When women-specific skis first came out, they suffered from the shrink and pink” phenomenon, i.e. take a mens product, make it smaller, put pretty flowers on it, and call it a girls product. That philosophy hurt the women-specific ski industry more than it helped it.
At K2, the mostly male design team wised up and implemented a womens team consisting of pro and elite female skiers responsible for conceptualizing and testing skis from start to finish. The end result is a lineup of womens skis that are generally softer than mens, but not by the formerly standard 15 percent ratio, which many women skiers found way too soft. K2 also added a womens specific monic (a solid zinc mass embedded in the secondary core so it focuses mass dampening at a target=ed location), core layup, profile design, and shape..
See for yourself whether has dialed in the magic womens- specific formula, with their One Luv ($1,000 with Marker M1 11.0 Ti bindings), an all-mountain ski with a 74 mm waist, that is nimble and forgiving enough to ski bumps and trees and everything in between.
Having switched over to telemarking about six years ago, I prefer K2s Schi Devil ($525). With its deep sidecut and two sheets of metal that provide super edge on hardpack, the Schi Devil can cut through crude and float in snow. Plus, the fiery graphics are a lot more inspiring than anything pink or floral.