My first review for K2! My first year back in Colorado was a great one this past winter of 2015. We had decent snowfall and I got a chance to get out during some great storm cycles. I was really stoked to get out on the new K2 gear for this next fall. On the men’s side this new crop of skis represents a radical departure from the previous models and its the biggest line overhaul for K2 in 15 years.
The backbone of what makes the new Pinnacles a game changer is a revolutionary construction process called Konic technology. The simple explanation is that they are redistributing materials within the ski to reinforce the areas where you need power and control (over the edges) and lighten the ski towards the very middle and the extremities, where you don’t need to have as much mass. As a result you have skis that are a slightly lighter say 8% less than say last years Annex 108, but due to the areas that are lightened, the swingweight is reduced a dramatic 18% and we are still using wood, and metal! As a result you get skis that are lighter but not overly so, so high-speed stability is still preserved, but the low swing weight gives the skis incredible ease of turning and maneuvering. It’s really cool to feel this concept in action, and I always feel that true construction differences between brands is key, simply saying “we have the magic combination of sidecut and rocker is not enough these days. Check this video out of the Pinnacle 95, which is the same construction as the 105 just a narrower footprint with a touch more sidecut.
The Pinnacle 105 in action is truly special. My first turns on it were in early December during a dealer preview and I was blown away how snappy yet solid it was on hard snow. The dimensions are 137-105-121, R19m at 184. It railed turns like a 90mm ski and it was super easy to vary turn shapes and speeds. Usually skis like this lock you into one turn shape- not the case on these. As the season progressed I had some killer days on it, 8 inches at Vail and it floated like a ski much wider on some of the low angle back bowl runs. I normally ski a 191 in this type of skis and my samples were only 184s and yet I was still surprised at how well they worked in powder and crud despite being a length shorter than I was used to. The real eye opener was during an unbelievable storm cycle I got a chance to catch over in Aspen.
I arrived in Aspen on a Sunday night, March 2nd I think, It had snowed 6 inches during the day and over the night it dumped another 8″. I woke up to meet some friends and grabbed my Pinnacle 118 Seths 191s and spent the morning slaying Aspen and some of the sidecountry runs around the mountain. It was a blast. In the afternoon I was supposed to meet one of our on snow Ambassadors so he could try the Pinnacle 95s and 105s, so I dragged both pairs up the gondola around 2:45pm. I waited and waited and he wound up having to ski with one of his clients, so I took off on some free runs on the 105. I stuck to some of my favorite steeper stashes off of F.I.S. chair and instantly I was skiing faster with more control through the tight trees, filled with pow and crud bumps. I could float and slash with video game control, to the point where I forced myself to dial it back a notch because I was going ridiculously fast through some really tight trees! After skiing all day to get on these and feel like a new man, was awesome. A lot of times good skiers feel like they don’t need easier skis, but for me this new ease and efficiency was allowing me to elevate my game substantially despite being tired from skiing non-stop all day on a classic Aspen pow day. The Konic construction really made a huge difference and I feel like this gives these skis a crazy large bandwidth- not only for snow conditions but skier abilities as well. Usually you get a ski that is super easy, that intermediates love, but it’s not enough for your best skiers on the hill. Or you get a great beefy, burly ski that the best skiers enjoy, but is often way too much for your average skiers who often have to downsize way too much so they can handle the “cool guy” ski. The Pinnacles are remarkable in that such a huge range of people can get out on this ski, and yet strong solid skiers can still benefit from the new construction, skiing faster with more efficiency without compromising power. I can’t wait to try this thing out in my 191 size which I will be getting this fall. I’m 6’2″ 200 lbs and am an ex NCAA racer so I always like em long. The 184 treated me great on these epic days though, and I’m confident that people are going to go nuts when they take these out for a spin. Check back throughout the fall as I will link in more video and pics as soon as they become available, but for now, don’t wait and put your name on a set at your local shop, they’re gonna go quick this fall! Thanks for reading.
-Clem
**update 12/16/15 The 105s were insane on this epic day yesterday (pic below) in Aspen again!
Storm Day Sales Agency 