K2 earns our eternal admiration for keeping their focus on making off-trail skiing easier. This is particularly apropos in the Big Mountain arena, where the best skiing isn’t on the groomers. The Pinnacle 105 possesses the magical quality of making previously unplayable terrain part of the daily routine, like playing the forward tees allows the average golfer to enjoy a tough course.
The Pinnacle 105 might be the best application of K2’s Konic technology that concentrates practically all mass over the edge. The Nanolite material used in the central core fans out at the extremities, forming the tip and tail entirely from this featherweight stuffing. The reduction in swing weight is one reason the Pinnacle 105 steers like a narrower ski.
Over the unusually long arc of its existence, the Mantra has morphed every few seasons, putting on a few mm’s of girth one year, adding a dab of early rise to the tip another. The latest stage in its evolution, which debuted two seasons ago, was also the most dramatic, resulting in a significant change in the Mantra’s personality.
Völkl didn’t change the Mantra’s composition – it’s still a classic combo of wood and Titanal – but they changed everything else, going from a fully cambered ski to a double rocker design that is bone-flat underfoot and rockered at tip and tail. The alterations allow the new Mantra to swivel around in soft snow, making it much more forgiving in the off-piste conditions. The premium previously placed on pilot proficiency and precision no longer pertains.
