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K2 inc. co-founders, Bill and Don Kirschner of Kirschner Manufacturing originally produced splints and cages utilizing reinforced plastic in Vashon Island, near Seattle, Washington, USA. However, the Kirschners were always looking for new products to build so in 1961, using a pair of borrowed skis as a pattern, Bill Kirschner made a pair of fiberglass skis. The skis were significantly lighter and livelier than their wood and metal contemporaries and worked so well that he took his concept to Anderson & Thompson Ski Company, a Seattle-based distributor of ski equipment, and his "concept" came to life becoming the bare essentials of what K2 is today.

The skis went from strength to strength and so Bill separated K2 from Kirschner Manufacturing and named the company K2 after the world's second-largest mountain and himself and his brother Don (the two Kirschner brothers). It wasn’t long before K2 moved into producing competition skis, resulting in the first World Cup victory ever on American-made skis. With the publicity surrounding the World Cup victory and their looks, the K2 ski sales went wild.

Today, designed in the USA and skied by the best in the world, K2 ski are state-of-the-art, performance driven products, complemented by a range of poles, goggles, helmets & luggage.

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