K2 WayBack (2011)

The 2010-11 K2 WayBack prefers small crowds and rustic huts to busy resorts and grandiose lodges. A superlight wood core with an abundance of carbon fiber makes this adventure ski one of the lightest mid-fats on the market. It excels at long approaches and pays increasingly greater dividends the farther one ventures into the mountains. This year it gets All-Terrain shovel rocker, when combined with the shallow, progressive sidecut, it’s ultra-predictable in high-alpine conditions like sastrugi or sun crust, with the added benefit that rocker also makes trail-breaking virtually effortless.