Snowboard Review: 08-09 K2 Duchess

Location: A-Basin, Colorado

Snow Conditions: Bluebird with hard packed conditions

Setup: I rode the K2 Duchess with K2 Virtue bindings and my Vans Omni Focus boots.

First Impression: Ahhh women’s boards with quick edge to edge that you can bomb with but still have a good time messing around on the slope.

Size: 154cm

Weight: Average girls board weight.

Flex: The Duchess features a softer tip and tail with more torsional stiffness giving it the aggressiveness that excels the board on the snow. The flex really lets you hold the board on edge, remaining stable throughout each ride. It still gives you the all mountain freestyle of being able to butter and press the board.

Turning: Like I said on my review of the 07-08 Duchess, you can really power up the board into each carve. The sidecut really adjusts to the rider, giving you more forgiving turns or more aggressive turns. It was fun having a board that I could easily manuever onto toeside or heelside turns. At the same time, it allowed you to lay that board over on edge, hold a solid long radius carve.

Stable: It handles like a freeride board, cutting through the snow conditions without any chatter/vibrations. Each time I’ve been on the Duchess it’s been a smaller size than I’m used to and it still feels stable when riding.

Pop: I had no problem ollie’ing with the Duchess, it gives you some good pop off the tail of the board which was super fun over the rollers.

Switch: I noticed a slight difference when riding switch but was able to still carve with very little effort.

Pipe: There is no halfpipe at A-basin but I hope eventually to take the duchess into the halfpipe to test it out.

Overall Impression: The only thing that has changed on the Duchess from 07-08 to 08-09 is the graphics. It’s always been a solid board for all mountain aggressive female riders. This board is one of those do-it-all boards, you can bomb down the mountain with or butter around with. It offers a really smooth stable ride, easy turning for the progression and still lets you carve it up when you get to that point.

Shay’s Honesty Box: New graphics, same board. But honestly the Duchess doesn’t need to be changed, it has a good riding style and purpose…and for women wanting a mix of freestyle to freeride…it does fine.

On-Snow Photos
How a Duchess should look…covered in snow
K2 Duchess Catalog Description
(Click on photo to open bigger)

View more 08-09 K2 here