These questions are about how Dark Matter went from idea to production ski. The timeline, the test rigs, the failures, the late-night problem-solving — all the stuff that doesn't make it onto a spec sheet.
The "first of its kind" claim. What specifically is patent-pending — the targeted mass-placement concept, the TPU-plus-powdered-stainless-steel puck formulation, or the manufacturing method that lets us place mass inside the core AND over the edges? Has anyone else (Völkl, Salomon, Atomic, Head, Rossi) done anything in this lane we should consciously differentiate from?
Drew: The idea of changing mass to parts of the ski is not new, and I think that is an important acknowledgement. Rossignol has done it with air tip, Volkl kinda did it with UVO (it wasn’t marketed this way though), Atomic does it on their race skis with those metallic pads, K2 has done it with Y- Beam. Etc. The piece that is ‘new’ is the commitment to the idea. We have added a lot more mass, in a lot more localized a region than in the aforementioned implementations. What is first of it’s kind, is the feeling. The skis truly do give the metal ski confidence/stability WHILE RETAINING the energy and liveliness that makes a ski feel nimble/quick. To say it straight up: usually you give up confidence and stability to gain a nimble and quick feel, these skis are the first I’ve skied to have both
How did the team decide WHERE the Enhanced Stability Points go on a given length and model? Modal analysis? Locating vibration nodes? FEA simulation? Accelerometer-instrumented prototypes? On-snow rider feedback? Walk us through the method.
Drew: This was a super iterative process, and one that Reed deserves to be heard on as he was instrumental in how we are locating masses.
The nexus of Mass Inserts was creating minimum viable products and in on-snow rider feedback. We were trying some pretty wonky shit in the beginning. From 150g of weight basically on the tips and tails to 300g of weight lined up as a bar halfway between the tip and the toepiece (Sean’s idea and fondly named brass knuckle tech). Brass knuckle tech came from the fact that we were using dense/easy to machine brass metal chunks and screwing them to the skis with binding screws. It was happening so fast that at one point I remember someone asking, “Should we be wearing mouthguards in case these thinks fly off?” luckily, binding screws work quite well.
After one day of testing, Reed took the skis to his lab and was able to independently predict the winner with his benchtop ski vibrating setup. At this point we started using his data, specifically using nodal analysis/a vibrating test ski to predict/find node locations on the ski before sending the skis out on snow. On snow testing became an exercise in verifying Reed’s findings. Which was super cool, the alignment in theory and our real world testing reinforced the idea that we actually had something.
Photo by: Henri Hallé
Why TPU + powdered stainless steel? Why this material pairing specifically? What got rejected — tungsten, lead-free shot, brass, an elastomer composite? What was the failure mode of the alternatives we tried?
Answer: The material was selected based on its durability and quality first and foremost. Whatever we did with darkmatter NEEDED to be bomber. TPU bonds incredibly well to resin, and stainless steel will not rust. The second criteria, ski performance. TPU is flexible, so it will be minimally impactful in the ski flex. The stainless steel powder makes the TPU heavy enough AND flex evenly. Quick note on TPU/SS, it’s not a new tech. This has been used in golf/medical devices for awhile.
Is Dark Matter purely additive to the Titanal I-Beam construction, or did the I-Beam geometry change BECAUSE of Dark Matter — e.g., could the titanal strips be narrowed precisely because the pucks pick up the damping load?
Answer: The Dark matter is an additive to a titanal reinforcement that is intentionally minimal. LESS titanal is used in the new mindbenders than in the mindbender Ti skis of old because Dark Matter provides the damping and directional stability better than the titanal did previously.
Photo by: Henri Hallé
Was that core species chosen for Dark Matter or inherited from prior Mindbender? Does the puck cavity get milled into the wood before layup or after? Any new tooling required?
Drew: The Aspen Paulownia core was selected to balance lightness with on snow feel/performance. The cavity is milled into the core, the dark matter is laid onto the core and under the fiberglass in the layup. All new tooling is required for this.
When did the concept first get whiteboarded? First physical prototype? First on-snow test? How many major revisions to land at the F26 production version?
Answer: The first on snow evaluation of the mass puck concept happened 3/17/24. It was purely a concept test where we took pretty big swings on mass quantity and location, but the results were insane. Modifying cores to change the mass distribution of skis has been kicked around for awhile by ski dev. Jed was working on pocketing cores and using high density materials to fill these core pockets in piste skis. This attempt failed as the implementation of effected torsional stiffness in a way that took away from performance.
Photo by: Henri Hallé
Where were these tested? Alpental? Stevens? Mt. Bachelor? Penzberg? An indoor rig? Spring laps at Whistler?
Answer: the skis were tested all over.
- Alpental, in March 2024
- Mt Hood, June 2024
- Stelvio Pass, IT July 2024
- Mt. Hutt/Olympus/Porters, NZ in August 2024
- Zugspitze/Solden/Hintertux, Germany October 2024
- Revelstoke, BC December 2024
- Nelson, BC March 2025
- Crystal, WA April 2025
Was there a Dark Matter prototype that was a flop? Pucks too heavy that killed the swing? Placements that didn't move the needle? A prototype that snapped on the test bench?
Answer: I think a lot of the protos were flops, that was kinda the point. As a team, we did a good job being imaginative about the technology and I think this is something we owe thanks to K2’s heritage on. K2 has always been recklessly optimistic about ski technology. K2’s optimism and imagination brought parabolic sidecut and rocker to mass market skis and that past success gave us the confidence to pursue something so new. In short, we took the approach that if stuff wasn’t failing we weren’t being creative enough. This approach meant that almost all the prototypes were fucked up in one way or another. Most were too heavy, many had weight in the wrong locations, a few were insanely imbalanced, just to specifically call out a few failed ideas.
Luckily, none broke. Which honestly is a testament to our prototyping quality, these skis were swiss cheesed. We drilled binding screw holes all over in the original prototypes and when you think about what is going on there, its terrifying. Especially when you layer athletes and coworkers testing the product...
Photo by: Henri Hallé
On the same chassis, what changes that a skier would actually feel? Damp through chatter at speed? Quieter on hardpack? Better edge hold in crud? Give us the line a tester used after the first run.
Answer: The skis with dark matter feel very connected to the snow. Less chatter, less deflection, more stability, more confidence and larger speed range. Typically damp, confident skis require a certain speed or effort and feel sluggish or dead outside that speed range. Dark matter is special in that this dampness and confidence is felt but isn’t overpowering through all speed ranges. The skis are rewarding to slide around at slow speeds and also extremely fun to go fast on.
Who is the engineer (or small team) whose fingerprints are most on Dark Matter?
Answer: The Team is the whole engineering team, Reed from the test lab and Porter.
Photo by: Henri Hallé