SkiKitInfo.com brings you a full review of K2’s touring skis for men and women.
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K2 has two touring ranges; Wayback for men and Talkback for women. The K2 Wayback and Talkback touring skis are all woodcore skis, offering great skiing performance, in a really light construction.
The K2 touring ski line ranges from 106mm underfoot down to 80mm. The 106mm and 80mm models are only available in the men’s (unisex) Wayback offering, while the 96mm, 88mm and 84mm are available in Wayback and Talkback guises; same skis but different colours and length options.
Construction
If you want to skip the nitty-gritty of what’s inside the skis, then jump down to read about the specific models.
Woodcores
The 106mm to 84mm skis all have a lightweight paulownia woodcore. Paulownia is a really light wood, but still offers great skiing performance.
The Wayback 80 has a combination of balsa and paulownia woods, to further reduce weight. This is the narrowest ski in the line, and is more ascent focussed than the others.
Metal & carbon
You can see the broad carbon strips & part of the Ti Spyne
The 88, 96 and 106mm skis all have Carbon Overdrive and Ti Spyne.
The Ti Spyne is a Titanal metal plate under the binding, which greatly improves binding screw retention, as well as improving lateral drive through the centre of the ski.
Carbon Overdrive is where K2 use broad carbon strips laid flat, above the core, along the length of the ski. These significantly improve stability without adding much weight.
The Wayback 80 already had Carbon Overdrive and for this season they’ve added Ti Spyne.
The Wayback / Talkback 84 models don’t have carbon or metal in them, they’re a simpler paulownia wood and glass fibre construction. This keeps the price considerably lower on these models, although they’re slightly heavier than their pricier 88mm siblings.
Snow shedding topsheet
All of these skis have a ‘Snophobic’ top sheet, designed to stop snow sticking to the top of the ski. A great idea, as snow’s heavy and you want your skis to be light when skinning uphill.
This technology is OK, and a similar approach is used by many brands. It can really depend on the climatic conditions as to whether it works though, and once there are any scratches on the top of any ski then snow will stick to it.
Rocker
All of the K2 touring skis have tip and tail rocker, with camber underfoot. The rocker through the shovel is longer and more pronounced than in the tail, helping the skis to float up in soft snow and when breaking trail, laying a skin track.
The short shallow rocker through the tails helps you release the skis from your turn. It’s great that the splay’s not too big, otherwise standing your skis in the snow is more difficult. It’s important to be able to do this in certain touring situations, such as angling the bases towards the sun to warm them prior to attaching the skins.
Touring skins
Not sure about skins? Check out our Touring Skins 101 article to learn more.
All of these skis have a hole in the tip and tail, into which you hook the pre-cut K2 touring skins. The hole’s blanked with a little screw out/in plastic grommet when you’re not using skins.
You can easily screw out the grommets, but put them somewhere safe as they’re pretty easy to lose. We’ve never had one come out when skiing though, so they seem solid when in the holes.
The skin system from K2 for these skis has a metal Z hook at the front, with a similar Z hook at the tail connected to an adjustable tail strap (like most touring skins). The skins are made by the Swiss skin company, Pomoca. They’re a 70% mohair, 30% nylon mix and offer a great mix of swift glide speed, longevity and grip on steeper terrain.
We’ve been using these skins for a few seasons and they’ve held up really well. To use these on a variety of skis we’ve used Black Diamond tip/tail hardware, as we find that kit’s super durable and works an a wide range of ski tip/tail shapes. Black Diamond has a new version of this hardware, which is even lighter.
If you don’t use K2’s skins, the skis still have either a flat tail or a notch in the tail, so they can easily work with standard skin tail clips.
Ski specs
Like the sound of what’s inside K2’s touring skis? Read on to find out more about each model.
K2 Wayback 106
Lengths: 172, 179, 186cm
Sidecut: 136-106-124mm in all lengths
Radius: 22.0m in 186cm
Weight per ski: 1,552g in 186cm
Price: £565 / €649.95 / $699.95*
The fatty of the bunch, the Wayback 106 provides a wide platform in a light package, comparable in weight to the Atomic Backland 107 (1,550g in 182cm).
The Wayback 106 is aimed at powder hunters, who seek the magical white gold under their own steam. Even at 106, this is still a good all-round freeride-style touring option. If you are happy to go skinning for freshies, but want to rock it on your way down, the Wayback 106 is a good choice.
TESTED: K2 Wayback 96
Lengths: 170, 177, 184cm
Sidecut: 128-96-115mm in all lengths
Radius: 22.0m in 177cm
Weight per ski: 1,397g in 177cm
Price: £525 / €599.95 / $699.95*
This is the key width for the freetour segment, and we were fortunate enough to spend some time on the Wayback 96’s, to test them for you. Watch the video so see if these skis may be the ones for you.
The K2 Wayback 96 is a great touring ski, providing an excellent balance of lightness for an easy skin up, narrow enough width to provide high levels of grip when traversing yet wide enough to handle soft, deep powder and with enough power to put a massive grin on your face when skiing back down.
For us, this is the real sweet spot in the Wayback range, and never leaves you without a whopping grin right across your face.
K2 has partnered up with the artist and skier Geoff McFetridge to offer a rather striking graphic, with ‘Don’t follow me – I don’t know my Wayback’ on the base. You can also get a McFetridge Reckoneer 112 ski and Lockjaw pole.
K2 Wayback 88
Lengths: 160, 167, 174, 181cm
Sidecut: 121-88-109mm in all lengths
Radius: 20.m in 174cm
Weight per ski: 1,270g in 174cm
Price: £475 / €549.95 / $649.95*
For many, skis over 90mm are still more of a freeride ski, with sub-90mm skis more suited to the ascent, due to their reduced weight and improved grip when traversing a hill.
The Wayback 88 is not far under 90mm, and still offers decent flotation. The premium construction, low weight and great skiing performance provides a healthy mix of easy up and fun coming back down.
K2 Wayback 84
Lengths: 160, 167, 174cm
Sidecut: 118-84-106mm in all lengths
Radius: 20.m in 174cm
Weight per ski: 1,287g in 174cm
Price: £350 / €399.95 / $599.95*
If you’re new to touring or want to get a quality touring ski but with a lower cost, the Wayback 84 is a solid selection. It may not have the drive and power of it’s more expensive siblings, but offers excellent value if you want to go and enjoy some fresh turns using your own steam to get uphill.
K2 Wayback 80
Lengths: 163, 170, 177cm
Sidecut: 113-80-100mm in all lengths
Radius: 18.0m in 163cm
Weight per ski: 968g in 163cm
Price: £565 / €649.95 / $899.95*
K2’s beefed up the Wayback 80 for this season, with the addition of a Titanal plate under the binding mount area. The Ti Spyne means this ski has even more grip when traversing on that refrozen spring snow on your early morning ascent. It also boosts the performance when lapping back down to charge up once more. At under 1kg per ski, this is a light ski; ascents are a cinch. Unlike many super-light touring skis, this still has a relatively wide footprint, and skis a lot, lot better than many of it’s peers.
Last season this ski had a skin tip notch in the shovel. This has been replaced with the removeable tip grommet, like the rest of K2’s touring range.
K2 Talkback 96
Apart from a different graphic and some shorter length options, this is the Wayback 96 ski. See our review, above, to see what we thought of this ski.
This is an awesome ski for upper intermediate to expert level female skiers, looking for a real skiers touring ski. Don’t take this the wrong way, it tours superbly well, but it’s how it skis that’ll really please you.
Lengths: 156, 163, 170cm
Sidecut: 128-96-115mm in all lengths
Radius: 18.0m in 163cm
Weight per ski: 1,254g in 163cm
Price: £525 / €599.95 / $699.95*
K2 Talkback 88
This may be the Wayback 88 with some shorter lengths, but we think the graphic is great and better than the Wayback.
This width is pretty ideal for female freetour skiers. 96mm can be more than lighter female skiers need, so an 88mm ski is bang-on. It still rips like many freeride skis, but is really light. Less weight = less fatigue (on the up and down) meaning you can get in more runs in a day; who wouldn’t want that?
Lengths: 153, 160, 167cm
Sidecut: 121-88-109mm in all lengths
Radius: 16.0m in 160cm
Weight per ski: 1,154g in 160cm
Price: £475 / €549.95 / $699.95*
K2 Talkback 84
Lengths: 153, 160, 167cm
Sidecut: 118-84-106mm in all lengths
Radius: 16.0m in 160cm
Weight per ski: 1,167g in 160cm
Price: £350 / €399.95 / $599.95*
The budget focussed Talkback model, the 84 still gives you a woodcore ski. You get a surprising level of performance for how little this ski costs. It doesn’t have the top end of the other models, as you’re missing the carbon and metal, but for intermediate or lighter advanced level skiers it’s a cracking choice
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Quoted Prices
*Prices quoted here can be a mixture of recommended retail price from the brand and prices that you can currently get the skis for from retailers in that territory. The prices may therefore be less or more than you can find in-store / online and are only intended to give you a guide as to what you may expect to pay for the skis.
Always ensure you do adequate research when buying ski equipment to ensure you’re getting the best service and advice from the retailer, combined with a price that works for your budget. Don’t always assume that cheaper means better value.
4 Comments
Jon Shanklin · 3rd November 2021 at 6:42 pm
Great full detail review!
How does the 96/88 ski lengthwise? Looking for a pure skimo option to speed up climbs in the PNW (done the WA big 5 volcanos on foot). Considering the 177cm length for weight and maneuverability, but is that too little at 190cm and 190lbs?
Al Morgan · 3rd November 2021 at 8:19 pm
Hi Jon,
Thanks for the question & hope you found the article & the video useful.
Do the skis ski short – not really. The taper’s pretty minimal and the rocker is not that long or pronounced, so you don’t need to size up (in our experience anyway).
Which length to chose? A great question, and you’re a very similar weight to me, although you’re taller, so it’s pretty easy to give direct feedback on this. One of the main criteria to look at is skier weight as this impacts float/grip. Height is a lever force, but weight and aggression tend to impact required ski length more directly.
For the Wayback 96 the 177cm version is a great length, and offers a sweet-spot mix of low weight, easy skinning, support through the tail (important when you’ve got a pack on) and stability when skiing. If you want to ski at speed and want the added float for those deep PNW snow bases then you could readily step up to the 184cm. There’s also personal preference in this – if you like longer skis and are happy to haul a little more weight up-hill, then the 184cm would be the choice. As a general rule of thumb, if you’re stuck between two lengths to chose from, and they’re only 5-8cm apart then there’s not a whole deal in it; chose longer for more float, stability and grip, but go the shorter length for ease of use and handling and a reduced weight.
You also need to factor in how you ski and how much pressure you’re putting through the skis (aggressive skiers often prefer longer skis).
Having said all of that – if this is about true ski-mo style skinning (lets get sweaty and up there as quick as we can) then you’d go for the 88 over the 96. For your weight I’d go 181cm straight away on that ski. The 174cm is still a great ski, and if you were just about the up then you may well chose that length. If it’s about the skiing too, and you’re fit and powerful then defo the 181cm.
Hope this helps and that you have a superb time skiing this winter. If you’ve already subscribed to the YouTube channel (hhttps://www.youtube.com/c/skikitinfo), thank you so much as that massively helps us to be able to put together these reviews for you.
Happy skiing, Al from SkiKitInfo.
Slim · 3rd December 2021 at 2:53 am
Note that K2 measures straight pull tip to tail, sometimes even a bit over. In other words, they measure about 3 cm longer than most other brands at the same listed length.
Al Morgan · 7th December 2021 at 9:38 am
Hi Slim. Thanks for the comment.
You raise a really valid point: not all skis measure the same. The stated length only gives you a guide. There is also not really a hard and fast rule.
For example, Rossignol, with their S series skis, had a men’s and women’s Soul 7 (Soul for men and Savory for women). The lengths were stated as different but they were exactly the same skis (length-wise) in the same lengths out of the same mould eg. the 178cm Savory 7 was the same length as the 180cm Soul 7. (So that’s about marketing really, and market-alignment. They’re by no means the only people to have done this).
Construction, flex, taper, rocker, camber etc all play a part, and can often be more important than if one ski is 3cm longer than another or not.
In general terms, K2 skis can be longer than some other brands quoted at the same length. ie. you may get a ski from Head, say, quoted at 179cm and from K2 quoted at 179cm, but the K2 ski may be a little longer when held one against the other.
There are also tolerances that each brand (or factory – bear in mind not all skis from one brand come out of the ski factory) works with.
We have a number of Head skis in the office at the moment, which we’re testing. The eSupershape Rally measures around 168cm straight pull, and 170cm if you measure tip to tail following the base; it’s stated as a 170cm ski. The Kore 87 measures 176cm straight pull, and 178cm if measured following the base; it’s stated as a 177cm ski. Same brand but different lengths compared to quoted length.
It’s worth taking most ski stats as a ‘guide’ rather than hard and fast absolutes.
Hope this helps and happy skiing. It’s great to see so much snow around in the mountains.
Al from SkiKitInfo.