 Poster: A snowHead
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The co-founder of K2 skis, Bill Kirschner, has died at the age of 87. One of the first to use fibreglass in the making of skis in the early 1960s, Bill Kirschner named his K2 business after the ‘two Ks’ – himself and his brother Don Kirschner (plus the mountain K2, of course).
Although other ski companies such as Kneissl (with its prestigious and expensive White Star) competed to use fibreglass from 1961, K2 essentially built their company with the revolutionary material. A factory was established on Vashon Island, near Seattle, where the Kirschner family’s other manufacturing interests were based.
In competition with the French brand Dynamic, K2’s manufacturing process was based on wrapping a wood core to produce a torsionally-rigid ‘torsion box’ ski construction.
This report from SkiPressWorld.
The history of K2 skis: HistoryLink.org
Ever bought K2 skis?
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Mrs H has just bought K2 Burnin' Luvs...
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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In that case, Ian, she can call one ski Bill and the other one Don - see above.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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David, they are orange and flowery - so I'm not sure that Bill and Don are appropriate names 
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brian
brian
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The first K2s I ever bought were called 'Cheeseburger', with orange and yellow stripes right along the top surfaces. They stood up to some punishment, but literally disintegrated on the Solaise bumps above Val d'Isere in January 1976.
There were a lot of freestyle skis with mad names at that time.
I was lucky enough to visit the K2 factory on Vashon Island about 15 years ago (I think nearly all production has now transferred to China) when they involved everyone on the visit in the manufacturing process, so we all laid-up our own fibreglass and the other materials in the moulds before they went in the presses. That was a pair of TRCs, which were stolen about 2 weeks later in Les Deux Alpes!
Vashon Island must be the most interesting spot for a ski factory. You get there on a little ferry, a few miles from downtown Seattle. The island's in the middle of Puget Sound - aerial photo - and they must have been mightly unhappy to see the factory wind down.
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Puget sound is an interesting place. I remember visiting the USS Missouri (the battleship where MacArthur accepted the Japanese surrender in Tokyo Bay) in Bremerton dockyard on one of the islands in the 1990s. I think it's been moved to Pearl Harbor now though. For those into mountains (here?  ) it's between the majestic Cascades and the rugged Olympic range. "Snow Falling on Cedars" by David Guterson is a novel (set in the 50s) set on a Puget Sound island which captures their feel well, with some fascinating historical detail.
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Great skis: I've had KVC, Comp 90, Gyrator, TRC, would have some now, but too expensive! The Comp 90's lasted 7 years - that's plastic racing in summer and full snow seasons in winter. Is this a record?
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