2025 Volkl Blaze 104

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. 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.