Ski Guide 2009/2010 Season: The New K2s
This was a season preview, which is the most perishable thing a gear blog writes. The skis in it are long out of production. What survives is the shape of the advice, and that has held up better than the model names.
The trend this post was reporting turned out to be the story of the decade. Skis got wider, more rockered and lighter, and what was then a specialist powder ski became the ordinary all-mountain ski. A ski that was considered fat in 2009 is close to mid-width now.
How to pick one, which is what you actually came for:
- Waist width by where you ski. Roughly 80 to 90mm for firm, groomed, mostly-east-coast or European resort skiing; 90 to 105 as an all-rounder that handles a powder day; over 105 if you are choosing skis for deep snow specifically.
- Length by ability, not height. Somewhere between your chin and the top of your head, shorter if you are learning or ski tight trees, longer for speed and open ground.
- Rocker is the feature to understand. Tip rocker makes a ski float and turn more easily; full rocker gives that up on hard snow. Most good all-mountain skis have rocker at the tip and camber underfoot, which is the combination that works everywhere.
And the advice this post got right in 2009: demo before you buy. A ski that reviews brilliantly can feel wrong under you, and a day's demo hire costs a fraction of the mistake. K2 is still making skis, for what it is worth.
Part of the guide to ski and snowboard.