While there wasn’t anything wrong with the Sick Day 104, the 2023 Line Blade Optic 104 takes that performance to the next level. For a lot of skiers, a 104-mm wide ski is considered on the wider side of all-mountain, and we wouldn’t disagree. Line, though, feels it sits in a good spot as a versatile board for any and all conditions and terrain. Built with an Aspen Veneer wood core, the skis also get Line’s Gas Pedal Metal Overdrive laminate. This allows the engineers at Line the ability to fine-tune the torsional and longitudinal stiffness of the ski in order to make it stiff where needed and playful when desired. With branches of the central metal spine extending to the edges in the middle of the ski, they’re able to make it grippy and strong in a carved turn while the tips and tails remain more forgiving and maneuverable. This makes the Blade Optic 104 a highly versatile and well-rounded ski for a variety of snow surfaces as well as skiers. In the 185, the skis generate a 19-meter turn radius and weigh 1890 grams per ski. This is right in the sweet spot for that all-mountain/freeride ski, combining a slightly longer turn shape and a nice and burly build. Tip and tail rocker is pretty progressive, offering a fun-loving attitude to the ski and some excellent flotation as well.
ROCKER PROFILE
Rocker / Camber / Rocker
CORE MATERIALS
5-Cut Multi Radius
PREFERRED TERRAIN
Big Mountain, All Mountain, Groomers
On the 185, Marcus Shakun found it to be just right for him. He gave the ski a top score of 5 out of 5 for flotation, with 4’s right behind for stability and forgiveness. All other scores were 3’s, so we’re seeing a pretty well-rounded score range from Marcus here, who notices the difference in flex between different portions of the ski: “All-mountain/freeride 104! Soft shovel but quite a bit stiffer mid body to tail. Allows for quick entry into the turn with a longer finish. Stable in the soft snow and blows through, but gets deflected if you don’t drive it. Holds a long turn but not into short or mixing it up.” It’s interesting to point out the difference between the 104 and the Optic 96, as Marcus and other testers found that ski to really enjoy mixing up turn shape and style.
Bob St.Pierre was one of those testers who really enjoyed the versatile turns of the 96, and like Marcus, he felt that his 185 cm Blade Optic 104 “was a bit better suited to longer turns and higher speeds.” Bob scored the ski 4’s out of 5 for flotation, stability, torsional stiffness, edge grip, versatility, and overall impression. He gave it lower scores of 3 for forgiveness, playfulness, quickness, and maneuverability. Still a high spread, but no real standout scores here from Bob. He notes that “the Blade Optic 104 is a burlier ski than the Sick Day 104 for sure, and I can’t quite tell if that’s a good or a bad thing. It’s way different, that much I know for sure. I love it in longer carved turns, and it’s pretty darn stable and strong. That said, it’s also pretty stiff and somewhat grabby. Normally, I like my 104’s to be a bit more playful, but you just have to adjust your expectations a bit is all.”
Line has taken a leap into a more high-performance freeride realm with the Blade Optic 104. One of the nice things is that it now differs from Vision a bit, while the older Sick Days maybe had more in common, the new Optic skis make the differences quite a bit clearer.
