Internal Weaknesses in K2 Line Skis

K2 has been manufacturing alpine skis in the U.S. since the 1960s. Line skis, originally made in Burlington, Vermont, produced a line of extreme specialty skis. In 2006, K2 bought out Line, moved its operations to Vashon Island, Washington, but still produced the extreme product.

  1. K2 History

    • Bill Kirschner, the founder of the company, began fiddling around with fiberglass skis in the 1950s. In 1961, he developed a technique that was commercially viable and began producing these skis in a small factory. He was able to get a contract to sell them to A&T ski company, based in Washington state. In 1967, K2 began manufacturing skis on its own.

    Line Skis History

    • By the 1990s, skiers were looking to do something new. Freestyle skiing, acrobatics, skiing backwards and innovative trick skiing was maturing. Jason Levinthal reacted to this trend in 1995 and started the Line ski company in Burlington, Vermont. Line began producing a series of double-tipped skis for the freestylers.

    Selling to K2

    • As the Line company became larger, its workforce grew, manufacturing costs increased, and in 2006 it sold out to the K2 corporation. Its operations were moved to Vashon Island, Washington, but extreme freestyle skis were still made under the Line name.

    Internal Weakness

    • In freestyle skiing, unlike alpine, you sometimes are actually looking to hit obstacles. You use bare rocks to launch and hit the rails to do tricks. There were complaints in the late 1990s that Line skis had internal weaknesses that resulted in broken skis. These reports were not well-substantiated. Most users and professional reviewers discount internal weakness in Line skis.