2023 K2 Dispatch 110

The all-new Dispatch series from K2 highlights the growing market for stronger and lighter backcountry skis that have more of a freeride mentality. You can’t ski uphill in perpetuity, so it’s helpful to have something that’s fun and interesting on the way down. The K2 Dispatch 110 for 2023 is a shining example of a new-school touring ski that’s light, strong, and playful for a varieity of conditions and terrain, yet mostly this ski is happy in deep and soft snow. The idea here is to make a sturdy ski for more extreme backcountry conditions, and thanks to the construction, shape, and profile, K2 has mainly done just that. Hilariously, K2 refers to this 110 as a mid-fat waist width.

Built with a paulownia wood core, these skis get the light start that they need for uphill efficiency. Most touring skis these days stay really far away from metal, but K2 has never really been mainstream. They use their Hex-Beam titanal laminate to get the power and stability to the ski. Basically, they link three hexagonal shapes together with one long central chord of metal. Each of these three hexagons are in the shovel, midbody, and tail, giving the ski strength and dampness. They also use a tip to tail flax laminate which increases the overall flex and performance of the ski. Finally, Vibradet is found underfoot to reduce vibrations. Basically, it seems like their Dark Matter Damping polymer is used in the mount zone on these skis. All of this adds up to a 1749 gram per ski weight in the 184 cm length, which isn’t that light, but is lighter than a lot of other 110’s on the market for sure. With gradual rise in the rocker, both tips and tails, we are seeing a very straight cut to this ski, putting the 184’s turn radius at 27.3-meters. That’s pretty long.

Dana Allen noted as such in his feedback. He skied the 184, and unsurprisingly notes that “the ski runs a bit long.” He gave a top score of 5 out of 5 for flotation, with 4’s for quickness, maneuverability, playfulness, forgiveness, and overall impression. Dana had some lower scores, too, with 3’s for versatility and stability, and 2’s for torsional stiffness and edge hold. With such a wide and somewhat funky ski, it’s not surprising to see such a span of scores. He states that this “Ski is designed as a soft snow specialist. Super slarvy and playful. Poppy and dynamic. Relatively quick edge to edge for such a large ski. Easily pivots as it’s almost fully rockered, so would be a good potential option for an East Coast powder ski out for a pillow crusher for the west. Deflects easily in chop but is still stable enough for an attentive driver. Overall, fun and surprisingly versatile. Don’t write this off as western deep snow only ski.”

It’s interesting to note that Dana doesn’t point out anything regarding touring or light weight other than the relative quickness. Does this mean that there’s a 100% resort application here? Depends on who you ask, whether they’re in K2’s marketing department or just a shopper looking for a ski.