As a further contribution to the weight saving, K2 uses carbon inserts, which also gives the ski a lot of pop. The ski should probably retain this pop for a little longer, as in my experience skis containing carbon are pretty good in this respect. For example, once you have launched yourself into the air with the ski's pop, it feels very comfortable on your feet thanks to its not too heavy weight and central flywheel mass. You don't have to worry about landing - the aforementioned, slightly thinner tips and tails still allow for safe powder landings and you also benefit from the firmer flex in the middle of the ski when it comes to moving on. The risk of doing a wheelie is no longer as high.
I skied the Catamaran both on -3.5 with the test binding and on -1.5 with K2 team rider Lucas Mangold's own ski with Kingpin and liked both. Personally, I wouldn't mount the binding much further back. The ski has also been developed with a central stance in mind, not only for performance in the air and when switch skiing/landing, but also for normal forward skiing.
Finally, I would like to mention the asymmetry that characterizes the sidecut and early taper of the ski. For me, the points already mentioned regarding the further development of the K2 freestyle powder ski are more decisive than the asymmetry. If you like, the inside edges have a sidecut very similar to the Shreditor with a longer effective edge length and slightly larger radius, while the outside edges are more reminiscent of the Pinnacle/Annex series and have a shorter effective edge length, slightly smaller radius and more early taper. This is intended to make it a little easier or compensate for the edging of the inner ski, which is physiologically somewhat more difficult on skis with a large center width. The inner ski turns more easily and requires less effort to ski the same radius as the outer ski. It may be that this benefits the ski, as it carves really well on the piste and is very maneuverable, easy to turn and agile in deeper snow, when the shovels and thus the early taper actually come into play. If you swap the left and right skis, you can still ski normally, but the radius seems a little strange when carving. But in soft snow, the Catamaran is still maneuverable and easy to ski upside down. I would consider the asymmetry more of a "nice to have" feature than something that clearly sets the ski apart from other skis in this category. In terms of marketing, perhaps comparable to the HorizonTech ship's bow of the Atomic Bentchetler.
Leaving these special features aside, the Catamaran rides very similarly to the latter or even a DOWN Throwdown 125. I can't think of anything that you could do with one ski and not the other and vice versa.
Conclusion
I really like the Catamaran. It is very agile, can be moved excellently in hard and soft snow, has very good all-round characteristics and I always had the feeling that I had just the right ski with me. Of course, due to its construction, it is not an extremely smooth-running, cushioned ski for the coarsest snow, but even at high speeds in rough terrain you still feel safe on it. The relatively light weight for a powder ski of these dimensions is pleasant in the air and a good basis for mounting a touring binding. Nevertheless, the ski has enough mass to not negatively influence the skiing fun, as can be the case with (too) light skis. The durability is very good so far, apart from a small chip on the topsheet, the ski still looks almost as good as new. The asymmetry is interesting and nice to have, but would not be a compelling reason to buy for me. The predominantly very good performance of the ski in all conceivable conditions would be more of an argument!
Advantages & disadvantages:
+ Ease of turning
+ Very easy to carve for a ski of this width
+ "Pop"
+ Durability
+ Weight (for a ski of this type)
- The possibility of using a damaged edge as an outside edge is limited
- Expensive despite being made in China
Details:
Length(cm): 191 (Available lengths: 177, 184, 191)
Sidecut:136/120/131, Asymmetrical Tip & Tail
Radius: 23m
Weight per pair: 5170g
Camber: Camber + Powder Rocker
Construction: Woodcore (Double Barrel Fir-Aspen Core)
RRP: €699.95
Here is the link to the K2 website with more information, here you can buy the K2 Catamaran from our partner store bergzeit.de.
This product was provided to PowderGuide.com by the manufacturer for testing. You can find out how we tested it in our test statement.
