K2 Rictor 90 XTI Ski Review

The K2 AMP line has had tremendous success over the past three winters. K2's AMP series is a complete model line featuring beginner to expert level skis, with the K2 Rictor emerging as their all-mountain flagship model. Since the Rictor's first winter, it has become a well known commodity throughout the ski industry…

**We did a Ski Review on K2 Rictor Skis the first year they arrived on the scene.

...With that said, I feel K2 hasn't given skiers a reason to upgrade from one K2 Rictor to another. After successfully making the ski world forget about the Apache Recon and turning the AMP Rictor into a household name, I think both K2 and the rest of us are ready for the next generation of the Rictor.

The K2 Rictor 90 XTI Skis are the widest AMP skis ever built and were designed to connect high performance carving with free ride functionality. The Rictor 90 XTI Skis come equipped with Hybritech Sidewall construction, full wood core, metal laminate and RoX technology. K2's RoX technology gives this ski incredible on-trail hold and unbelievably easy turn initiation. K2 built this ski with a 90 mm waist, which supplies the added floatation and stability that (in my opinion) had been missing from their AMP series since the outset. The new waist width combined with some of K2's new freeride technology provides enough excitement for all skiers to click into a pair of Rictor 90 XTI Skis.

The first thing I noticed about the Rictor 90 XTI was that these skis felt much more substantial than any other AMP series ski I had tested in the past. They were remarkably solid under my feet, especially while skiing at speed and on pitchy terrain. The solid feel should be expected given the ski's shape and construction… I was however, caught off guard by the new Rictor's sudden outburst of on-trail energy. I was expecting the same damp, easy skiing experience that the Rictor had provided over the last three years, and I couldn't have been more wrong. The discovery of the Rictor 90 XTI's liveliness was a next-level surprise. This powerful feel had been absent from the K2 Rictor since day one.

The new Rictor 90 XTI has a significant amount of freeride DNA, and the skis versatility started to come through when venturing into softer conditions. It cruises comfortably over deeper ungroomed snow and smoothly transitions edges without hesitation. For a 90 mm waisted ski, the skis tips effectively stay above the snow because of K2's tapered design and powder tip profile.

The K2 Rictor 90 XTI Skis are K2's newest edition to their already uber successful model line. The Rictor 90 XTI is something that the AMP line has been missing since its conception. K2 has taken their all-mountain resort style skis and turned them into something more. The Rictor 90 XTI crosses boundaries that skiers have unconsciously set-up for themselves. The skis have the freeride look and feel that versatile shredders are looking for, as well as a construction and waist width that's not insulting to groomed snow skiers. K2 designed the skis with off-trail functionality, without managing to neglect high performance on the front side of the mountain.

Bottom Line: The Rictor 90 XTI definitely provides the dramatic WOW factor expert level skis are looking for. The new ski is nothing like anything that has come before it, and I was throughly impressed and extremely stoked with K2's newest member of the AMP family.

Cons: Not as surfy through trees or untracked conditions as other skis in this category. The tails of the skis tend to hold firmly regardless of snow condition, which in turn helps give the skis increased hard snow performance.