When the Blaze 106 debuted prior to the 20/21 season, it made no pretense about belonging to the same class of ski as the M5 Mantra or Kendo 88, Völkl’s established A-team. It aimed at an open opportunity to hit a lower price point ($599) and thereby poach one or two more slots of rack space from the competition. In order to control costs on this less expensive model, a central channel of the wood core was swapped out for… foam! (Pause for audible gasp from the Völkl faithful). A compensating benefit for the substitution of wood was that the ISO-core material was substantially lighter weight, so if anyone wanted to use the Blaze 106 for touring, the weight loss would be a bonus instead of a demerit.
Then along came a mild market disruption called Covid, and suddenly a ski that could do double duty in-resort or ex-resort was a hot commodity. Once the Blaze 106 established a beachhead, Völkl capitalized on its popularity by creating a full family of Blazes, a clan that now extends from an 82 to a 114. Every model family has an incarnation that maximizes the benefits of the design; among the Blazes, the 104 (née 106) owns that distinction. The narrower versions lack the power and punch of their all-mountain peers, while the widest surrender some versatility that the 104 retains.
It may seem silly to profess that merely slimming down a 106 to a 104 makes a difference in how a ski handles, but balancing the shape of the overall sidecut provides a better balance between how the ski handles manky crud and the inevitable hardpack. Of course, it’s hard to separate how much difference the skinnier silhouette makes compared to the contribution of an edge-to-edge Ti plate underfoot and further tweaking of the footprint to create a 4D Radius sidecut.
Making what could be a backcountry option heavier by adding more metal and tightening the radius of a forebody that most off-trail skiers aren’t likely to hook into are against-the-grain concepts that work brilliantly, elevating the 104’s performance to peerage with some of the best skis in the Big Mountain genre. The influence of the enlarged Ti plate in the mid-section extends beyond is dimensions, calming the entire ski (or so it seems). The new-found stability doesn’t diminish the Blaze’s ease of operation, making it any easy choice as a Silver Skier Selection.
I’d say that on balance, the Blaze 104 is still a Finesse ski, but it also possesses some Power ski attributes. The redesigned shovel shape allows the ski to engage ahead of its widest point, giving it a tighter trajectory than is normally accessible in a ski this wide underfoot. Lower skill skiers who tend to sit back when the going gets choppy won’t know this bit of embellishment is available, but in this case what they don’t know definitely won’t hurt them.
One of the advantages of limiting Titanal to a central plate is the rest of the ski’s innards can now flex and rebound more easily. The ability to still be able to load a fat ski is essential to how it reacts in deep snow; a livelier ski helps lift the skier across the fall line and into the next turn. Stability in choppy, cut-up crud is further enhanced by a feature Völkl calls Suspension Tip, TPU inserts in the tip that help muffle shock where the ski takes the brunt of every blow.
Taken as an ensemble, the improvements made to the Blaze 104 make it a substantially better ski than its predecessor, no matter who is using it or where it’s going, whether on the trail map or off it. Its light weight and peppy rebound will remind Old Schoolers of how all-glass skis used to feel, and skiers of all ages will like its ease of operation and confidence-building stability.
Experts have a lot of choices when it comes to picking a Big Mountain ski, but lower skilled skiers aren’t as well served. There isn’t a better ski made for the skier who is just learning how to tackle off-piste terrain. Best of all, once the off-trail newbie gets the hang of it, the Blaze 104 will continue to perform at an elite level.