2021 K2 Mindbender 98 Ti Alliance

Tester: McKenna Peterson The first time I skied on what is now the Mindbender 98Ti Alliance was during our second round of testing at Crystal Mountain, Washington. It had snowed a bit up high but had rained down low on the mountain so conditions were variable. I’m a big mountain skier and have always preferred fatter skis for float and stability at speed, but there was something about this 98mm underfoot ski that made my jaw drop. Up high, the 98Ti floated through the powder, perfectly balanced between riding on top and diving too deep. The ski carved through the nasty re-frozen wet snow of the lower mountain as if it were butter. The ski was both confident and playful. We had a winner. So much so that the engineers ended up adapting the new Torsion Control Design as finalized for the 98Ti for the entire men’s and women’s Mindbender collection. Torsion Control Design allows the ski to be stable and confident throughout the turn while also giving the option to release on a dime and playfully maneuver. This quality makes the 98Ti my ‘go to’ resort ski for any and all conditions. Fun fact: this ski graces the cover of the 2019 December issue of SKI magazine and the photo was taken after an unusual 40” dump at Sun Valley. Yeah, she's skinny but she rips in the powder.