K2’s Triaxial braiding machine harkens back to the day when all skis were skinny and sparkling rebound was all the rage. It’s hard to find many torsion box constructions anymore, and explosive energy lost its appeal when dual-track carving conquered the frontside of the mountain. Yet in the Age of Super-fat Skis (ASS), Triaxial braiding is perhaps more a propos than ever, as its deployment in the revised Pinnacle 118 demonstrates.

The Pinnacle 118 was already nearly perfect pow ski before K2 decided to devote a spindle or two of its unique weaving octopus to carbon fiber, creating the Carbon Boost Braid. The all-glass Pinnacle 118 of yesteryear weighed almost as much as comparable models with two sheets of Titanal; the addition of carbon means the subtraction of glass, empowering the 2019 Pinnacle to do more with less.

The interlacing of carbon and glass augments the Pinnacle 118’s established ability to ride just a thin rail of edge when all the pow it used to lean into is gone. In a field of drifters, the Pinnacle 118 is one of the few that can carve its way out of trouble. Its edge grip gives the skier a platform he can trust to hold when pressured, engendering the rebound that is the hallmark of a braided ski. If its unusually quick reflexes aren’t enough to induce you to acquire a Pinnacle 118, perhaps a 100 bucks off the 2018 MSRP will sweeten the deal.