Power Instinct Ti Pro
This year’s jury was unequivocal: the Power Instinct Ti Pro belongs on the Power podium. Its everything-including-the-kitchen-sink construction isn’t impressed with any snow condition found on this planet, tearing into terrain like piranha with edges. A wide circle of skier types is able to steer it, in part because it adds a dab of Graphene™ – how do you measure a material reduced to atoms? – through the midsection of the ski, making the tip and tail more pressure-sensitive.
Pinnacle 118
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.