INNOVATION
IT BEGINS WITH AN IDEA – a notion.
We decide what feeling we’re looking for in a given pair of skis or collection – And then we chase it. With the award-winning MINDBENDER Collection, we took painstaking steps to ensure the skis on your feet are the definitive freeride skis. We wanted skis with a strong pull that could still drift. Skis that rewarded aggressive skiing but didn’t punish you.
IT BEGINS IN THE ARC – The Advanced Resource Collective.
Our state of the art development and prototyping facility. From the ideation stage to final production, everything centers around the ARC and the people that design our product. We then roll up our crew, a combination of design wizards and hardcore skiers alike, and test it on the hill. We drive feedback.
With the MINDBENDER Collection, we came up with a fleet of skis –13 in total – each purpose-built and designed just for you. From skiers’ minds to the feet of skiers the world over, these freaks mean business.
It all starts at the ARC, the Advance Resource Collective. Our innovation and design center in Seattle is the birthplace of all K2 products. It’s here where we design, prototype, and create the skis that ultimately land on your feet, primed and ready to rip. Design engineers pour over design elements, from technology features, shaping elements, to topsheet materials. Steering the ship are people like Jed Yeiser, a skier, tinkerer, and mad scientist rolled up into one.
The Design Story
When it came time to build the all-new Mindbender collection, we reimagined our design philosophy. It’s called Torsion Control Design. By tuning the torsional stiffness without affecting a consistent longitudinal flex, we can create skis that pull at the top end of the turn but still drift and break free on the back end of the turn.
Prototyping
With countless hours in our development center, we came up with two tech solutions, Titanal Y-Beam, and Spectral Braid. These two laminate layers dramatically affect the skis torsion to create the intended ski experience without affecting the overall flex.
THE TESTING CREW
Engineering, math, theory and ethos…they’re all well and good. But, at the end of the day, the skis need to freaking rip. So we pull together a crew of rippers – athletes, engineers, and product owners – to make sure that these freaks mean business.
We need skiers with a finely-tuned mind for innovation, an intuitive feel for performance, and above all… these folks gotta rip with the best of them. And most of them, well, they bank their livelihood designing and building the skis you have on your feet today.
TESTING
We’ve done the math, assembled our crew, and finally had to put the new Mindbender’s to the test. And we set out to test them in the exact mountains we wanted to see them run. We’ve gone out and skied high-speed lines at Snowbird and Crystal Mountain. We’ve skied technical lines at Squaw, and rallied deep, untouched pow in British Columbia’s Northern Rockies. We’ve pushed through the Austrian Alps, and tackled the club fields in New Zealand...
…and man, do they work. Whether your skiing waist deep pow on the 116c, plastering GS turns through crud on the 108ti, or expecting the unexpected on the 98ti Alliance, the Mindbenders are the freaks you’ve been waiting for. But that’s just the beginning. Across the entire collection, we’ve created the ultimate spattering of freeride skis. Each one is meant to tackle specific conditions. So go ahead, snag a pair for yourself. The Mindbender collection. BUILT TO BLAST.
THE END RESULT
The all-new Mindbender Collection. With 13 skis, each one tailored to specific terrain and locations, there’s bound to be one that speaks to you above the rest.
MEN'S MINDBENDER COLLECTION
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