Building a K2 Alchemist With Snowboard Genius Justin Clark

We infiltrated K2's Advanced Research Collective facility earlier in the fall and shadowed their senior design engineer Justin Clark as he went through the motions of building an Alchemist, their most premium snowboard offering. Our greatest takeaway; If you think top-tier tech snowboards such as the K2 Alchemist are robot-made, you're damn wrong. It's all-natural around these parts!
Each board is made with tender loving care by skilled workers who actually care about the final product - "no cutting corners, just remember that".
Thanks for having us, K2.
Shoutout Kuzyk for blessing the cover photo.

[@TheBombHole]

Shout out to J-Stone!

[@kingsnowmag]

For real.

[@jplpagan]

loving these facility tour videos.

[@Papersurfer]

Nice one!

[@jibsandjumpers]

Yeah J Stone 🙌

[@kingsnowmag]

legend!

[@newpopeye26]

this facility is really low end

[@jstone18]

tell me more

[@kingsnowmag]

your facility is probably sooo much better

[@garrettmcgrew-keller9810]

Dope boards and K2 has one of the sickest teams but I can’t respect having production in China. Are the people making those boards payed living wages and working in healthy environments? And if so why not make them in the US? If Mervin can do it, so can K2.

[@merauderfps1997]

You realize they are only “assembled” in the USA. Where do you think the parts come from?

[@playeralv]

@@merauderfps1997 dude thinks fiber glass and polymers comes from the trees in Washington.

[@kingsnowmag]

This is the world we are living in. The fact they have this facility in the US speaks volumes.

[@garrettmcgrew-keller9810]

@playeralv Nah dude, obviously I understand most of the materials are sourced globally. There aren’t really any viable options for US plastic/glass in the industry. My point is that board assembly is a labor intensive process and having it done in China means companies can avoid the costs associated with good wages and factory safety/pollution standards. Capita is another example of a board company choosing to prioritize their workers and environmental impact.

[@garrettmcgrew-keller9810]

@kingsnowmag yeah I mean I’m not tryna entirely discredit K2, I just love snowboarding and I feel like each company in the industry has a lot of power to shape the world we live in. Having done factory labor before I have a lot of sympathy for people that have to work those jobs. And as far as environmental impact, our sport is the first on the chopping block in terms of climate change. I’m really hoping we see more urgency for change from the big players in the industry. Loved the king snow movie Jody’s part was hot fire.