There has not been a lot of snow around Utah but this past weekend gave us a good dump. As everyone mumbled, finally, under their breath while waiting in some of the longest lines seen in Utah, we sailed to the front of Canyons with a friends "front of the line pass" which is an entirely different review!}. Sorry to the hundreds that we circumvented, but alas, no friends on a powder day.

I had on a new pair of K2 Hell Bent skis loaned to me from a friend (THANK YOU!).

The word 'beasts' is thrown around a lot in the ski and snowboard vernacular, but all day I did not see one pair of skis fatter than mine. These are the type of skis that, in the old day, would have been terrifying on even the least bit of hard pack. I have been on fat skis before and had to close my eyes and hope for the best while I sailed across the ice on what may have well as been skates. Not so with the K2 Hell Bent. Though I would not call them fun on ice, I would call them stable on ice. It really adds a lot to your resort skiing confidence when you can ski the pow and not pee your pants on the travel run to a different lift. Sure, you get the additional warmth of the warm pee but that only lasts a few minutes and then it gets cold real fast. Controlled, stable, solid, these are words I have never used for a ski with such a large waistband as these, no surprise their american!

Hard pack performance is nice but you don't ride the hell bents for ice or hard pack, these baby's are meant for powder, and let me tell you, the powder, they love. They have an almost saucer-like feel when skiing (quoting the lender of these sticks of heaven) and your stance had better be spot on neutral. No sitting back in the hell bents but there is also no need. Huge runs of powder all day long and the powder camber leaves me speechless. As I flew threw fields of powder, effortlessly turning, almost like surfing but with a nice rebound, the grin on my face must have been blinding. There were also audible yelps of joy at the fun being had on these skis of the gods!

Bottom-line these are the best powder skis I have ever skied and can't wait for more of the white stuff to lay down a blanket of pow so I can try em again.

2012 has custom cut skins so a pair of these with an AT binding would make them drool inducing. Someday...