POWDER Gear Guide: 2025/26 K2 Freeride Skis and Boots

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With summer season winding down and stoke rising, one other ski model launched their latest wares to the general public. At present, K2 Skis dropped their 2025/2026 hardgoods assortment, with a number of new skis and boots within the line, plus visible updates on some previous favorites. Seattle-based K2 Skis has lengthy been the flagbearer for American freeride snowboarding, serving to athletes push the boundaries of the game with revolutionary and infrequently unorthodox ski designs. It is the model that introduced us legendary designs just like the Pontoon and the Hell Bent, or the extra trendy Reckoner KF, to call just a few. This 12 months, the gathering was largely centered on a brand new line of athlete-developed freeride boots–the Cortex collection–which characteristic a brand new Zonal BOA closure system.We have completely beloved the Mindbender and Reckoner freeride and freestyle skis, so it is probably not a bummer that these have solely obtained beauty updates for the upcoming season. The brand new colours comply with the pattern of delicate topsheets blended with extraordinarily loud bases–Max Hitzig and Sam Kuch-approved.

Moreover, K2 launched a contemporary collection of on-piste carving skis, the all-new K2 Blur line, which deserve a better search for any skier searching for an especially high-performance journey on icy East Coast hardpack or for rallying groomers on a sunny morning out West.

The brand new Zonal BOA Cortex Boots have been designed expressly with freeride athletes in thoughts. Included within the line is a pro-level 140 flex unisex boot (that goes right down to a 22.5!) that includes a low-volume 96mm final and toe tech fittings to be used with a hybrid touring binding. That is the boot Max Hitzig notably took the 2024 Freeride World Tour Title sporting. The collection additionally features a 130, 120, and 110 flex males’s boot, and a 125, 105, and 95 flex ladies’s boot. The 110 and 95 characteristic buckles on the higher cuff, whereas the opposite boots all characteristic The Zonal BOA Match System.Zonal BOA is K2’s identify for the Twin-BOA closure system we have been seeing throughout just a few boot manufacturers this 12 months. The decrease a part of the boot is closed utilizing the identical BOA Match system we have all develop into conversant in, whereas the highest is closed utilizing a second BOA dial that pulls the cuff closed evenly throughout your shin. Personally, I have never been satisfied that the addition of a second BOA provides efficiency to the boot in comparison with commonplace buckles, however I did get out on the Cortex 140 for just a few laps final winter and may verify that the boot does certainly RIP. We even have a full evaluate of the ladies’s K2 Cortex 125 boot right here.

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