Why We Chose The K2 Mindbender 88 Ti Alliance: Rad topsheets, stiff, all mountain performer
Lengths (cm): 149, 156, 163, 170
Sidecut (mm): 125-88-112
Radius: 14.7m (at 1.63cm)
Rocker Profile: All-terrain rocker
Price: £525
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The top-sheet is hardly the most important part of a ski, but it’s a perfect tone setter for the K2 Mindbender 88 Ti and the five other skis comprising K2’s Mindbender Alliance collection. The mixture of industrial and psychedelic graphics indicate a clear departure from the pink and shrink approach to women’s skis.
“The mixture of industrial and psychedelic graphics indicate a clear departure from the pink and shrink approach”
Designed in conjunction with K2’s Women’s Alliance, featuring the likes of freeride pioneers Amie Engerbretson and Lexi Dupont, K2’s Mindbender Alliance range offers no-compromise women’s-specific performance. The Mindbender 88 Ti Alliance is K2 Alliance’s answer to a high charging all-mountain ski.
K2 Mindbender 88 Ti Alliance Build
K2’s Ti Y-Beam technology strikes me as particularly impressive. Titanal is strategically placed to enable maximum precision from riders. The bulk is located directly underfoot, where skier’s can most accurately manipulate the ski.
Titanal beams line the ski’s edges towards the nose to enhance grip and precision, and reduced amounts in the tail softens the tail flex and edge grip so you can swerve and smear in softer snow or on playful days. There’s a lot of metal in this ski, but by using lightweight aspen veneer wood for the core the Mindbender 88 Ti succeeds in toeing the line between mighty and monstrous.
“The Mindbender 88 Ti succeeds in toeing the line between mighty and monstrous”
Thanks to the pretty narrow (for a freeride-oriented ski) 88mm waist, you can swiftly rail from edge to edge and initiate turns with ease. K2 enhance the 88 Ti’s responsiveness by fitting the ski with hyper-large and long ABS sidewalls to enable more direct edge to edge power transfer, which maximises rider input, and results in a reactive ski.
