Given Line’s anything-goes ethos, you might expect the Supernatural 92 to be twin-tipped, center-mounted and more likely to drift than carve, but you’d be wrong on all counts. As an all-glass ski with 4mm of camber underfoot, the Supernatural 92 is a showcase for what this uncomplicated construction can do: pounce from turn to turn, the glass behaving like a coiled spring when pressured, zinging the skier across the fall line and setting up the next turn. A powder ski that secretly loves to carve, the Supernatural 92 responds to light pressure and low edge angles, making it perfect for lighter skiers. Just because Line markets to the young doesn’t mean its skis won’t also perform for the 50-year old adolescent.
The Finesse side of the Supernatural 100’s split personality dominates when it’s skied at low speeds, while its Power traits don’t reveal themselves unless the pilot applies the lash. The Supernatural 100’s ability to adapt to the moods of its master makes it particularly suited to the Finesse skier. Its preference for off-piste terrain is signaled by its gradual “5-Cut™” shape that’s made to drift and carve in roughly equal measures. The glass in its structure provides energy and the Titanal delivers dampening, improved edge grip and better control when churning through heavy snow that would deflect a lesser ski.
If all you knew about the Line Sick Day 114 were its waist width (114mm), sidecut radius (23.9m) and that it’s tip and tail were tapered, you’d expect it to turn with all the agility and grace of the Exxon Valdez. And you might be right if Line ladled on the Titanal, but the Sick Day 114 is unshackled by metal bonds. It retains the springiness of an all-glass ski, and lo and behold, it steers with ease of a far shapelier ski. Its tapered tip keeps it from diving into a turn at the very top, so it smears its way through turn entry before settling on an edge that rolls comfortably through rubble.
Kästle wasn’t even trying to make a knockout women’s ski. It applied a square sidewall to what was previously a cap ski to give it a performance kick, in the process raising the performance bar to the elite level. It doesn’t hurt that the stock lay-up for a Kästle is a vertically laminated beech/silver fir core encased in twin laminates of glass and Titanal. There’s a reason it’s the foundation of all the best hard-snow skis being made today. The strongest women might overpower it, but the LX73 isn’t meant for them. It’s a confidence builder for those who aren’t as skilled or athletic as they’d like to be.
When I refer to a Power Powder ski’s ability to carve like a much narrower ski, I’m not kidding, but neither am I telling the whole story. A wide ski with camber in the belly of its baseline, like the Kästle BMX115, provides a solid platform that won’t swim under pressure. On groomers, the skier notices the slender edge that’s dug in the snow more than the behemoth slab of ski that isn’t. As long as the ski is on edge, awareness of its ballooned dimensions is suppressed.
