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.
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.
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
The Catamaran’s fully rockered, twin-tip design is made by and for athletes who prize creativity over convention. Drifting isn’t a demerit but a form of passive aggression, a way for the skier to hit the brakes, focus in and straight-line to a massive air. The Catamaran can sustain this sort of treatment because its aspen/fir core is bolstered by carbon stringers strong enough to support a skier dropping forty feet to a switch landing.
