Sometimes it seems every new model in the Age of Lighter is Better is being made for some pixie who can’t bend a real ski. Put a big man who knows how to motivate down the hill on one of these weak reeds and it will fold like a $5 lawn chair. So it was interesting to read the comments of Corty Lawrence, a full-sized dude (and one of the best boot fitters of his, or any other, generation) when we pried him off the i.Speed Pro after several scorching runs. To compress Corty’s impressions into an aphorism Yoda might utter, “Total commitment yields total reward.” If you know where the accelerator is and aren’t afraid to stomp on it, you’re the target pro for the i.Speed Pro.
There are three top-line reasons why women should entrust their precious time in powder to K2 and its flagship women’s ski, the FulLUVit 95 Ti. (BTW, the Ti is new to its name but not to its composition.) First, K2’s wheelhouse is building wide skis for the off-piste adventurer. Second, K2 was one of the first brands to develop a complete line of women’s skis and involve recreational female skiers in their product development and testing process through the K2 Women’s Alliance, which celebrates its 20th anniversary this season. The third and most important reason for hopping on a FulLUVit 95 Ti is that no other ski makes off-trail skiing any easier without surrendering stability on groomers. If the primary quality you want in your next all-terrain ski is ease of operation, you’ve found your ski.
K2’s new Alluvit 88Ti isn’t a mere improvement over last year’s iteration, but a major makeover with benefits for all women skiers, particularly those with off-trail travels on the daily agenda. Mirroring the moves made by the unisex Pinnacle 88Ti, the Alluvit 88Ti ditched the foam section of its core in favor of an all-wood affair featuring fir and aspen, then added a perimeter of Titanal to calm the edge and sharpen its bite. The changes flipped the Alluvit 88’s personality from meek wallflower to sassy extrovert. If the Alluvit 88Ti has a terrain bias, it’s in favor of soft snow in depths ranging from one inch to two feet.
