K2 19/20 UPDATE

K2 has a new freeride and all-mountain range of skis and boots for winter 19/20. There’s a new Anthem range for women, to replace the Luv skis and boots.

Mindbender / Mindbender Alliance skis

For winter 19/20, K2 has a new range of freeride skis, called Mindbender for men and Mindbender Alliance for women. These will replace the Pinnacle and Luvit ranges.

The Titanal Y Beam construction’s designed to provide drive into the turn, carrying power down through the waist of the ski. The Titanal layer then runs centrally in the tail. This reduces tail edge stiffness, making it easier to release/smear the end of the turn.

There are also models that use carbon instead of Titanal, and they call this Carbon Spectral Braid. K2 lays the carbon fibres in various orientations to give the specific flex and torsion characteristics they want at different points of the ski.

The Mindbender/Mindbender Alliance range of skis use Torsional Control Design – see the image below for these three bits of ski tech.

For the UK (and Europe), the Mindbender 90 Ti and 99 Ti could be the key widths for men, with Mindbender 88 Ti Alliance and 98 Ti Alliance being key widths for women.

The Mindbender 106 Ti and Mindbender 106 C Alliance skis could be popular in North America, where wider skis can be favoured.

The women’s range goes up to the Mindbenber 115 C Alliance, and the men’s stretches to the Mindbender 116 C, while 85 is the narrowest width for both women and men. All are cap-wall. This cap and sidewall construction is mostly sidewall and only a little cap, unlike some others.

Tested: Mindbender 99 Ti freeride ski

The Mindbender 99 Ti is aimed squarely at the European freeride market.

I tested the Mindbender 99 Ti in 177cm. It will retail for £575 without a binding. The tip floats up nicely in soft and variable off-piste conditions. It’s a really adaptable ski and easy to use in challenging conditions such as chopped up snow and crud. On firmer snow the ski delivers plenty of grip in bigger turns with nice power out of the tail for turn transition and pop off rollers. It’s a great freeride ski and feels light on your feet. The flex of the ski is beautifully smooth making it such fun.

Tested: Mindbender Alliance 88 Ti women’s all-mountain ski

The Mindbender Alliance 88 Ti works impeccably as an all-mountain ski, and was one of my stand-out skis for the SIGB ski test 2019 in Pila.

On my first run I thought ”what a superb ski’. The smooth flex really helps at low and high speeds. I tested the 163cm length and it was super easy to use in lower speed, short turns. Then when you crank up the speed they are amazing. Away from the groomed runs they’re playful and fun, and put a big grin on your face; they help you to ski those challenging conditions off piste.

I know there’s a few superlatives here but the Mindbender Alliance 88 Ti ski simply is that good. They are a little more expensive than some, at £535 without a binding, but they’re certainly worth it.

This ski would suit a broad range of abilities from an aspiring intermediate right up to expert level who wants a wider all-mountain ski that still cuts perfect ruts on piste.

K2 seems to have nailed it with their new Mindbender / Mindbender Alliance range of skis.

Anthem women’s skis

K2 is bringing out a new range of Anthem piste skis for women. These replace the Luv skis. Even though the name has changed, almost all of the skis keep the same construction and shape.

• Anthem 72 Ti HS (was Luv Machine 72 Ti)
• Anthem 74 HS (different sidecut to Luv Machine 74)
• Anthem 82 (was Tough Luv)
• Anthem 80 (was Endless Luv)
• Anthem 78 (was True Luv)
• Anthem 76 X (was Secret Luv)
• Anthem 76 (was Sweet Luv)
• Anthem 75 (was First Luv)

Tested: Anthem 74 women’s piste ski

The Anthem 74 has a broad, blunt nose and this profile, combined with a short and low rocker, makes the tip engage into the turn so easily. It’s a fun ski for short slalom type turns.

I skied the 167cm length, which was a bit longer than some other women’s pistes skis I tested, but did make for enhanced stability at speed. This stability meant that once I ramped things up the ski was incredible, offering top end performance. Even at this length it was still easy to ski at low speed.

The only real downside for the ski I tested was that it felt a little sluggish at moderate speeds. When skied slowly they are easy and blasting fast they are a tonne of fun, but a bit more work in the middle of the spectrum.

Mindbender / Mindbender Alliance ski boots

Another exciting development from K2 is the new Mindbender/Mindbender Alliance freeride touring, boots to replace the Pinnacle and Minaret boots.

The new Mindbender boots use K2’s lightweight Powerlite shell, that you see in the Recon and Anthem (Luv) boots, but adds in a ski/hike mode lever on the back. In tour (walk) mode this allows a 50° range of movement.

Tested: Mindbender 130 freeride touring ski boots

I tested a pair of Mindbender 130 boots, and was superb impressed with them.

There are a number of 130 flex freeride touring boots available that are quite a but softer than their quoted flex rating. The Mindbender 130 is not such a boot – the 130 flex is comparable with other 130 regular downhill boots I use.

They ski like regular downhill boot, with progressive flex that ramps up in stiffness as you flex the boot further. They have more rebound than you may expect from a free-tour style boot too; on par with many downhill boots.

With a Grip Walk sole and tech (pin) fittings, they’re a really versatile boot with more than enough skiing performance to let you ski hard on all mountain and piste planks as well as touring and freeride rigs.

Fit

The toe box is well shaped to avoid undue pressure, and the same is true over the instep. It’s worth pointing out though that if you have a high instep and can suffer in ski boots because of this then the Mindbenders may not work so well for you.

For my own boots I buy 98mm, low to mid volume boots and I loved the fit of the Mindbender 130 boots. The PrecisionFit Pro Tour liner’s really comfortable and has good heel hold.

Across the forefoot, they’re marginally wider than you may expect of a 98mm boot, but if you do any skinning or hiking then this can be very welcome. The toe box shape works really well and is anatomical so you don’t get toes being squished due to too much taper.

If you have a really high instep, then there are other boots that’ll suit you better. If you don’t fall into that category and want a narrow to medium fitting freeride touring boot, then these should definitely be on your short list.

The construction and liner of Mindbender 130 boots is the same as the 130 Ltd, 120, Alliance 110 and Alliance 110 Ltd boots, so the same comments, above, apply about fit.

They feel really light on your feet, which is no surprise as they have a stated weight of 1,675g in a 26.5MP.

Measured weight

I weighed a pair of 26.5MP Mindbender 130 Ltd and they came in slightly heavier, at 1,711g and 1,715g per boot, but this is not far off the claimed weights. This was without a footbed in the boots but they did have laces in, although you only save 3g per lace if you take them out.

Photos of the Mindbender 130 ski boots

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Construction

There’s a Pebax bio-resin cuff on 130 / 130 Ltd and 120 flex models as well as the Alliance 110 / 110 Ltd model. All three have a TPU (thermoplastic polyurethane) clog, and are 98mm last. The power strap uses a claw buckle, such as you see on race boots and many top end boots. This claw power strap has a neat and simple way to loosen them, with a loop of cord you pull to simultaneously open the claw buckle and pull the strap loose.

On the other flexes (100 flex for men and 90 flex for women) both the cuff and clog are TPU and they’re 100mm last. They also have a velcro power strap, rather than a claw strap.

Liner

The liner on the 110-130 flex Mindbender / Mindbender Alliance boots is K2’s PrecisionFit Pro Tour liner. On the softer 100 and Alliance 90 models they use their LuxFit Pro Tour liner. Both liners are made of Ultralon foam. They’re designed with a hinge in the back of the liners to improve movement and comfort when ski touring, without comprising downhill performance.

Forward lean adjustment

One of the most impressive features of the new boots is the massive range of forward lean adjustment – from 10° to 17°, which is a huge adjustment range.

It’s really easy to adjust this. If you unscrew the walk lever, you can flip the internal bracket 180°, and you can undo and flip the bottom pin that the walk lever locks into for skiing. These options permit 4 variations of forward lean. You also get a pair of spoilers for the back of the liners too, if you want to push things forward even further.

All Mindbender and Mindbender Alliance boots come with Grip Walk soles pre-installed, along with tech inserts for pin bindings.

Anthem ski boots

Keeping up the Anthem theme, the women’s Anthem boots replace the Luv boots. As with the skis, Anthem boots are essentially the same as the Luv boots.