Warner Nickerson and K2 are working together

[Dwight]

New K2 ski coming out some time this year.

 

[Philpug]

Yep, it is now official. I think we are going to see some serious product come from this. Even look at what Warner is on here.

 

[Brian Finch]

Would be super cool to see this come to fruition. K2 has put out some wicked fun skis at the tests, that never seem to make it to the ski shop racks.

Props.

 

[DocGKR]

I raced on K2 in the late 70's and early 80's--would love to see them continue to regain ground with addtional hard charging on-piste performance skis.

 

[fatbob]

I thought we'd already heard from Phil and Scotskier that K2 were on their way back from the meh wilderness years, when between serious skiers people were either going superpremium like Kastle, Stickli and Renoun (here) or boutiquey or the Austro German triumvirate of Atomic/Head/Volkl (despite common ownership with K2. The last great ski they made was the Seth, now I think I've heard the Mindbenders etc are worth a try.

 

[SkiEssentials]

I suppose now would be a good time to share that I (Jeff) got to test a whole bunch of these new skis at Mount Hood this summer. Without revealing any specifics, they are a whole heck of a lot of fun to ski and easily surpassed my expectations.

 

[EricG]

Without revealing any specifics, they are a whole heck of a lot of fun to ski and easily surpassed my expectations.

Do you know where the new stuff is being made?

 

[SkiEssentials]

Do you know where the new stuff is being made?

Yup! Unfortunately I really can't say anything until I have permission from K2, but I was impressed with everything they're doing. I also spent a couple days at their DC seeing the design/prototype/testing process first hand.

 

[James]

Must they have square tips?

To quote Walter from The Big Lebowski, "Has the whole world gone crazy?? Doesn't anyone give a sh** about the rules anymore??"

 

[Wasatchman]

Good for K2. Glad to see another step in the right direction. I'm not holding my breath, but it would be awesome if they were made in USA.

 

[cantunamunch]

So...is K2 bringing back their nordic lines? *grin*

 

[ski otter 2]

It would be nice if K2 got tops at making frontside biased skis again.

But to me, K2 was at the top with the Hellbent, Seth, Obsethed, and especially the Pettitor, which built on the designs of those previous fat skis.

(The fatter Rossi Black Ops is a slightly turnier Pettitor, seemingly a marriage of the original S7 and the Pettitor; there are other current skis from other brands that have borrowed from all those K2 skis also, seems like.)

Then K2 got influenced by freestylers, and K2 fat skis mostly became more slash, flip, spin and slarve. That was under the design leadership of Pep Fujas, who sure can ski. Good for that, but not for me.

The K2 Pinnacles remained closer to chargers, but for me, the only one that is a classic is the now discontinued Pinnacle 105. It makes a fine one ski quiver or soft snow ski, just bombproof. (This week I got my second pair, this one as backup and for my son - or rather me, as he has claimed my first pair this last season, which is fine.)
Note: these do need to be tuned right, to keep from being a trace hooky.

My favorite Mindbender so far is the 90 ti, which was great but not my favorite ~90 ski, relatively speaking. ( That width has a lot of really great ones.)
I have not tried the 108, however.

I plan to ski the 116 C first thing this year. The reps are very enthusiastic about it.

 

[Philpug]

It would be nice if K2 got tops at making frontside biased skis again.

Obviously you haven't been on on of the Charger collection. The Speed Charger and Super Charger are as good as or better any skis offered in this category.

 

[ski otter 2]

I did ski one of them. I didn't mention it because I can't recall exactly which one it was (though I could probably look it up), and it was not a favorite. It was good, and the only one for demo that first year. But not one I'd buy, myself. Not tops, to me - perhaps the tune.

But from pugski reviews, it seemed the very next year they expanded from just one (at least in this country), to multiple versions, and these have been more dialed in, I gather. I'd like to try them.

Each time I've gone to the K2 demo tent early season (and to the K2 reps I know), I've dutifully asked if any of these were available for demo that day.
Nope, mostly only in Europe, for the most part, I was told each time. Except with pugski (and possibly at SIA, not sure).

I was very impressed with Scotskier's review of one of them, so I believe you and would like to try them.

 

[Crudmaster]

My favorite Mindbender so far is the 90 ti, which was great but not my favorite ~90 ski, relatively speaking. ( That width has a lot of really great ones.)

Yep. I haven't found a better crudbuster than the K2 Mindbender 90.

 

[Philpug]

Yup! Unfortunately I really can't say anything until I have permission from K2, but I was impressed with everything they're doing. I also spent a couple days at their DC seeing the design/prototype/testing process first hand.

I was on the phone with K2 this week after numerous e-mails. Yes, the future is bright.