The tails of our Adventure skis come with a concave notch to ensure the skin clip, regardless of size, stays securely centered on the tail.

The widest point of this tip is the forward contact point as opposed to 7cm in front of it like most of our shaped skis. This design makes the ski more stable and predictable because it won’t hook or grab erratically in windblown snow and other variable conditions that you’re likely to encounter in the backcountry.

“Cap” skis are built with a sophisticated molding process that envelops the core and internal materials with the top layer of the ski. Capped skis share the common characteristics of being very durable and lightweight. The construction process is nearly identical for an entry and expert level ski. What determines the characteristics of the ski are the variations in the layers of the core materials. For this reason, cap skis can be used for just about any type of skiing and performance level.

All Adventure skis come with holes drilled in the tip and tail that facilitate building a quick, solid rescue sled, or the construction of a ski anchor. The holes come with plugs that can be removed with a simple twist of a flat head screwdriver. These holes also function as skin attachment points for our new skins.

All SIDE skis, and select BACK models come with varying degrees of shovel rocker, but normal cambered tails. Shovel rocker improves the agility of big skis by enabling them to initiate quickly, and easily adjust turn shape. The normal cambered tail makes it easy to scrub speed in powder, and increases versatility by providing better accuracy and hard snow performance than a fully rockered ski.

K2 men’s All-Mountain models use fir and aspen for their inherent strength, durability and energy. The new Adventure Series skis use an Aspen and Paulownia blend. All women's skis use a combination of fir and spruce in a unique Bioflex core process. Spruce is used as a lighter weight alternative to solid fir. The Bioflex and Aspen/Paulownia cores also feature a bamboo stinger for additional strength without adding weight to the ski.

In a rockered ski design the tips and tails are turned up like a water ski. In this case FCP and ACP are no longer the contact points when the ski is lying on a flat surface. Rocker enables the ski to float on top of softer snow without the tip diving since the ski naturally wants to elevate or plane with this design. There are varying degrees of rocker but in general the larger the distance off the snow, the more soft snow focused the ski becomes. We quantify Rocker with three specific characteristics. • Location: The region where the rocker is located. • Height: The height (mm) of the rocker off the snow • Length: The length (cm) of the rockered region.

All of our Adventure skis come with flat tails because they add tremendous utility to a backcountry ski. By allowing you to easily plunge the tails into firm snow, you can build anchors, stake out your tent, or merely secure your skis while retrieving something from your pack, none of which is possible with twin tips or kick tails.

Working with the Alliance Team to further develop our line of women’s specific skis has lead to the Bioflex core, a breakthrough multi-wood core technology. Used on our T:Nine series of skis, the combination of two distinctly different woods, fir and spruce, provides a blend of stability and forgiveness in our women’s skis. Not just different layers of wood, but completely different cores fused together at the tip and tail. Spruce, a light, soft wood is used in the extremities of the tip and tail and fir, a more solid, dense wood is used underfoot. The Spruce provides easy turn initiation, lightweight characteristics, and overall ease that T:Nine skis have come to be known for. The Fir underfoot provides a new level of confidence inspiring control, predictability and stability. The 2009/10 core incorporates a bamboo stringer that runs down the center of the entire core for added strength. The beauty of the Bioflex core is that it produces a lighter weight core which translates into skis that are easier to maneuver and causes less fatigue than a comparable men’s size and model. The Bioflex core can also be tuned to the performance level of the ski. The Burnin’ Luv and True Luv both share a Bioflex core, but the flex and performance levels differs dramatically.

Torsion Box construction is the foundation for the widest range of skis designed by K2. Depending on the dimensions of a ski, and the amount of flex and torsion designed into it, one model of a Torsion Box ski can differ greatly from another. The versatility in the construction enables us to build everything from entry-level through expert skis. While there will be significant differences between a DarkSide and a MissConduct, they do share the common traits of ease, forgiveness, responsiveness, and energy that can be found in all Torsion Box skis.