The men’s Apache series is best known for the ubiquitous Recon. The Recon may be the best 50/50 ski ever. It’s equally at home on the groomed or off, carving or bumping, soft snow or hard. This year the Recon gets upgraded with the new “Jester” heel piece. This actually makes quite a noticeable difference in how the Recon feels. It’s livelier and noticeable quicker than last year. The Outlaw is a totally new ski this year. It is 92 mm wide under foot and a great ski for steep off piste thrills. K2 brings back the Xplorer name on a new all mountain ski with a 84mm waist. The Explorer skis like a wider Recon, and is very well named. It’s a great “quiver of one” for the adventurous skier. The rockered Pontoon is still the ultimate powder tool, and returns unchanged.

K2’s T Nine series has defined women’s specific ski for some time now. The super versatile and hugely popular Lotta Luv is too good to change, so it just gets a new cosmetic. It is still the mid fat by which all other are judged. The True Luv is still a forgiving versatile ski that has tons of performance at a great price.

Some of our favorite K2s are in the Factory Team series. All of these skis are twin tips with very stout construction. They have double thick bases and edges, and are riveted tip and tail to prevent delamination. Vertical sidewalls are used to enable serious repairs, like blown and crushed edges. The new Xtreme has the sweetest retro graphics ever. Anyone who watched Scot Schmidt, Glen Plake and Mike Hattrup ski in Blizzard of Aaaahs or License to Thrill will want a pair. The Xtreme is based on Public Enemy chassis to make a truly versatile ski that offers serious bang for the buck. The girls all mountain twin is the versatile Missdemeaner. It’s slightly narrower than the PE, but shares its value and all mountain aptitude. obSethed replaces Seth, and is wider with an improved “mini rocker” that is almost undetectable on hard snow, but quite noticeable in softer conditions. You can really feel the tips rise up in the powder. Missbehaved replaces last year’s Nancy, and brings “mini rocker” to ladies fat skis. MissB is a great ski for ripping steep, ungroomed lines and getting freshies.