Because I write a lot on ski travel, I go around the world in search of snow, and I rarely carry skis with me. Bringing my boots and renting current season demo skis wherever I go gives me an opportunity to constantly try out new models from different manufacturers, and last season I was wowed by gear from some smaller and less well-known manufacturers, including Armada, Bomber, Rocky Mountain Underground and Wagner.
But as fun as it is to try shiny new things all the time, the sticks I actually own at home are from one of the best-known industry leaders, K2 Skis, and I’ve been partial to their product ever since I co-set the Guinness World Record for “Most Different Trails Skied in Their Entirety in 8 Hours” on a pair of K2 AMP Rictor all-mountain skis (you can read more about this silly escapade here).
So this past January, when I recently headed to world’s top fantasy powder skiing destination, Japan, for two weeks, I decided to switch up my usual strategy and bring skis. At some of the smaller Japanese resorts renting quality gear is an iffy proposition, and many Japanese skiers actually forego the super abundant bottomless powder for groomers and ski on surprisingly skinny models. You can read more about why skiing in Japan is so great and how it is fast becoming the hottest destination in the world in this How to Ski Japan guide I did for Town & Country magazine.
Japan gets more powder than any ski destination in the world, and is the closest thing to lift served heli-skiing, and I didn’t want to miss a thing, so I decided to bring a big fat pair of powder boards. I arranged a loaner with K2 for their well-regarded Pettitors, but at the last minute they surprised me and switched things up, as the first batch of brand new and not yet for sale 2017-18 models had just arrived from the factory. Long story short, I was among the first testers in the country to get my hands on the brand-new K2 Catamarans, and I spent nearly two weeks skiing them in glorious deep dry powder across the best of the Nagano and Hokkaido resorts. In short, they were the best powder ski I have ever tried. To be fair, I live in the East, where real powder days are virtually unknown, and most of the deep stuff I have managed to hit over the years has been by sno-cat or helicopter or that rare and perfectly timed resort storm day out West, but in Japan it’s like that most of the time.
The Catamarans ($900) let me float dreamily though unbroken powder on less steep terrain, and charge hard on more angled slopes. They were great in boot deep powder, thigh deep powder, trees, and just starting to get bumped up powder. Even when I let it all hang out, it was almost impossible to get too far in the backseat, my typical powder skiing error - it was like having an autopilot under my feet. I can’t really imagine having any more fun skiing the deep dry stuff, but what surprised me was how well these big skis - 120mm big - handled groomers and bumps and got up on edge for carved turns on packed snow. Even towards the end of my trip when it finally stopped snowing and I knew we’d ski more groomed terrain I did not even consider switching back to my mid-fat models. Since I’ve returned I’ve had a chance to see a few preliminary reviews generated from the past Ski Industry of America (SIA) winter trade show, and this seems to be the consensus - an excellent powder ski that surprises testers with how well it also does everything else. The top online gear reviewers like Blister Gear Reviews and its peers are all using words like “playful” and “intuitive” and based on my experience, those are spot on adjectives. K2 itself calls them “Freeride Powder Slayers.”
The all new Catamarans are one of three new models in K2’s Factory Team Collection, designed by incorporating feedback and input from the company’s sponsored athletes and ambassadors. It is a twin tip powder ski with mild powder rocker and an asymetrcial design, similar to but wider than the popular Marksman (though it is actually replacing the current Pettitor model), featuring a longer effective inside edge for increased stability and better floatation, and a shorter effective outside edge for increased maneuverability. That’s the science, and K2 described them as “super playful in all conditions,” and that was certainly my experience. They also claim that the Fir-Aspen wood core with carbon braid increases durability, reduces weight, and adds “pop and energy.” In any case, if I was in the market for powder skis, I would jump on this next generation offering. I cannot wait for conditions worthy of using them again.
Pray for snow!
