K2 introduced the Mindbender range to fanfare back in the 2019-2020 season. They cover everything from dull-looking piste-biased skis to the super-rockered bananas. This fat model is closer to the latter.
K2 wanted to bring a coherent story about their core philosophy - which can be summed up as 'fun' - to a whole range of all-mountain and freeride dimensions. One can see coherence in the intention but a little confusion in the resulting smorgasbord of skis with the same name...
But the Mindbender 108Ti is pure K2. This mid-fat banana is bursting with life and is super eager to take you for a ride. It's fun all over the mountain, surprisingly strong through crud for a ski with so much give in the flex, and way more agile than it has any right to be.
This model has a Y shaped titanal plate; in the front it forks along the edges toward the tip, which strengthens the edges and prevents dead spots in the middle (which you might get from a full Ti sheet). The bottom of the Y is a strip through the centre of the tail which softens the edges at the back and combined with a tapered shape tail means you can easily force the tail around in tricky snow.
The latter element is a double-edged sword (pun intended). While off piste you will love the ability to recover turns in crud and smear them out in powder, on hard pack the tail is far too inclined to slide out and takes some getting used to. However, the elimination of dead spots is truly evident in comparison to some other lifeless Ti skis. And dead spots would be anathema to any K2 ski.
While the lack of bite in the tail might put some off, this is clearly going to be many peoples' dream ride. For out-and-out whopping fun in almost all conditions, the Mindbender 108Ti is a winner.
Buy K2 Mindbender 108Ti Skis: £721.99 at Amazon (UK) <<Best Deal>>
Buy K2 Mindbender 108Ti Skis: From $799.95 at Amazon (US)
