THE PEOPLE'S SKI TEST - LINE BLADE

LINE BLADE
Category: All Mountain
Lengths: 169, 176, 181
Dimensions: 154/95/124
Radius: Tight!
MSRP: $799
More info: lineskis.com

"There’s no other ski in existence quite like the Line Blade. At 154 millimetres in the tip, its shovel is wider than most full-blown powder skis, but at only 95 millimetres underfoot, it skied as uniquely as it looks, and gave me a feeling unlike anything else I’ve experienced on snow. On the groomed, its Grand Canyon-deep sidecut and five-point turn radius (which Line only lists as “tight”) lent itself to flowing, fun-filled, tight-like-a-tiger turns, so straight-liners, big mountain chargers and World Cup downhill racer wannabes beware. But in mellow off-piste terrain—thanks to its beefy tip, lightweight aspen core and two geometrically striking, blade-shaped sheets of titanal in the ski—it happily plowed through anything in its path, and made zig-zagging through glades feel like I was playing a video game. The Blade’s quirky characteristics, performance and appearance may not be for everyone, and it’s certainly no quiver killer, but if you’re looking to add something completely different to your collection for those shit and giggles days on the hill, then look no further than this enjoyably unorthodox offering." —Jeff Schmuck

Reviewer’s Rating: On Piste: 8/10 • Off Piste: 6/10
Average Rating: On Piste: 6/10 • Off Piste: 5/10

REVIEWER BIO:

Jeff Schmuck
Age: 41 / Height: 5’9” / Weight: 185 lbs / Occupation: Editor of Forecast Ski Magazine
Raised in Rossland but now based in Vancouver, our very own editor Jeff Schmuck returns to his old stomping grounds of Red Mountain Resort as often as he can to lay down lefts and rights at his favourite place to ski in the world, and nostalgically listen to golden-aged locals tell tales of old during après at Rafters. Due to his early days in the dense, tangled forests that make up Red’s multifaceted slopes, Schmuck loves tree skiing above all else, and therefore currently prefers a slightly stiff, fully rockered, shapely, poppy, non-directional twin-tip a little above or below 110 millimetres in the waist.