaLuv has removed the “but.” The OoolaLuv delivers a double dose of confidence building so women with a skill set from so-so to splendid will feel ready to face whatever the mountain has on the menu.

If all one examined were a ski’s technical attributes—what we at realskiers refer to as its Power rating —the sub-par scores of K2’s Remedy 92 wouldn’t register a ho-hum.  But then, we’d only be halfway down the scorecard, wouldn’t we?  It’s all the Finesse qualities of the Remedy 92 that redeem it, including its tractability off-piste, which is presumably where the All-Mountain East damsel spends a few special sessions almost every ski day.

The Remedy 92 is unbeatable at slow-speed turns and is similarly matchless at forgiveness, a quality the less skilled skier has to appreciate.  The Remedy 92 isn’t one of those A-type personalities that demands to be in charge, and its laidback attitude extends to issues like pilot error, about which it’s ambivalent.  Sure, it wouldn’t mind if its pilot were totally dialed in, but it’s not going to have a cow just because the rider smeared an arc. If you need a non-critical friend on your path to world dominance, the Remedy 92 stands ready to serve.

K2’s new Konic technology represents a seismic shift in design philosophy, moving away from super damp structures to a lighter chassis with clearer snow feel.   The intent is to raise the performance ante so their flagship skis feel more powerful and precise than the comfy carriages of yore.

The new Pinnacle 95 is definitely lighter and more agile than the Annex 98, its closest kin in the 2015 collection. But it’s still a K2 through and through, focused on making the off-piste experience as easy as possible.  K2 never forgets why they made wider skis and rockered baselines in the first place: to simplify access to new terrain.  With a tapered tip and tail and All-Terrain Rocker, the Pinnacle 95 presents a shorter edge to the snow so it offers less resistance to pivoting and smearing in the off-trail conditions where it excels.

While the Pinnacle 95 has a penchant for the off-piste, it’s not like it wilts when confronted with corduroy.  “It has a light swing weight, but it’s still stable at speed,” wrote one impressed tester.  “Best in show,” exulted another, adding, “Holds edge through crud but remains playful and can change direction in an instant.  Loved it.”

The reason K2 has succeeded at making a ski that smears on demand yet holds an accurate edge when given the proper input is because everything about the Pinnacle’s make-up, particularly in the forebody, assists the skier in tilting the ski up on edge.  This is a significant difference from many other skis in this genre, particularly the more torsionally stiff models that measure 100mm underfoot, and the main reason why the Pinnacle 95 feels so fun, so friendly, so utterly easy to ski.

In sum, the Pinnacle 95 should thrill K2’s army of fans and recruit a few new ones to their fan club.

Like an XXL person who’s light on her feet, the new FulLUVit 98 Ti is a big ski that moves with the ease of more svelte body type. While the new Channel Light Core makes the FulLUVit as dainty as a wood core, metal-trimmed ski is likely to get, it’s still a 98mm-waisted ski with a 17.5m sidecut radius in a 170cm.

The FulLUVit’s full figure makes it “great for softer snow,” as Kayla from Aspen Ski and Board reported.  “Really fun through the untracked trees,” she added, referencing a domain for which the FulLUVit is well adapted.  Steph Humes from Jan’s found the FulLUVit “surprisingly versatile for 98 waist width.  Forgiving and easy to manage, although powerful if you push it.”

A skilled woman who wants a powder ski that will still be a kick when the powder is kaput, should consider the FulLUVit a potential partner.

How fitting that the reviews of our favorite Big Mountain Finesse skis should end as they began, with the very ski Matt Finnigan lamented (in the introduction) would be punished for its virtues.  Matt should feel vindicated, for the Pinnacle 105’s performance scores indeed don’t do it justice.

K2 employs a strip of metal around the Pinnacle 105’s perimeter, bolstering its crud-busting cred without adding the heft that would inhibit fast reflexes.  “Blends a light feeling ski with big ski power,” confirms The Boot Doctors’ Gleason.  “Ease of use is superb.  It’ll bring a novice to new levels yet surprise the accomplished expert with its precision.”

The Pinnacle 105 spans such a broad ability range because it can be steered lackadaisically from an upright posture or leaned into from a laid-over stance.  As is the case with so many K2’s, both past and present, the Pinnacle 105 doesn’t much care where you go or how well you ski, although like any wide ski it longs for powder.

As did our test corps.  “Wish I could ski some broken snow with this,” said the wistful Van Osgood of Footloose, “it has a really good feel to it.”

When someone descends a daring run with particular aplomb, we say the skier slayed it; when that someone is aboard a Shreditor 112, he kills it with kindness.  That’s because the Shreditor 112 is an amiable, agile, surfy and surprisingly agile companion for a day of ripping up a big mountain that’s been over-served with a fresh coat of nature’s frosting.

The Shreditor 112 didn’t earn our Recommended laurel by possessing electric reactions but with its “chill out, dude!” equanimity.  It will change direction on a dime and it doesn’t really care how you do it, so skiers with an ambiguous skill set can get away with tossing their Shreditors around with impunity.

A true twin-tip in that it will travel with relative ease in reverse, the Shreditor 112 is a gas even if you are, poor thing, merely a directional skier. While it takes a lot of talent to ski powder while looking over one’s shoulder, it takes almost no prior powder experience to develop proficiency promptly with the Shreditor 112 as your tutor.

The all-mountain ski for the Pipe & Park participant who wants to take his bi-directional game all over God’s creation, the Shreditor 102 is all play and no work.   If you’re a traditional skier unfamiliar with the term, “center-mount,” the Shreditor is probably not your best choice.  With both tips and tails rockered and tapered so they won’t hook up no matter which way you’re aimed, the Shreditor 102 is all about the butter.

Almost all unidirectional skiers will feel more at home on either the Pinnacle 95 or Pinnacle 105. However, if the first thing you look at on any given run are the terrain hits you can smear on or off, you just might be a Shred-head.

The female version of the Shreditor 102, the Remedy 102 uses a lightweight wood core crafted from aspen, Paulownia and bamboo, encased in a springy sock of Triaxial Braid fiberglass to create a playful, poppy powder ski.

We don’t know too many women who long to ski switch in fresh snow, but there are a fair number willing to hike to the goods.  The Remedy 102 is compatible with K2’s precut Z-Clip climbing skins, so setting them up for hiking couldn’t be more convenient.

One of these years we’re going to get more test data on K2’s floatiest fem skis, but we’re going to have to wait for Mother Nature to provide the necessary fluffy foundation to get the job done.  Meanwhile, we can ponder why K2, who is as plugged into what female freeride skiers want as any brand can be, shaved half a centimeter off the waist width of the Remedy 112’s short-lived predecessor, the Remedy 117.

Could it be they’ve found the realistic boundary beyond which further flotation is gilding the lily?  The illness the Remedy 112 apparently cures is an inability to surf, butter and smear one’s way though powder, a malaise K2 counters by creating a fully rockered baseline with a tapered tail that happily releases each turn like it was an ill-mannered lout.

The brilliantly named Luv Boat brings K2’s new Channel Light Core into a ski with Big Mountain dimensions, where its ultralight weight is a more pronounced plus. But just because this Luv Boat has bypassed the buffet line doesn’t mean it’s now some cigarette boat.  The Luv Boat also has a more connected baseline than a lot of skis this wide, which is great when snow depth is skinny or you’re returning to base on a sketchy cat-track.

But it’s still essentially a powder board. “This is a boat,” agreed Galena Gleason of The Boot Doctors in Telluride. “It floats and plows through terrain like a barge.  It was not super agile.  Best for crud and powder specific conditions,” she advised.  Galena happens to be an exceptional technical skier with a lot of vertical on her ski odometer; it’s wise to pay her heed.

There are precious few skis in this category that show any inclination to hook into a turn; in fact, the brochure copy on many Powder models points out that the tip and tail are “hook free.”  No wonder they’re a little scary to ski on groomers.

The K2 Pinnacle 118, Seth Morrison’s pro model, has the long, spatulate tip that’s become essential equipment on a Powder ski and of course it has tip and tail rocker, but it still grasps the concept of rolling up on edge, where it holds quite nicely.  This is abnormal behavior for most pow skis that count on banking into a big, soft pile of powder for deflecting them onto a new course.

Scott Sahr of Aspen Ski and Board had the opportunity to take the Pinnacle 118 into varied terrain and filed this report:  “Wow!! This 118 skis like a 105, extremely fast edge-to-edge, phenomenal stability and so playful at the same time.  It can float the deepest of pow, trench on ice, jib off anything.”

To put the same sentiment another way, no other ski in this genre does as good a job of just letting the skier go ski, without having to adopt a new style or technique. It makes skiing off-trail easy without making it stupid easy, if you catch my drift.

There’s something about twin-tips, aerial tricks and powder that mix well together.  The marriage of Pipe & Park shenanigans and backcountry bowls loaded with soft landings was bound to happen.  Now the relationship is in full flower.

As with Line’s Mr. Pollard’s Opus and Atomic’s Bent Chetler, K2’s Pettitor is made for the aggro youth market, yet serves the needs of their earthbound elders just as well.  Its bi-directional shape and tip-and-tail Powder Rocker may be meant to facilitate sticking a monster, off-axis air, but they work just as well to make a nice set of symmetrical tracks in the powder the kids fly over.  Sean Pettit is a phenomenal athlete, but his signature ski is a smeary softy that makes powder accessible for the everyday Joe.

If a giant race of aliens with penchant for space travel and powder arrives on earth anytime soon, K2 is ready for them. The Shreditor 136, aka Powabunga, could support one of the larger Transformers if the occasion arose.  Holding a mere human in hover position a few inches down in what might as well be bottomless is child’s play for the Powabunga.

This enormous ski retains some natural shape so it goes tip-first where you aim it, meaning its more than just a smear-stick, but if you look for a high edge angle on hard snow we hope all your connective tissues are made of titanium cables. We’re not normally pro-regulation, but it might be a good idea to require prospective purchasers of the Powabunga to provide a Certificate of Requisite Talent or posers could end up with more ski than they know what to do with.