It’s fitting that Line’s new Vision 98 should top our rankings for All-Mountain West Finesse skis, as it’s commitment to skis that are surfy and playful is ironclad. The brand that began to make twin-tip skiboards 25 years ago this season is the only mainstream brand without even a toe-hold in the Technical or Frontside categories. If you’re looking for wide ski that mimics a carving ski’s accuracy, you’re in the wrong room.
That said, the Vision 98 can hold its own in firm conditions because its moderately rockered tip and tail blend into the rest of its cambered baseline when it’s flexed, creating a long effective edge. Its flex distribution – geared towards a centered stance – shock dampening and liveliness are dictated by three high tech fibers, aramid, carbon and fiberglass, all working in concert to create an instantly responsive ski.
Line calls this amalgam of materials THC™ Construction, a term it shrewdly trademarked. About the only way the brand could have sent a louder signal to its constituents is if it had made the core out of hemp (close: it’s actually Paulownia and maple) and sold each pair with papers and a lighter. By keeping metal out of the Vision 98’s guts, Line is able to make it much lighter than the norm.
The Nordica Santa Ana 100 is easily the most torsionally rigid of our four Recommended women’s All-Mountain West models, usually an indicator of a higher Power quotient, yet it’s so easy to ski – for advanced to expert women – that its scores landed it on the Finesse side of the ledger. But as I occasionally stress in these pages, while the numbers are instructive, they don’t reveal as much about a ski’s character as the narrative. Listen closely to what a couple of our testers had to say about the Santa Ana 100 and you’ll hear suggestions that both these ladies thought the ski is, if anything, too powerful.
“Great all around ski,” is the general assessment of Jolee from Footloose, with this proviso: ”A little too much ski for hard pack, but for a woman who charges it’s terrific. Handles great off groomed snow,” she adds. Becca Pierce from Bobo’s test team skied the Santa Ana 100 in rapidly softening spring conditions, which Becca found it ideally adapted for. “These skis were meant for today’s conditions. A tad long for yours truly in the bumps, but assuming I were a stronger skier, I’d bet they’d be tits. Would be great in pow, and awesome control in this slop. Loved the stability.”
One of my ardently held beliefs about ski design, for which I have no statistical support, is that every model family has a star, a width at which all its other design parameters are optimized. For example, in Salomon’s QST collection, it’s the 106; in Kästle’s MX family, it’s the 84, and in Dynastar’s 4-model Legend W series, it’s the 96.
What makes the W 96 the belle of the ball? The Legend W series is directly descended from Dynastar’s Cham clan, an early adopter of the 5-point sidecut. The 5-point sidecut keeps the tip and tail from engaging with the cambered zone underfoot, effectively keeping them out of the turning business and helping the skis to roll over terrain rather than digging into it. This shape was made expressly for Big Mountain skiing; it’s at its best when it’s wide, and a waist around 96mm is about as broad as it can be without feeling sluggish.
The co-author of Snowbird Secrets, “Guru” Dave Powers, skis on a Dynastar Legend X 96. Its entire forebody serves as a shock-sucking buffer, due to a 3-piece segment of sidewall that frees up the laminates in the core to sheer. This allows the ski to conform to terrain it would otherwise ram into, and is a particular pleasure in powder as it lets the ski bow without having to charge the fall line.
The absence of end-to-end Titanal laminates also plays to Powers requirements. (The Legend X 96 has a Ti insert underfoot to stabilize this critical zone.) No metal slabs means less weight onboard, means less stress on his ravaged knees. Absent the torsional rigidity of full Ti laminates, the 96mm Legend X skis narrower than it measures, which is a significant blessing for skiers with little to no cartilage left. For providing a smooth, easy-flexing ride that won’t buck its rider, we again award the Legend X 96 a Silver Skier Selection.
I readily admit to an engrained bias in favor of the Blizzard Bonafide, as a pair has lived in the first row of my ski locker since its inception. I take them everywhere I go because I’m confident there’s no condition on earth they cannot ski, and ski well.
The Bonafide has remained a perennial all-star for skiers because it’s built on sound fundamentals: a wood core made from poplar and beech sandwiched between laminates of multi-directional glass and Titanal. Its Flipcore design connects to the edge early, with no disruption in the snow connection from the modestly rockered forebody through the midsection to its flat, supportive tail.
If one wished to pick a nit, it could be argued that the Bonafide is geared for the more skilled skier. But this is true of virtually all the more torsionally rigid models in the All-Mountain West genre. If you want to tone it down a bit, get it in a shorter length and you, too, can experience one of the greatest skis ever made.
