Snowboard Review: 12-13 K2 Highlite

Location: Winter Park, CO

Snow Conditions: Hardpacked to softpacked groomers.

Setup: I rode the K2 Highlite with K2 Auto Agogo bindings and Vans Ferra boots size 8.

Size: 152cm

First Impression: Light but aggressive and built for charging.

Weight: Lighter than average.

Flex: Stiffer flex underneath the bindings, torsionally has some forgiveness to the board and longitudinally some snap and aggressive riding. The nose was a tad softer so you could keep the nose up and stay back on the board for powder days. Overall on the stiffer end, it’s meant for freeriding and all mountain cruising. The Highlite has K2?s all mountain rocker which is 70% flat and 30% rocker.  Basically flat between the bindings to almost the last insert, then rocker from there to the contact points. It also features tweekend, a new concept that gives you more surface area to press, float and land on.

Turning: Reminded me of the Eco Pop in the carving and handling, quick and initiating turns very easily on the mountain. Once into a turn, it really gripped the snow and held a carve throughout the whole progression of the turn. I really liked the longer drawn out turns but it was capable of quick snappier turns.

Stable: This is where the Highlite excelled the most. It was super stable at speeds and despite being a smaller size it handled freeriding without skipping or softening out of a turn. The only adjustment was there wasn’t much for dampening so if the conditions were bumpy, you could feel it a bit more.

Pop: I didn’t take this board through the park, just played with it freeriding around the mountain on a couple rollers. It felt fine for pop but wasn’t a good judge of pop for the day.

Switch: The Highlite definitely has the setback stance so I only rode switch when I needed to get out of spots. It was definitely made for riding regular alot of the time with the flex and shape.

Overall Impression: The Highlite is new for women riders for 2013 and definitely one of my favorite women’s boards from the demo. It was lighter but handled with an aggressive charging attitude. I really liked the flex, the shape of the board and a great start for stepping up women riders.

Shay’s Honesty Box: Over the years I’ve watched companies limit the amount of boards an aggressive woman can ride and make it more likely that women will switch to men’s boards. So it was good to see K2 come out with a women’s board built for aggressive all mountain riding.

Review Disclosure: I demoed this board at the SIA On-Snow Demo at Winter Park, CO.