2nd Look: Line Sick Day 110

Chop / Tracked-Up Soft Snow

This wouldn’t be much of a one ski quiver if it didn’t handle tracked-up snow fairly gracefully, and for the most part, it does. The Sick Day definitely is more inclined to take a moderate pace and pop off of everything in sight as opposed to simply crushing through everything at ludicrous speed. The soft tips become a bit of a liability at higher speeds, but if you’re not in a huge hurry, they make for a fun, playful ride.

Noah Bodman reviews the Line Sick Day 110 for Blister Review.
Noah Bodman on the Line Sick Day 110, Whitefish, MT.

That playful nature is also aided by the relatively low swing weight of the ski. By the numbers, the Sick Day’s weight is pretty average for a ski of this width. But on snow, it feels light. The tips are easy to swing around, which makes them easier to ski in general, and makes them a bit more fun in the air.

Moguls

The Sick Day 110 is pretty easy to work through bumps at a moderate pace, although they’re a bit wide to be in the running as something that’s really good here. And since the Sick Days have a fair amount of sidecut and a pretty wide tip, they’re too pudgy to cleanly run through a narrow rut.

At higher speeds in moguls, I found I had a little bit of a harder time staying on the ski’s balance point. If I let myself get too forward, the soft tips would start stuffing into the faces of bumps which, lo and behold, is not a graceful way to get down the mountain. But if I overcompensated and got in the back seat, the relatively stiff tails were inclined to take me for an uncomfortable ride. (Heavier skiers than me may not find this to be the case.)

Crud

I’ve noticed that the definition of crud varies a bit by location, so for reference, what I’m calling crud is tracked-up snow that’s maybe gotten a little too warm and is now uneven and chunky. It’s a situation where I usually prefer a really heavy ski with a lot of metal in it that can punch through chunky globs of snow.

If untracked powder is what the Sick day does best, crud is what it does worst. The soft, wide shovel doesn’t really punch through anything, and that light swing weight that I mentioned previously becomes a bit of a liability.

Groomers

The Sick Day 110 falls into the large category of skis that are entirely acceptable on groomers, but it’s not really their forte. Edge hold is about average for a 110mm-wide ski, and the relatively short sidecut radius and softer shovels mean they’re a bit better at getting their carve on than some of their straighter brethren.

On groomers, I prefer the Sick Day to a lot of the other comparable skis that are a bit softer in the tail and have longer rocker lines. The Sick Day 110 does a better job of laying long-arcing turns that something like the Moment Deathwish or Rossignol S7.

Touring

While the Sick Day isn’t light enough to be considered a dedicated touring ski (for that, see the Line Sick Day Tourist), it’s still light enough that’s it’s not an insufferable chore to lug uphill. I mounted up some Marker Barons because, while I’m not super excited to take the Sick Days for a longer tour, it’s a great ski for short, side-country adventures.

Like I noted above, soft snow is where this ski is happiest, and all too frequently, finding soft snow requires a little bit of walking. If I’m going to pigeonhole this ski into a super-specific category, sidecountry weapon might just be it. The Sick Day is perfectly happy to run some laps inbounds for the first part of the day, then as things get tracked out or the call of fresh pow gets louder, it’s light enough to be an acceptable option for a quick tour.

The only downside? The lack of a squared off tail means skin clips can kick off more easily.

Bottom Line

The Sick Day is a poppy, fun, playful ski, but with the addition of a stiffer tail that helps out in certain situations (like jumping off stuff and carving groomers). I did, however, find it a little tricky to adapt to the ski’s flex pattern; the combination of a softer tip with a stiffer tail means the balance point is a bit narrower and not always intuitive. But once I got my head wrapped around how the Sick Day wanted to be skied, I’ve had a lot of fun on it. It’s not a charger, but it has enough meat to it that it can handle being skied hard.

Aside from those looking for a tool for the sidecountry, the Sick Day will likely appeal most to those looking for a directional, playful all-arounder that’s biased toward soft snow. It would also work well as part of a tw0-ski quiver, with a narrower ski that’s better on groomers and in cruddy conditions.

NEXT PAGE: ROCKER PROFILE PICS

10 comments on “2nd Look: Line Sick Day 110”

  1. Very timely review. I was out on mine today for the first time in a while.

    I mostly agree with what you have said. The biggest thing to note is how these skis make me want to play and pop off everything. And they are smooth and fun in untracked pow, yet ski more in the snow than on top compared to a wider ski, which is fun.

    In addition to the areas you mentioned where the soft tips cause weakness, I would include groomers. I haven’t quite figure out how to best engage the skis. I find the tips are easily overpowered at turn initiation, feeling like they’re being stuffed. There is no gradual tightening of radius as the skis are tipped over; the flexed tips just pull the ski right into an arc, without engaging the full sidecut. In contrast, I found my previous S7s, while having a shorter edge length, behaved more like a traditional carving shape.

    In all, they’re a fun soft snow ski, but not one I’d grab on a day where I care about ripping groomers.

    • I agree that these are fun, playful skis. I personally find them very intuitive and easy to initiate and surprisingly stable in mixed conditions given how they light they feel and their flex (medium/medium soft ?). I am not sure why anyone would choose a ski that is 110 mm underfoot to rip groomers. A stiffer ski 70-85mm underfoot would be much better for that. The SD 110 will get you back to the lift just fine, but I don’t think it was ever designed with ripping groomers in mind.

  2. Hi,

    This review certainly seems to place the ski in the “mediocre” category – given the tone of the review, it seems a better ski would exist for most types of skiers, whether playful or a charger. I think some comparisons would be helpful.
    I ski on the Blizzard Gunsmoke and find it does everything very well, but I don’t have a ton of experience comparing skis (well, I did like it better than the skis I demoed, Soul 7, Patron, Atomic Automatic and their 100m ski (can’t recall name), Rocker2 108 – I did like the Line SFB a too but too ). That said, it seems to do everything better than how the Sick Day is described: it’s great in pow, stable, is a great all-mountain tool for bumps, tracked out conditions, and is a fine on groomers. Comparison just for fun?

    • Hey, Squawbomber – You’re right that this isn’t the most “playful” ski out there, and it certainly isn’t a “charger.” It’s a directional tweener that was designed to work as a 50/50 inbounds and out-of-bounds ski. So it is, by definition, a jack-of-all-trades, a multi-tool. If that sounds “mediocre” to you, I think that’s fair, and you should look elsewhere. But others (including our reviewers Dana Allen and Noah Bodman and reader D(C)?) might call it “versatile.” See my reply to Willie below, but I truly think the best reviews accurately depict how a ski performs and in what conditions, then allows every individual reader to draw his or her individual conclusions. I think Noah’s done that pretty effectively. Unfortunately, I haven’t personally put time on the Sick Day (reviewers Dana Allen, Paul Forward, and Noah Bodman all did). But as for the Gunsmoke, I didn’t love the 186 cm — I wanted more stability (which the 193 cm Gunsmoke may / probably provides.) The other thing to keep in mind is that the Gunsmoke isn’t a 50/50 inbounds / touring ski — it’s a playful all-mountain ski with metal, while the Sick Day IS trying to be a 50/50 inbounds & out-of-bounds ski. Pretty apples-to-oranges. Anyway, sounds like you can safely pass on the Sick Day for what you’re looking for.

      • Thanks for the reply Jonathan. I love your site and reviews. My post was just an honest reaction to how the ski was depicted, not intended to be critical of the review or reviewer. Please note that I wasn’t trying to be negative in any way and I don’t have a preference for types of skis. In this class of skis with all the choices, I think you don’t just want an average ski, you want an amazing ski, whatever qualify you are prioritizing (balance of use, charger, playful, etc.). If you read the review, there’s nothing in it which makes the ski sound very compelling to anyone, just average, and with a not very dialed flex pattern. So I was just reacting to that as a skier who really loves gear, thinking “well why would anyone want this ski based on this review?” And that’s completely ok, not every ski should be “the best ski ever.”
        Thanks again for your site and reviews, it’s a great resource for all skiers.

        • Thanks, Squawbomber. And I didn’t read your comments as flatly negative, I mostly just wanted to flesh out the idea of what this ski is, or why it exists. I’m someone who most definitely believes in a ski quiver — get the right tools for the right job — but many, many people can’t afford multiple skis or can’t store multiple skis, so are looking for that one “do-everything” ski. I’d love to hear from more readers who have been on this thing, get their feedback. But it sounds like D(C) and Noah have had a pretty similar experience. As to your (good) question, “Why would anyone want this particular ski?”, it seems like the answer is (1) because they like the particular flex pattern of softer shovels / stiffer tails, and (2) they want that 1 ski to do everything, both inbounds and out. It’s like picking one utensil for everything. I guess I’d go with a spork?

  3. You guys are slipping at Blister, Squawbomber nailed it, it seems that a lot of the skis you guys review lately are mediocre at best, they are so soft snow oriented / or playful oriented that they become useless over much of the conditions that people run into on a daily basis, yet you guys try like hell to promote what little good if any you find. IF POWDER MAG. ever held their powder week on the west coast, half the skis would end-up in the trash can because they wont work in real daily conditions, PLEASE DONT turn into another powder mag.

    • Dear Willie: we get it. You like skis that excel in chop and crud. And you know what? I personally do, too. But there are other skiers in the world who like lighter skis than I do, softer skis than I do, or they have a different skiing style. You want grand pronouncements that this ski is GREAT! and that this ski SUCKS! And that would make you a pretty poor reviewer, actually. We have readers skiing in pretty much every corner of the world. And if 50,000 people read one of our ski reviews, our job is to make sure that every one of them gets a good sense of where the ski excels and where it doesn’t. I stand by Noah’s review, and believe that those 50,000 readers would all get a pretty good sense of what this ski is, and then they can make their own decision about whether the ski will make sense for them. We’re not slipping, we’re aiming for *accuracy* about how a ski performs, not just settle for solipsistic or lazy, blanket pronouncements. We now have two reviews up of this ski, and between those two reviews, I think we’ve provided a pretty accurate and fair picture of how it performs. We also have D(C) – two comments above yours – saying that he owns the ski and finds the review to be accurate. So … ?

  4. Well by reading DC’s comment on the ski (and he owns it) it seems he thinks its mediocre also, just the kind of ski someone wants drop $600 on. So?

    • I purchased this ski 2 years ago based in large part on the review here by Noah, among other elsewhere. Although I’m not sure I would have purchased the ski if I read this most recent review without having read other positive reviews elsewhere ( that aligned with Noah’s), I will indeed say I think this review is an accurate review and note that I like the ski very much.

      I ski in Colorado primarily and wanted a soft snow, directional, technical ski that was versatile. I consider myself a very good technical skier but my preferred style is more finesse than unbridled power. I indeed wanted a ski with the flex characteristics this ski provided and as a lighter (160 lbs) shorter (5’6″) person it feels like its in the near ideal range of skis I like for my intended purpose.

      Great in soft, easy to ski tracked out steep and technical lines. Works great for me in trees (i’m not a smearer)…… I even like it on groomers including firm to even almost what Rocky Mtn folks call icy.

      I really have enjoyed this ski. I’ll admit its not a “crud” ski but in soft tracked out pow of even medium density I have fun. Ultimately I’d like a ski of this genre with maybe 25% more crud capabilities for where and how I ski but that’s next year…..I’m sure I wouldn’t even consider this ski if I was a PNW skier. I’d recommend it to any lighter finesse style skier looking for a very versatile and fun soft snow oriented directional ski who likes to carve vs smear turns.

Leave a Comment