“Having not much liked the K2 Split Bean, the Joy Driver was off to a bit of an unfair advantage when it came to showing me what it was about. Happily, however, it manages to fix a lot of what isn’t so great with its little brother, giving you a stomping platform for both ascending and descending most of the terrain you’re likely to come across in the true alpine, rather than the rolling powder fields of Oregon or Japan. Not that it wouldn’t shine in these parts too!

“I’m happy to confirm that that the split version is every bit as solid for all round off-piste riding as the original”

K2’s tip and tail grommets for their custom skins are, hands down, the easiest way to get skins on and off your board, doing away with any alignment issues and having to stretch it over and off the tails. Pure genius. It would be perfect if the skins tapered later to give a bit more surface area, especially at the contact points, but now we’re splitting hairs (badum tsch).

As mentioned above, going up has no issues – there’s plenty of length to give you the right purchase, and for coming back down… well, it’s a Joy Driver. Not for nothing has it been a staple in K2’s line up for years now, and I’m happy to confirm that that the split version is every bit as solid for all round off-piste riding as the original, even though it’s been re-engineered from the inside out to accommodate the split.

It holds an edge, turns on a dime and doesn’t buck you when the going gets bumpy. Reliable and dependable, it’s the ol’ faithful made splittable!”

[monetizer101 search=’k2 joy driver split’]