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December 15, 2008
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The One Luv and Schi Devil (Courtesy of K2)
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Why do some women trash women's specific skis as being too soft?
— The Editors
Santa Fe, New Mexico
 When women-specific skis first came out, they suffered from the “shrink and pink” phenomenon, i.e. take a men’s product, make it smaller, put pretty flowers on it, and call it a girl’s product. That philosophy hurt the women-specific ski industry more than it helped it.
At K2, the mostly male design team wised up and implemented a women’s team consisting of pro and elite female skiers responsible for conceptualizing and testing skis from start to finish. The end result is a lineup of women’s skis that are generally softer than men’s, but not by the formerly standard 15 percent ratio, which many women skiers found way too soft. K2 also added a women’s specific monic (a solid zinc mass embedded in the secondary core so it focuses mass dampening at a targeted location), core layup, profile design, and shape..
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Do you have a question of your
own?
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See for yourself whether K2 has dialed in the magic women’s- specific formula, with their One Luv ($1,000 with Marker M1 11.0
Ti bindings), an all-mountain ski with a 74 mm waist, that is nimble and forgiving enough to ski bumps and trees and everything in between.
Having switched over to telemarking about six years ago, I prefer K2’s Schi Devil ($525). With its deep sidecut and two sheets of metal that provide super edge on hardpack, the Schi Devil can cut through crude and float in snow. Plus, the fiery graphics are a lot more inspiring than anything pink or floral.
Stephanie Pearson: The Gear Girl
When it comes to gear, contributing editor Stephanie Pearson lives by one rule: What you own, owns you. That's why the skier, hiker, biker, runner, canoe paddler, and sometimes yogini is on an eternal quest to find gear and clothing that will enhance her life rather than make her a slave to dysfunctional stuff. During her seven-year stint as a travel editor at Outside, Pearson received three honorable mentions in The Best American Travel Writing series for stories on Guatemala, New Zealand, and Bhutan. Now that she's no longer in the office at Outside HQ in Santa Fe, Pearson hopes to be on the road more and is always in search of functional and aesthetically pleasing gear that's easy to use or clothing that's elegant to wear. Pearson is based in northern Minnesota and Santa Fe. Her latest adventure was on the fringe of the Amazon Basin in Brazil.
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