K2’s Luv Boat 108 had only been afloat for a year when it was scuttled and replaced with the Luv Boat 105, a modestly modified spin-off of the Pinnacle 105, itself only a year out of R&D. K2’s merger of the women’s specific Luv Boat 108 with the unisex Pinnacle 105 was inevitable, as the raison d’être of the Pinnacle was to pare away as much weight as possible without impairing performance, a women’s market mission if ever there was one.
When Nordica was first trying to find its feet as a ski company, it found a toehold among the firmament of A-list brands in the Frontside genre. A case could be made that, for a few years running, Nordica was making the best carving skis in the world.
Among the major brands, Head probably holds that distinction now, but Nordica’s new GT series serves notice that it would like to reclaim its crown. The new construction of the GT series is a major departure from Nordica’s more recent Frontside family, yet it’s already familiar to Nordica fans. Essentially, it doubles down on the Titanal Torsion Bridge used in the All-Mountain NRGY collection, adding a sheet of the cut-out titanium to the base and replacing the foam core channel with poplar and beech.
Rossignol created the Hero Master for Masters’ racers who, as in their adolescence, have to economize and use one ski for two events. But the Hero Master could live a long life without ever seeing a start house or a finish gate and still pass on to the celestial podium fulfilled. For this sweetheart loves to open up the gas line and burn fuel by the barrel, flying down America’s groomed highways with its sirens on and lights blazing.
If memory serves, Seth Morrison was the first freeride athlete to have a signature model. He’s been flying the K2 flag for over two decades, often upside down into a crevice of powder surrounded by a rock garden. After a jaw-dropping aerial entry, Seth doesn’t clear out the bottom of couloirs with a sideways smudge but skis a clean line using classic technique.
Just as Morrison is a remarkable hybrid of Old School skills and New School bravura, his ski, the Pinnacle 118, is responsive to conventional, directional ski technique despite an amply rockered baseline. There’s no need to adapt your style to fit the ski or the situation; just aim at the deepest pile of snow you can find and go get it.