Mindbender 116C

K2 flipped its entire freeride family last year, closing the Pinnacle period and beginning the Mindbender era. Mindbenders come in two flavors, with a Titanal yoke or a variable carbon weave as the principal structural component. Mindful of the need to keep fat skis on a diet, the Mindbender 116C is of the metal-free variety. The dip in torsional rigidity makes the Mindbender 116C feel narrower when it’s tipped and pressured, so traditional powder technique’s rhythmic turning style fits its strong suit.

But if you never attempt to stand on the edge, you can still smear your way along just by twisting your feet sideways. Not being as stiff or heavy as a Ti-laden model, the Mindbender 116C is easier to manhandle when necessary and never refuses an invitation to drift around a turn. As you’d expect from the Kings of Rocker at K2, the rocker at both tip and tail are long and high, creating a predisposition to bank off the base rather than carve on the edge.

Mindbender 90C

Because of the runaway popularity of the All-Mountain East genre – currently the market choice for a one-ski quiver – ski makers like to stock the category with a multiplicity of models. To avoid cannibalizing its own line, the brand needs to clearly differentiate the...

Navigator 80 Ti

The Nordica Navigator 80 Ti is supposed to be the runt of its litter, with a less meat on its bones than the Navigator 85. But trimming a little fat seems to have done more good than harm, for the Navigator turns more easily than its bigger bro without losing any...

Navigator 85 Ti

If you’re looking for a Frontside style of ski in an all-mountain width, the Navigator 85 is an excellent choice at a fair price. Our test crew tended to skip over the Navigator 85, but shop owners did not, stocking more of the Navigator 85 than its little brother,...

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.