2021 Line Blade

This thing gets a lot of looks on the hill. It's like nothing else out there right now, and that's just the way Line likes it. We were able to do two reviews of this ski, one an early overview and the second a comprehensive in-house, his and hers Blade video. The response on our YouTube videos was overwhelming-this ski is certainly a lightning rod for skiers who don't quite understand what they're looking at. My initial response was confusion, so I get where a lot of these questions and concerns are coming from. When I first skied it, it took about half a run to realize that I had to get this thing on edge, and steeply. The Blade loves high edge angles when carving, but it's so much more. At 95 mm underfoot, you're not initially thinking that it's a pow ski, but the 154 mm tip certainly is going to keep you afloat. The twin tip is also a swallow tail, and that combo is interesting-it makes it so the ski will hold a carve longer but rip through the powder and crud smoothly and efficiently. The best I could come up with was that this is a wide slalom ski with a playful flex, capable of numerous turn shapes and styles. They're happiest in a deep carve on not too steep terrain, and if you get in that more technical stuff, you need to back off the gas a bit or you're going for a ride. Built with an Aspen wood core, Line adds their Gas Pedal Metal (fun to say) which is a very skeletal, bow and arrow type of design. The main spine runs through the center chord of the ski with downturned branches that extend to the edges. The reason this exists is to generate enough torsional stiffness to get the ski up on edge-otherwise, the width of the ski would prevent it from engaging properly (or at all). Not only does this increase the torsional stiffness of the ski, but it also dampens vibrations and keeps the ski on a smooth arc through the turn. We had a pretty fun time getting on this ski and seeing what it was all about, and you should, too.

Bob St. Pierre skied the 176, but would have preferred the 181. Even so, Bob scored the ski straight 4's right down the line. This shows an above-average performance level in a lot of different categories. He was pretty stoked on the ski and was very interested in finding limits, such as how the ski fared in powder, bumps, tight trees, etc. Bob states that the Blade was "pretty darn impressive and very unique. Certainly, unlike anything else out there. Loves to carve and turn, but can be opened up for high-speed skiing. Not nearly as clunky as I thought it would be. A totally different ski experience-as different from other modern all-mountain skis as my 1998 straight skis-just a completely unique experience!" Bob was able to generate a bunch of different turn shapes and styles and was hoping to try the 181 for that extra bit of tail support.

Much like Bob, Mike Aidala was pretty darn impressed with the Blade. All of his scores were 4's or 5's, again showing the high-end capabilities of these skis. Mike was a bit better sized on the 176 as evidenced by his score of 5 for quickness and maneuverability. Mike states that the "Line Blade skis are something to check out! Don't be afraid of this wild shape at 95 mm underfoot and with a tip width of 154. The generated turn radius creates an awesome carving ski with exceptional float and maneuverability. Essentially, you'll feel like you are skiing on a fat slalom ski. The Line Blade skis will let you lay into some awesome tight radius slalom turns on the fresh groomers and dip into the woods for some floaty, tight wiggles through the trees. Line has created a new ski experience worth checking out to add something different to your quiver. Skiing the Blade was such a fun and different experience!"

Turns out, you can make a ski that's totally unique and people will still love it. That's a testament to the overall fun-ness of the sport of skiing. To add to what Mike said about it being a great addition to your quiver, it could also just as easily replace your whole quiver-they've really added something from all disciplines into this one ski, and it's very impressive how they did it.