2023 K2 Mindbender 99 Ti

[SkiTalk Test Team]

Philpug:
Size tested: 178
Location tested: Loveland Co
Conditions tested in: Old packed powder

As a huge fan of the original Mindbender, I was really excited to get on the new incarnation and to see where K2 improved what I felt was one of the class leaders in the segment,. The changes with the Mindbender 2.0 are both more and less. The new Mindbender’s more is that there is more power and a more solid feel on hard and mixed snow. The less of the new Mindbender is the turn in of the tip. Where the old Mindbender would turn with just a thought, the new one requires a more deliberate move and stronger initiation from the driver. These actions create a distinct level of control and a more planted feel on the snow due to the loss of nervousness that the outgoing model occasionally displayed.

• Insider tip: Check your sizing; it is different now.
• One thing I would change: I’d go back to the original shape with the new construction.

Ron:
Size tested: 178
Location tested: Loveland, CO
Conditions tested in: Soft groomers, 6-8” powder

The new K2 Mindbender 99Ti sports a new, more directional shape for 2023 with new Y-Beam construction. The Mindbender has a softish tip but is stout underfoot and just a little softer in the tail. I skied this in untracked 4” and it was a lot of fun. It was playful and easy in the powder. The Mindbender skied very smoothly and predictably. On the soft groomers it was intuitive, engaging smoothly and finishing turns well. Nice ski!

• Insider tip: The Mindbender comes in a 178 and 184 so heavier or taller skiers should try both lengths.
• One thing I would change: Graphics may be a bit bland for some.

 

[Hankj]

Ski: 2023 K2 Mindbender 99ti, 184cm

Skier: Male, 6'3" 195lbs, Strong Intermediate

Days: 5

After five days out in a variety of conditions I feel like I can fairly review my Mindbender 99ti's.

TLDR: very happy median between a Mantra and an Enforcer

Bottom lines at the top: Huge sweet spot. Excellent edge bite and hold. Powerful enough, damp enough, stable enough, easy enough to turn. Overall character consistent across boot center placements and tip and tail detuning, but also responsive to boot placement and tip and tail tune. Ski fine in pow for width, ski very well on groomed for width. Could one ski quiver out West.

I'm going to say straight out that I'm very, very happy with these skis. Their stand out characteristics in my mind:

Excellent Edge Hold. They are on the grippier side of the spectrum in all conditions I skied (which was widely varied).

Big Sweet Spot. You can ski these skis pressuring forward, neutral or backseat and they are still fun and still turn. It's very hard to pressure them in a way that makes the tails hook or causes you to miss a turn and blow up. This suits me really well as I don't really have a dominant technique. I can dork around and play and shape shift on these skis without exposing my untrained technique. And the ski doesn't sacrifice stability to do that. To me that's a lot of fun.

It would be a mistake though to understand these skis as more stable and powerful skis that a finesse skier might be happy stepping up to. Instead think of them as a skis to which a power skier who can't handle (or can handle, but doesn't want to work quite so much) a Mantra 102 or Bonifide could step down. I love to push power into a ski, to slash and rip and grunt. I'd generally rather continue to push harder and tighter into a fast turn to feel torque than preserve overall speed. That's how I surf and snowboarded too. But also like my surfing and snowboarding, I'm not good enough to control that sort of power-pigging on the most demanding equipment. The '23 Mindbender can gracefully handle all of the energy that I want to stomp into it, but is also quite a forgiving ski compared to others that will also hold up to the same treatment.

I've skied this ski in a couple of boot positions and levels of detune.

First was a demo day that had me about +2 in front of recommended with completely un-detuned tips and tails. In this configuration the skis felt the most damp and easy to high speed smash over chop. The tails felt a hair long, and they occasionally didn't release as desired. But significantly damper and more stable than later set ups. I went over 50mph on these skis, and I wasn't really trying to go fast. And they carved really hard on groomers. In pow you needed to pay attention. I think this character was partially due to a bunch of things: longer sharpened effective edge, shorter noses flexing less, demo binding plates stiffening the middles a little, maybe a bit of manufacturer variance. These skis I felt like I want to try again after they'd made a couple thousand more turns and broke in just a little more.

Next I bought and mounted on the line, and did a considerable detune. Not as super damp, and I felt a little behind the skis. Sweet spot not quite as huge. But significantly easier to turn in all places on the mountain. Still great edge hold, still a very chargey performance, and sleep walk through powder no problem. Easy to get sideways, and fun to ski sideways to sideways to sideways. Not as roll-y edge to edge.

Honed out some of the detune, so longer sharp edges nose and tail, but still some detune. The skis settled between the two above set ups without losing ease of turning.

I think I'll remount toe pieces +1.5 soon and see how moving a little more centered on non-demo bindings feels, but I have loved these skis in all set ups so far.

The '23 Mindbender 99ti is an easy ski if you have a style that puts in effort. Personally I don't like a ski that doesn't require you to work a bit. They aren't hard to turn, but respond well to being turned hard. My last run this Tuesday was down Exterminator Ridge at Crystal Mountain, a long, consistently steep easy double-black and probably my favorite ski run. About 700vf nice quality unbroken pow, then the remaining 1300vf occasional tracks progressing to fully cut up and manky. about halfway down I started audibly grunting each turn, but it was joyful fun grunting, an indulgence in the power needed to charge the deteriorating snow, not struggle-grunts. I was having an absolute ball. The skis never felt like they'd betray me as the snow got more and more potentially hooky, and I could get the Mindbenders really quite sideways and ski slowly without problems. They are a bit of cheat code for my style and and ability level.

They aren't especially poppy. This is not to say they are dead - far from it. They rebound perfectly adequately and I can ski them all day and don't get especially tired. They aren't quick in that automatically on edge way, but they aren't slow or reticent to turn. They have a preferred mid-sized turn, but can also be pushed into a tighter turns in a way that is really satisfying. I actually prefer to push hard on a ski to make it turn tighter because of that sat down into the torque feeling, and very much like the slightly heavy touch needed to get there on the Mindbender. Once it gets tighter its not fighting to get out, and it won't punish you if you are sloppy in the process.

Maybe the best way to put it is that these are relatively easy to ski skis that pay back the application of some physical effort, but are also relatively easy when you want to take it easy.

For You If: you are a chargey charging charger who loves to play (and charge!), You don't want a super stiff ski that gives up playfulness, nor a "playful" skis that gives up stability.

Not For You If: When you read Goldilocks you can't understand why she always takes the middle thing.

 

[EP4O]

Great review, I am hoping for a less pukey graphic on next years. If not I will certainly pick up a pair on clearance as I did with the 108ti's.

 

[Hankj]

Great review, I am hoping for a less pukey graphic on next years. If not I will certainly pick up a pair on clearance as I did with the 108ti's.

Thanks! I didn't read the official review before I wrote mine, but it's interesting to me how I express a lot of the same attributes as the official tester. It's funny how we both independently arrive at this is a fun ski for chargers, not a more solid ski for finesse skiers to step up to.

As for the graphic, I kind of like it, it's sort of a play on camo. I have the red Attack 13 bindings mounted - looks good to me

I've heard good things about the 108s from the shop kids up on the hill - they all seem to like the 108's a lot

 

[Tom K.]

Great review, I am hoping for a less pukey graphic on next years. If not I will certainly pick up a pair on clearance as I did with the 108ti's.

Same. With the current graphic, I'm anticipating huge spring discounts. Already happening with some of the reliable European shops.

 

[EP4O]

Thanks! I didn't read the official review before I wrote mine, but it's interesting to me how I express a lot of the same attributes as the official tester. It's funny how we both independently arrive at this is a fun ski for chargers, not a more solid ski for finesse skiers to step up to.

As for the graphic, I kind of like it, it's sort of a play on camo. I have the red Attack 13 bindings mounted - looks good to me

I've heard good things about the 108s from the shop kids up on the hill - they all seem to like the 108's a lot

I had heard similar things from other reviews as well. I have to say I can't stand any of the graphics on any of the Mindbenders the last couple years, including my 108ti. They are awesome skis so I hope that changes.

 

[EP4O]

Same. With the current graphic, I'm anticipating huge spring discounts. Already happening with some of the reliable European shops.

I picked up my last years 108ti for $350 CAD in the wrapper this past off-season, I'll be looking to score a similar deal for sure.

 

[Hankj]

Quick update to say I moved Mount point +2cm. Tails felt longer for a couple of runs but went away quickly.

I prefer +2cm in almost all ways. For me:

Skis bite harder with less effort

Carve easier and better

More stable at speed

Feel more powerful

Fun/easier to lay on the tails

More playful

On downside:

Trickier to get tails around in tight stuff

Less natural/automatic powder feel

Harder to ski slarve to slarve when it's steep, or scary, or you are just being lazy

Note these are only differences of modest degree - the skis essentially feel like the same skis either way.

 

[Cheizz]

We put our own review online as well: https://gigiski.com/review-k2-mindbender-99-ti/