Line
Line has come a long way in its brief history without ever straying very far from home. We can’t think of another well-distributed ski brand that began life making handmade skiboards, which in case you’ve forgotten, were the super-shorties barely long enough to contain a boot and a rudimentary, non-releasable binding. But Line wouldn’t be here today if Jason Levinthal hadn’t first decided to make a sliding device that was as easy to point backwards as forwards. All Levinthal had to do was elongate his platform and a ski brand married to the twin-tip concept was born.
If the idea of carving every inch of every turn remained as popular as it was in the hey-day of super-shaped skis in the 90’s, Line probably would have gone the way of the dodo. Despite being a fairly diverse brand today, they still don’t make anything one could seriously call a Technical ski. Happily for Line, the market shifted its emphasis to skis with better performance in soft snow and crud, which moved a good deal of the market right into Line’s wheelhouse.
Line is owned by the same people that bring you K2, yet the feel of the two brands on snow couldn’t be more different. Lines always feel light and playful, like puppies that can’t wait to chase a stick. They’re less interested in promoting technical proficiency than they are in permitting shenanigans like pivoting off your shovels; what other brand has a “Butter Zone” fore and aft of the binding?
If all Line made were spiffy Pipe & Park skis, you’d find no reviews of them here as that is not Realskiers’ domain. But Line makes some directional All-Mountain models that have a definite place in the mainstream market and their Powder skis are so much fun, kids shouldn’t be the only ones allowed to have them. Because Line tends to make thin-profile skis that are lightweight and easy to bend with minimal effort, their women’s models are well suited to the fairer sex.
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