2021 Line Blade Men's and Women's Ski Review
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- Опубликовано: 4 фев 2020
- A couple days ago, we release a video introducing the Line Blade skis and chatting with their design engineer, Peter. Now it's time for the review! Jeff, Bob, and Alli chat about how it performs, how it's unique, and more!
Written Review: www.skiessentials.com/Chairli...
Love your thorough and in depth reviews 👍Thank you.
Thanks Jeffrey!
I had the opportunity to try those this weekend. I'm a carving enthusiast, I love skis like the Atomic S9, Head e-sl or Rossi Hero ST, and this ski is sick. While the Blade doesn't have the edge hold and pop of an SL ski (it doesn't really like hard icy snow), it will allow you to keep carving late in the afternoon and just plow through crud, snow packs and about anything else.
It can definitely handle moguls and the woods. I wish I could have tried them in powder.
Definitely a potential one ski quiver or to be used for those weekends when you don't know what to expect from the mountain or your friends. ;)
A unique experience and a must try.
Yes! That's a great synopsis of the Blade. It's a great ski. It's not a race ski, but it's a blast for laying over carves and leaving deep trenches behind you.
Nice filming 🤙 new camera gimbal what are you using ? great rev as always 👍
killer sky shot on this guys!
Cool ski and great video. As a carving fiend, I'm curious about this ski although I think that my Head Supershape Magnum's are probably more fun on really hard snow.
i would pass on these. They do not carve. Your skiis kill the Blade.
Just bought the latest model at a discount. I’m looking forward
Great review!
Thanks Greg!
First off, I have to thank you guys for some amazingly detailed and informative reviews, it's the one thing that has been getting me through this COVID craziness. The Line Blade's look like amazing carvers on the groomers but given the choice, I would ski the trees and bumps all day if available. I am currently skiing Soul 7's but finding less opportunity for heavy powder days so looking for something new. Would you consider the Blade a true "All Mountain" ski or should i go with something more versatile like QST 99, Ranger 102 FR or Bent Chetler (I'm not a park skier)? Thanks for your advice and thanks for keeping us entertained. Stay healthy!
Thanks Davide! I'm really glad you're enjoying them and hope you're staying safe and positive through these challenging times.
As much as I like skiing the Blade, I think you'll be happier with a more well-rounded all mountain ski. I think your goal, in a sense, should be to find something that has characteristics of both the Soul 7 and the Blade. You're on the right track with QST 99 and Ranger 102 FR. Both of those skis are more fun on non-powder days and carve a lot better than the Soul 7, but they're fun on soft snow days too. The Bent Chetler 100 is a great ski, but it's more soft-snow-focused and a little less stable at speed than the QST or Ranger. It could work, although I expect you'd prefer the QST or Ranger, partly because you're not a park skier, and park is definitely a design element in the BC 100.
Best ski review site on the www!
It's not always easy, but it's pretty much always fun!
I’d love to see more Line reviews from you guys because well you guys are the best at it maybe the Sick Day line or Francis Bacon? Btw @ 1:40 were you talking about stompit cool to see you guys looking at other ski channels
Yup! I like the Stompit channel, that guy's fun to watch. We're also a similar ability level in the park, and I coach part time, so it's fun for me to watch him learn tricks and interesting to see how his instructions differ from my own.
Well I personally love both of your channels you’ve both helped me start to think more playful when I ski
@@hello-7008 Thanks!!
so with that big shovel in front i wonder what the float would be on those deep days..?
My observation watching the actual skiing in the video is that larger human Bob, had an easier time, at similar non crazy fast speeds, tipping the wide underfoot edge, on edge, to create a 'return of the turn' type ski, whereas smaller human Alli, who mentioned she had to take a deliberately wider stance, didn't seem to as comfortably be able to do this (even being an ex racer with Lange RS boots). As an owner, thanks to this channel, of 179 Enforcer 88s and also a set of Volkl 170 Racetiger SLs, my 2 cents would be that your knees will thank you if you choose a narrower underfoot carving ski (for carving), which you can do at slower speeds without huge forces on your knee and then leave the wider 88-105 width skis to give you something specifically that your carving skis cannot do (this ski, Enforcers, Twin Tips, etc). Absolutely nothing against this ski, and I would definitely consider it if I lived out west, (and I also extremely love my Enforcer 88s unless the hill is a sheet of ice with no snow on it), but if you love to carve, try a real carving ski and save your knee joints - unless you are the size of Bob. The one statement in this video which I slightly disagree with is that a Slalom / Carving ski 'needs' to be on edge to be stable like a snowboard - I disagree as this is really a comment about the angle of your base edge. If you keep your base edge to 1 degree, and avoid Slalom racing base edge level angles of 0.5, then it is easy to let a stiff slalom ski run flat (assuming it's not a noodle slalom ski).
Yes the ski is awkward which I said a few days ago on their first video. A slalom ski that is slow edge to edge not good on steep terrain because you'll be scared to pickup speed, then start carving into a crazy short turn. They make an expert skier look intermediate which is exactly not what I would want.
Carving with wider skis it's mostly the first tipping which is harder. Once you get going most of the energy needed to tip etc is from momentum out of the turns. The bigger prob with wider skis is lateral flex stability, they just don't have great flex profiles at high pressure/performance, which is fine since most folks aren't doing extremely speed/angulation anyway.
I currently ski on the 174 Sakana, I love it in the pow and the trees. Its a little bit short for me when I want to go fast and carve the groomers. I'm 5"11 195 pounds. Would the longer Blade be a good 2 ski quiver or would they overlap too much? I have some 181 Brahmas that I bought for that purpose, but I just dont enjoy skiing them.
I don't think there would necessarily be too much overlap between the Blade and Sakana. The Blade is beefed up quite a bit and is better at speed and on groomers. Much softer flexing and a little more user-friendly than the Brahma too.
Nate Doggett wow 174 sounds way short for your height/weight...too each their own though and I have skis I bought early on that I now wish I'd sized up
Curious how they compare to the Sakana. I was fortunate enough to get some nice powder days in Park City last month and got to spend some time on both the Sakana and the Vision (and the Atomic Bentchetler 120). I was impressed at how well the Sakana carved on groomers but there wasn't enough hardpack to really test it on an edge at 40+ mph. I'll be checking in with my friends at Jackson's to see if they have this for demo when I'm back in March. Debating whether this is a great "one quiver" solution for me (since I'm lucky if I get more than 12 days/year). Thanks for the great review.
It's kind of like a narrower, more powerful, and more stable Sakana. Similar concept with the big shovel and relatively short turn radius. More versatile and more appropriate as an all-mountain ski than the Sakana, in my opinion. I would definitely recommend getting on a pair to try them if you can!
I would love to try these out west. So sad the season is over. Seemed way to short
I agree, this season flew by!
I want to be able to carve like an SL ski, but not have it want to try to kill me the rest of the time. Just ordered a pair.
Should be a perfect ski for you! Definitely more forgiving, as well as more versatile, compared to a true SL ski.
I live in Utah, I currently have a pair of the K2 Mindbender 90 Ti’s (as my daily’s), 108 Ti’s and 116c’s. I have thrown around the idea of replacing this 3 ski quiver and going all Line skis, with the new quiver being the Line Blade as my daily, Sakana and Pescado. I love the Mindbender’s, don’t get me wrong, I was just thinking of switching some things up for fun. Is this a bad decision? Good decision? Should I mix up some of the skis, keep what I already have? What are your thoughts?
I would diversify the new setup a little more. All 3 of those skis are short radius skis with huge tips and tails. They're all a tremendous amount of fun, but I wonder if you'd start wanting something a little different to ski from time to time. For instance, a Blade, Sick Day 104, and Pescado makes more sense to me... or a Blade, Sir Francis Bacon, and a Pescado. That's my opinion. OR you could keep your 116c and get the Blade and Sakana... A few different ways to go here, but I would diversify the 3 new skis more than Blade, Sakana, Pescado personally.
@@SkiEssentials Thank you so much for your info & reply, I really appreciate it. My quest is always super fun skis that also perform, Mindbenders vs the Line skis we've discussed, which are most fun/playful?
So I have a 3 ski quiver. Am considering getting these to make a 2 ski quiver. Thinking these could provide an option to replace my front side volkl deacons and all mountain volkl 90eights. Blades as every day one ski driver and have volkl 108 for backcountry. What do you think?
Could be really cool, Andy! Kind of falls in between your Deacons and the 90Eight, so I do think it could be a good replacement for both of them, especially considering you have that 100Eight for backcountry and softer snow. The Blade is a unique ski, but it's really, really fun as both a frontside ski and around the rest of the mountain.
return of the turn : )
That shovel, tho.
How is their performance switch? As an instructor it is always something I take into consideration with a ski.
To be honest, none of us have skied them switch yet. I'll make a note to do so, although I don't expect them to be that good. Because of the big taper angle, I expect they'll feel kinda weird, but who knows, I might be wrong. Might work for instructing, but not linking switch carves at speed, if that makes sense.
@@SkiEssentials Ya that makes sense, I definitely wasn't thinking switch carving at speed, more beginner/intermediate skiing and how the shape effects switch wedge control. Honestly I am more interested in their performance for my higher-level CSIA certifications, but financially am looking for something that can transition into a teaching ski in a couple years.
@@DKMTG I definitely think it could be a teaching ski! A really good teaching ski, actually. I wouldn't worry at all about switch wedge control, there's plenty of rise in the tails for that technique.
Hello @Skiessentials.com . I'm 6'3 about 170 pounds and I'm pretty good at skiing, as I've been skiing about my whole life. I'm looking for a hybrid ski and binding i can take for backcountry skiing as well as in the ski lift. I've been looking at the kingpin 10 binding, as that is a pretty strong binding, but it's also pretty expensive. Is there a better hybrid option that fulfills my demands at a lower price? Also - the skis. I've been looking at the Blizzard Rustler 10 103mm 188length (450$), the Fischer hannibal 96 183 length (550$) and the Head Kore 99 (500$). What would you reccomend for skis and bindings? If there are no cheaper bindings that works well in both track and backcountry I'm willing to go for the kingpin 10.
I'm also open for other suggestions as to what skis to buy, but they have to be between the 95-105mm.
Out of the skis you're looking at, the Rustler 10 feels like a great choice. That ski has really good 50/50 resort/touring performance. Stable and powerful enough for the resort, light enough for touring. Super fun, very maneuverable ski in different snow conditions. The length also works really well for your size. Plenty of float and stability, but still relatively user-friendly. For bindings, the Kingpin 10 could certainly work, but in my opinion that binding is designed more for 80/20 touring/resort. Have you considered the Shift? It's designed more as a 50/50 binding and might be more appropriate for what you're looking to do. Unfortunately, the hybrid touring binding is one of the most sought-after items in skiing right now, so they're hard to find as a discount. You will likely see the Shift getting discounted sometime in early March, but it likely won't be a huge drop in price.
Skiessentials.com I bought a new set on Saturday, including the Head kore 105 180 cm and the marker alpinist binding. The skis are incredibly light but still stiff, and felt really nice to ski in the forest etc. Really happy with the purchase for the cheap price I got them for.
I m an agressive expert skier 186height and 92kg... which height should i buy?
I'd go 181 based on your stats and application.
📝
Just FYI this isn't an entirely novel design. Salomon made BBR's a while back with a similar shape profile: large tip with short radius sidecut. The tip made it easier to "surf" over softer snow, while still carved decent. It wasn't successful probably because most skiers don't know how to use the sidecut anyway, so they might as well get a ski that's fat all over.
Do these babies delam as well?
We've had a few pairs kicking around our office and warehouse as test skis for a while now, no signs of delaming!
I think this ski is extremely innovative; however, I also think it would have a “mind of its own”, and I’m not prepared to test fate with Skynet, The Matrix, Cybertron or my ex-wife while skiing.
So basically for intermediate groomed trails...??? So basically limited use ski for a very small genre of terrain...that you'd have to change your skiing style to make fit the terrain. Seems a very limited use ski for an extremely small populous of skier on a very limited choice of terrain.
Most people on the mountain are on intermediate groomed trails.
Turning on the sidecut is for expert skiers. Scrubs which make up 99% of people on the slopes skid on rockered skis. So I guess you're right it's for an extremely small populous of skiers.
I think a more appropriate way to think about it is that it makes intermediate groomed trails a lot more fun than most skis can. It's definitely not pigeon holed to that type of terrain, however. Definitely more versatile than it looks.
@@SkiEssentials just FYI this isn't an entirely novel design. Salomon made BBR's a while back with a similar shape profile: large tip with short radius sidecut. The tip made it easier to "surf" over softer snow, while still carved decent. It wasn't successful probably because most skiers like OP don't know how to use the sidecut anyway, so they might as well get a ski that's fat all over.
@@agenthex Icelantic Shaman too! That ski was probably closer to the Blade as it had a similarly short turn radius.
I tried these skiis at a demo day and was hyped when I saw them. I tried them and gave them back in one run. These do not carve at all. My Brahma's kill these skiis. Not sure who the target is, but these are useless. Everybody is hyping them, but they suck. Give these a pass!!!!
Watching people ski with them, it looks like they are all skidding out through the turns. I thought I wanted them to deal with the afternoon slush I commonly have to deal with when skiing at home (Australia), but i'm not sure these are the ski for me. thanks for your input
Thanks for the input. I was thinking on getting something light for hiking but heavy enough to enjoy the way down. Right now the Rusler 9 or 10 are my first option, the Brahma seems a bit heavier... Have you tested them?
I ski alot of hardpack with occasional fluffy snow and so I so do not need anything super wide. Brahma's are amazing for me. I will easily recommend them over the Blade. I have not tried Rustler but my impression is that they would be too soft.
Hi, i am 5´’10 138 pounds, Wich size is better for me ?
For Blade and sakana.
Thanks 🎿
I'd go 166 in the Sakana and 169 in the Blade.