K2 Recon Review

The K2 Recon is marketed as an all-mountain ski with the ability to lay trench on piste and blow through crud like whipped cream.  It is agressively designed with a fairly narrow wasted much like a GS race ski and has a significant torsional and flex stiffness to it.

We can tell you from my experience that this is a serious ski for serious skiers.  It gives back every inch of energy that you put into it and then some.  On groomed runs, it is lightening fast with razor precision edge control.  It seems to go faster with every turn made and even gets a little scarry on long runs.  We found it to be a little less of a off-piste ski than anticipated as the stiff ski is very unforgiving and makes you work to stay on top of them.  It deffinetely will blow through the crud, but be prepared for a heck of a ride.

All-in-all a great ski, but it makes you work pretty hard and is not for the lazy skier.

Shop for new and used K2 Recon skis at the Alpine Ski Gear Store.

All-Mountain Skiing

The term all-mountain has only been around for about 10 years or so.  Prior to that we typically referred to this as free skiing or off piste skiing.  The distinction was there primarily because of the limitations that traditional ‘skinny’ skis had.  There were very few skis that could perform well on all surfaces at the time.  However, with the advent of truly versatile skis that perform equally as well in both groomed and non-groomed surfaces, the all-mountain category had to be born.  There is still some ambiguity in what that might mean.  For example, some people feel that skiing groomed runs and firm-pack non-groomed snow equates to all-mountain skiing while others argue that all-mountain means all conditions.  Our opinion is that it is really somewhere in between and as much as it would nice….there really is no ski that can handle all conditions.  Most ski manufacturers are making skis that will charm most terrain and most conditions for the average user.  These are the all-mountain skis.

All-mountain skis must perform well on firm frozen snow, soft broken snow, shallow powder, crud, and a variety of spring conditions as well.  They should have the flexibilty to allow the skier to enjoy a cruiser run on groomed surfaces one run, then carve up an ungroomed steep face the next.  Ski width plays a big role in this now days.  The all-mountain ski will fall in the middle of this spectrum.  It should not be too wide like a true powder ski, nor too narrow like a striktly carving ski.  The same is going to be true of the stiffness and torsion of the ski.  These really are the middle of the road skis in most all ski charateristics.